It's good to plan for the future. In doing this, we make sure that we have our footsteps ordered, our resources properly allocated, and our goals carefully laid out. Planning for the future helps us achieve greater things.

There are times, however, that planning for the future is not enough. Various factors affect our plans and cause some of them to be cancelled. Still, it's better to have plans than not.

Friends, did you know there's a better way to make plans for the future? Yes, there is.

It's called following God's will.

Planning according to God's will

Many Christians make plans according to what they want to do. Sadly, not all Christians make their plans according to how God wants them to. Here are some common approaches to planning:

1) Some Christians think of what they want to achieve, make plans for it, and then pray for it to happen.

This approach is selfish: it's based on what a person wants. He merely asks God to bless his plans, instead of seeking God to obey His will.

2) Some Christians pray, but don't read God's Word before making any plan.

While this approach starts in prayer, it does not continue with God's Word. Without God's guidance, through His Word, our plans likely won't be totally in line with His.

3) Some Christians, lastly, pray and seek God's Word for guidance before making plans.

At times, they even ask mature Christians for counsel and input. And then after much prayer, Bible-reading and counsel, they proceed to make their plans.

This third approach is the best way to make future plans. We seek God before planning anything.

Scriptures to help you plan your future

Because the third approach is the best approach, we will do well to read God's Word before making plans. Here are some Bible verses that will help us make plans for the future.

Seek Christ above all -- Colossians 3:1-3

"If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

Make plans by faith in Christ -- Galatians 2:20

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Don't worry, just seek to do God's will -- Matthew 6:25-34

""Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

"So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

"Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."