100 Bible Verses about Setting Goals

Proverbs 21:5 ESV / 658 helpful votes

The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.

Habakkuk 2:2-3 ESV / 446 helpful votes

And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Philippians 3:13-14 ESV / 445 helpful votes

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

2 Chronicles 15:7 ESV / 444 helpful votes

But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”

Psalm 37:4 ESV / 339 helpful votes

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Philippians 3:14 ESV / 276 helpful votes

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:13 ESV / 235 helpful votes

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Proverbs 24:27 ESV / 225 helpful votes

Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.

Luke 14:28 ESV / 223 helpful votes

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV / 201 helpful votes

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Matthew 19:26 ESV / 143 helpful votes

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Romans 12:2 ESV / 128 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Philippians 4:8 ESV / 113 helpful votes

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

John 6:27 ESV / 109 helpful votes

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

John 4:34 ESV / 106 helpful votes

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

Ecclesiastes 5:3 ESV / 103 helpful votes

For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words.

Isaiah 54:2 ESV / 102 helpful votes

“Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.

2 Peter 3:18 ESV / 100 helpful votes

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Proverbs 29:18 ESV / 100 helpful votes

Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

Proverbs 16:9 ESV / 96 helpful votes

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

James 4:13-15 ESV / 94 helpful votes

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Matthew 21:22 ESV / 91 helpful votes

And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 90 helpful votes

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 17:20 ESV / 76 helpful votes

He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Proverbs 16:3 ESV / 76 helpful votes

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

2 Corinthians 5:9 ESV / 59 helpful votes

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV / 59 helpful votes

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Hebrews 12:1-3 ESV / 56 helpful votes

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Matthew 7:7-8 ESV / 51 helpful votes

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Romans 8:28 ESV / 48 helpful votes

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

2 Corinthians 8:11-12 ESV / 47 helpful votes

So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.

Proverbs 19:21 ESV / 47 helpful votes

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Proverbs 15:22 ESV / 47 helpful votes

Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.

Psalm 33:11 ESV / 45 helpful votes

The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.

Psalm 20:4 ESV / 45 helpful votes

May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans!

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ESV / 43 helpful votes

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Micah 6:8 ESV / 43 helpful votes

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Hebrews 10:35-36 ESV / 38 helpful votes

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.

Proverbs 3:6 ESV / 38 helpful votes

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Psalm 118:8 ESV / 37 helpful votes

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.

John 8:14 ESV / 35 helpful votes

Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.

Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV / 34 helpful votes

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Isaiah 41:10 ESV / 34 helpful votes

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Matthew 6:19-21 ESV / 33 helpful votes

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Isaiah 32:8 ESV / 33 helpful votes

But he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands.

Matthew 7:7 ESV / 32 helpful votes

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Proverbs 13:19 ESV / 32 helpful votes

A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools.

Proverbs 13:16 ESV / 30 helpful votes

Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool flaunts his folly.

Psalm 127:1 ESV / 30 helpful votes

A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

James 4:4 ESV / 29 helpful votes

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Jeremiah 17:7 ESV / 28 helpful votes

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.

James 1:5 ESV / 27 helpful votes

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

1 Timothy 5:8 ESV / 26 helpful votes

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Colossians 3:23 ESV / 26 helpful votes

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

Philippians 1:6 ESV / 26 helpful votes

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 24:1-67 ESV / 26 helpful votes

Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh, that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” ...

John 5:17 ESV / 25 helpful votes

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

Joshua 1:8 ESV / 25 helpful votes

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Psalm 37:4-5 ESV / 24 helpful votes

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.

Isaiah 58:13-14 ESV / 23 helpful votes

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Ecclesiastes 1:1-18 ESV / 23 helpful votes

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. ...

2 Timothy 4:7-8 ESV / 22 helpful votes

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Luke 14:28-31 ESV / 22 helpful votes

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

1 Samuel 14:5-7 ESV / 22 helpful votes

The one crag rose on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba. Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.” And his armor-bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul.”

James 4:15-16 ESV / 21 helpful votes

Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

Acts 15:36 ESV / 21 helpful votes

And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”

Proverbs 6:6 ESV / 21 helpful votes

Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.

Mark 9:34 ESV / 20 helpful votes

But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.

Matthew 26:39 ESV / 20 helpful votes

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Jeremiah 10:23-24 ESV / 20 helpful votes

I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. Correct me, O Lord, but in justice; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

Hebrews 6:1 ESV / 19 helpful votes

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

1 Timothy 6:12 ESV / 19 helpful votes

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

John 7:8-9 ESV / 19 helpful votes

You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” After saying this, he remained in Galilee.

Ephesians 4:11-13 ESV / 18 helpful votes

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

Luke 19:10 ESV / 18 helpful votes

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Proverbs 3:13-26 ESV / 17 helpful votes

Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. ...

Mark 16:1-20 ESV / 16 helpful votes

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. ...

Mark 6:1-56 ESV / 15 helpful votes

He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. ...

Matthew 6:22 ESV / 15 helpful votes

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,

Psalm 1:1-3 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

James 1:9-17 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. ...

Colossians 1:27 ESV / 13 helpful votes

To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Philippians 4:12 ESV / 13 helpful votes

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

Ephesians 1:10 ESV / 13 helpful votes

As a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Proverbs 16:1-17:28 ESV / 13 helpful votes

The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit. Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished. ...

1 Peter 5:8 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

James 1:6 ESV / 12 helpful votes

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

1 Timothy 1:5 ESV / 12 helpful votes

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Ephesians 6:13 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Ephesians 3:20 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

1 Corinthians 9:24-25 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

Romans 8:1-39 ESV / 12 helpful votes

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ...

Psalm 119:38-105 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good. Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life! Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word. ...

John 11:1-57 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ...

Habakkuk 2:2-8 ESV / 11 helpful votes

And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. “Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples.” Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, “Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own— for how long?— and loads himself with pledges!” ...

Ecclesiastes 6:1-12 ESV / 11 helpful votes

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil. If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. ...

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 10 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

1 Peter 5:4 ESV / 10 helpful votes

And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 10 helpful votes

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV / 10 helpful votes

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

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