For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jer 29:11 (NIV)

Have you ever taken a career placement test? You took it and answered question after question. At the end of all the questioning, you were given a list of career choices that would be good for you based on your personality. These tests can be helpful, but they’re not the answer to everything.

Tests like these forget one major thing, God. God has a purpose and a plan for your life. To really find out which career path is right for you, you’ve got to start by going to God for His wisdom. We often go to our friends, family, and tests like these to determine what we should do with our lives. And while getting advice from others and taking tests is helpful, it shouldn’t be our only input.

Instead, we should be looking to God for what He wants for our lives. We should be asking Him which college to go to. We should be asking what career is a good fit for us? And then we should be willing to do what we hear Him say.

You’ll experience much less disappointment if you follow after God and His plan for your life. So if you haven’t yet, begin to ask Him what it is you should be doing Be willing to spend some time praying and don’t be afraid to act on what He says.

Read: 3 Practical Steps to Accomplishing Your Dreams

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. – Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)

There’s probably times when you wonder why should I read my Bible? Why does it matter? Its easy to treat God’s word like it’s some positive thoughts for the day, so you read it quick right before bed or on your way out of the house in the morning.

And you do get some good things out of it. But you realize that by the time your 10:30 AM math class starts, you kind have already forgotten what you read in the morning and now you’re concerned whether one of the girls in history class is spreading rumors about you.

The truth about the Bible is that it applies to every part of our lives. It’s not only some encouragement for the morning, but it applies to your friendships, your math class, and your relationships with other people.

The Bible isn’t an ordinary book. It’s a book that’s there to help you understand the things you face. It explains why you’re here and ever issue that you face. But to experience it’s power you have to believe it and get it into your heart.

That sometimes takes some work, but it’s worth it. So today, realize that the Bible applies to everything you face. Spend time getting it into your heart and into your life.

‘Let your heart be always guided by the peace of the Anointed One, who called you to peace as part of his one body. And always be thankful.’ Colossians 3:15 (TPT)

Have you noticed how easy it is to lose your peace? You might have an upcoming test and you let worry in your life. You feel afraid that you wont get the grade you need and it makes you want to quit. It might feel like all the pressures of life are coming at you and you may feel like you’ve lost your peace.

The good news is that we can experience peace even when it seems like everything around us is going wrong. It’s not that we are ignoring bad circumstances, but rather, we can have peace because of who we know. We know Jesus and that relationship allows us to live life at peace.

Even when life gets out of control, Jesus is your peace. When those thoughts of worry about a test come, you have to choose to believe what the Bible says and focus your thoughts on Jesus. In Jesus, there is no need for us to fear. You have been made right in God’s sight and that righteousness lets you live a life that is free from fear, stress, and failure. You’ve just got to choose to not allow your thoughts of worry and fear grow.

So today, choose to guard your thoughts. Choose to set your thoughts on Jesus and experience His peace even in the middle of difficult circumstances. Jesus will see you through.

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.
– Colossians 2:9 (NTL)

This is an amazing verse. It says that all the fullness of God lives in Jesus Christ. He did this in a human body. Jesus was fully God while also being fully a man.

This truth is not only astounding, it’s also a key to us living a new life now that we are Christians. If Jesus could have all of God living in Himself as a human, now we can to. In fact that is now a reality. How, you may ask? Because God is a spirit, and now we are a new born again spirit, we can have this same empowerment that Jesus has. We can have all of this fullness of God involved in our human body by yielding to Him and His Word (the Bible).

Today, instead of feeling powerless and defeated, you can feel empowered and an over comer. You do this by acknowledging that just like Jesus, you now have God living on the inside of you. In your spirit, you and Jesus are one. You have all the fullness of God in you just like He does. This is powerful stuff! The new testament scriptures are all about bringing this truth into reality for you. Search any time the new testament says, “In Him”.  You’ll find a list of verses that tell us who we now are through what Jesus has done.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. – Phil 4:6

It’s easy to fall into the trap of worry. There’s lots of things in life that might stress you out and make you begin to worry. However, today’s Bible verse challenges us to do things differently.

It challenges us to pray about things instead of worrying. It also challenges us to tell God what you need instead of worrying about things. When we do this, it displaces worry in our lives.

A final thing to do is to thank God for all that God has done. When you begin to thank God, you take the focus off yourself and your problems and look to God and all the good things you have going on in your life. Today, challenge yourself to not worry. Instead go to God with the things that bother you and be thankful.