Christian Crier
Every believer needs encouragement from time to time. They need it from other believers but the Bible itself is full of verses that are very encouraging. Here are some of the most encouraging Bible verses I could find.
What is Encouragement?
Actually, the word encourage means to receive courage. It is an act of giving someone support in hopes of boosting their courage. It can also mean to incite them to action, to serve as a way of supporting them, giving them confidence or inducing someone to endure hardships. That is exactly what the Bible does. Bible verses which encourage us do all of these things. Here are some great examples of encouraging Bible verses and I pray they encourage you.
Second Chronicles 16:9 “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”
This is a great verse to commit to memory. Picture the Lord scanning the earth. He is looking all around the earth with the intent of giving “strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” Those who are blameless are not only those who have repented and trusted in Christ but they are those who confess their sins daily, keeping a short account with God. They do not go on sinning day after day without confession. The wording “strong support” is powerful indeed for the word strong is an adjective given by God Himself in the strongest sense possible in the Hebrew literature. Who wouldn’t want God’s strongest support?
Zechariah 4:10a “For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.
Many of the most faithful ministries in the world are some of the smallest. God loves to glorify Himself in using the smallest of churches because then the work that these smaller churches do must be from His hand alone and so He is more glorified. The mother who’s powerful ministry at home with her husband and children is unseen and unappreciated by the world but to God, this is no small thing. The world may think so but it’s what God thinks that is important, for what He thinks matters for all eternity. I believe that some of those who will receive the greatest rewards at the BEMA Judgment Seat of Christ will be mothers who quietly have poured their whole lives into their families. They receive little fanfare but I believe that their rewards will be enormous; even greater than some of the great mega churches and their pastors. Of that I am convinced. God tells us to not despise what is small in our eyes because to God they are not. Some of the smallest churches are faithful in small things; they preach biblical sermons, they visit the sick and imprisoned, they feed the poor and they take the gospel to the world. The size of the church’s membership or how full the parking lot is isn’t a reflection on how faithful a church is. Jesus will say “Well done thou good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matt 25:23). Jesus said that for some who are “faithful in a very little, you shall be in authority over ten cities” in the Kingdom of Heaven (Luke 19:17).
Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”
God sings over you? Yes He does! Imagine hearing the voice of God. Now imagine hearing Him sing…over you! Here is the “Mighty One who will save” and this same “Mighty One” will “rejoice over you with gladness.” What an awesome thought. If that were not enough, “He will quite you by His love.” I love that. In a noisy, tumultuous world, God will quite us with the reassurance of His great love. A love that cannot be measured. Then He will “exult you with loud singing.” Here is the God of the universe, the Creator of all things, and He saves us, He rejoices over us (and with gladness!), He quiets us (by His love), He will exult us, and then do all of this with “loud singing.” By the way, the word “exult” means “to show or feel a lively or triumphant joy. Wow! Bask in those thoughts for a while and you will be encouraged. Of that I am certain.
Psalm 103:13-14 “As a father shows compassion to his children,so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”
If you are a parent, you already have compassion for your children but the Lord God is a Father who shows compassion on those children who are His. If you are born again (John 3:3) then you are part of His family and one of His own children. The Lord has shown us compassion already by saving us. For those who “fear Him” means that for those who reverence His name and His Word, the Bible. This is not a terrifying fear like God’s ready to strike you down with lightning. It is a reverential fear and respect of God. God has compassion because “He knows our frame.” He understands that we are fragile and “that we are dust.” A parent knows that their children are fragile in body, mind, and spirit. Hopefully we know that about their frame. This makes us more compassionate over them. How much more does God do the same?
John 10:28-29 “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
Not only does Jesus Christ give us eternal life, He reinforces this by an iron clad statement; “and they shall never perish.” That is what eternal life is all about. Since it is something you cannot lose then you can never perish. Next Jesus strengthens this statement even further by proclaiming that you are in the firm grasp of His own hand. As a final steak in the ground, He says that no one can snatch you out of the Father’s hand. What an encouragement to anyone who has ever had doubts about their salvation. Jesus says; I give them eternal life (present tense), they will not ever perish (future tense), nobody can snatch them out of My hand, and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand (objective truth). Now that’s something that you can really hang your hat on!
Ephesians 1:4-5 “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”
There are fewer passages in the Bible more encouraging than these two. Can you even imagine that God chose us before we even existed and before the earth was created? This was done “according to the purpose of His will” and nothing we ever did or could ever do so we know it’s not from works. He chose us to be holy and blameless which was only possible because of Jesus’ work on the cross (2 Cor 5:21). Then, if that were not enough, we are adopted into His family. We were taken out of the world and from our old father the Devil and made a child of God’s by His sovereign will, His good pleasure, and as a result of His divine love (1 John 3:10). I can’t even describe in words what these two verses mean.
Romans 8:34 “Who is he who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”
What a statement of encouragement from Paul. He asks the rhetorical question, “Who is he who condemns?” Paul is essentially saying that if Christ died for us…and He did for all believers…then who can condemn us? The answer is no one. Not only are we now guiltless, Paul says that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father interceding (praying) for us. Now that’s Someone’s prayer list I want to be on; His. It is so comforting to know that others are praying for us but how amazing is it that Jesus prays for us? This is what He told the disciples just before going to the cross to die for them and for us saying, “I do not ask (pray) for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word” (John 17:20). Here is another Bible verse that says Jesus will pray for “those who will (in the future) believe in me through their word” which means our public profession of faith and trusting in Him. How encouraging it is that Jesus prays for us if we have believed in Him.
Conclusion
I hope this has encouraged you. It has me. Just think about these things:
- He quiets us with His love.
- He is looking to give us His strong support.
- Jesus prays for you.
- God adopted you.
- He predestined you before you even existed.
- We are firmly in the grasp of both Jesus’ and the Father’s hand.
- He has given us eternal life which ensures that we will never perish.
- He has compassion on us realizing that our frames are fragile (but dust).
- He does not despise even the small things or places that we are in.
- He exults over us with loud singing.
- He rejoices over us in gladness.
Article by Pastor Jack Wellman
Jack Wellman is Senior Writer at What Christians Want to Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design
Sources: The Holy Bible, What Christians Want To Know
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