10 Bible Verses of Encouragement around Hope

We all need encouragement and the best place to go is to the Bible.

In this blog Post I have tried to gather some Bible passages or Bible verses which will encourage us all to have true Hope.

I do believe that we should not just grab a verse and read it on its own but we should always lift our bibles and read a passage of scripture to make sure that we know the real meaning and context of each of the verses we are putting our trust in. 

I pray that you will do the same and only use this list to guide you as to where you may find help.

So here are 10 Bible verses or short passages for us to turn to in times when we need hope.

1.   Ephesians 1 v 18     

Firstly I want to make sure you know something very important.

The Apostle Paul wrote something to the Ephesian church which is ultimately meant that it is written to us as well.

It was to tell us that his prayer was that we would know the hope we have been called to

We are Holy People and we have a glorious inheritance because we are in the family of God.

2.   Jeremiah 29 v 11

    

Our Hope is based on God's Peace and it is not in any way linked to any evil for us in the future because God is Good not evil.

When we have trusted in God we have a great future with Him and all our Hope is in Him and only in Him.

3.   Psalm 9 v 18

We all have a need at one time or another.

Sometimes we don't recognise what our greatest need is, which is Christ.

This verse tells that that God never forgets us or our need so we need never worry about the Hope we have in God.

4.   Psalm 33 v 18-22  

18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope is in his mercy

19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine

20 Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.

21 For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name

22 Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, just as we hope in You.

At the start of this section of Psalm 33 we are told that God's favour is on those who place their hope in His mercy.

With this we know we have His protection.

We then end with a prayer for that mercy we claim because of our hope in Him.

Why do we know we have this hope?

Because we have trusted in Him - without that trust we have no claim on His mercy and hence we have no hope.

Have you trusted in Him?

If so you can have this assurance of this great Hope in the mercy of the Lord.

5.   Psalm 147 v 11

Fearing God means to be in awe and reverence of God.

This is all part of recognising His great love that will never let us down so when we have our hope grounded in the Lord we will fear Him and He will delight in us.

Oh what a wonder to know He delights in us because we place our Hope in Him.

6.   Romans 5 v 1-5

1  Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

2  through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3  And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;

4  and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

5  Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Hope is mentioned three times here.

Verses 1 & 2 are one complete sentence leading from faith & ending with how we rejoice in our hope in the Glory of God.

Verses 3 & 4 together form another sentence telling us that perseverance leads to character and that leads to hope.

The final verse then shows how we trust in that hope because we have experienced the loving character of God.

Another verse telling us to rejoice in the Hope we have is

 Romans 12 v 12

7.   Romans 15 v 13

We often talk about God as a God of Peace, Love, Power, Grace & Mercy but forget He is also the God of Hope.

We have a hope throughout everything because He is our Hope.

8.   Psalm 119 v 114

The basis of our faith is in the true Word of God.

As well as our hope being in Him we also can place our trust and hope in His Word.  What God has said will come true.

9.   Hebrews 10 v 23

God has proved His faithfulness so many times in the bible that there is no doubt that we can trust Him and He will not change so in that knowledge we can keep that hope within us throughout everything.

10.   Romans 8 v 24-25

Here we see that the hope we have been thinking about is the eternal hope of the Glory of Christ.

It is not something we have witnessed physically

24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 

But rather it is something we await for in God's Kingdom

25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

The most important thing to long for because it keeps us looking to Christ.

10 Bible Verses of Encouragement in times of Fear

We all need encouragement and the best place to go is to the Bible.

In this blog Post I have tried to gather some Bible passages or Bible verses which will encourage us all in times of fear.

I do believe that we should not just grab a verse and read it on its own but we should always lift our bibles and read a passage of scripture to make sure that we know the real meaning and context of each of the verses we are putting our trust in. 

I pray that you will do the same and only use this list to guide you as to where you may find help.

So here are 10 Bible verses or short passages for us to turn to in times when we are afraid

1.   Isaiah 41 v 10 & 13     

God truly is the one who wants to encourage us in times when we are afraid or when a fear (just or unjust) comes upon us or in those times when we do not even really know what we fear.

God always knew that we would need reassurance against fears and He prepares us and is ready to help us through the fear.

God also knew that this fear we would face would be very real to us but He also knew that His presence was the answer to our fear and He wants us to know that as we rest in His presence we do not need to fear anything.

We find this in Isaiah 41 v 10

Here His instruction is not to Fear,  

• Why - because He is with us.
• Why - because He is our God.
• Why - because He will strengthen us.
• Why - because He will Help us.
• Why - because He will hold us in His Hand.

Then a few verses later He repeats Himself

We find this in Isaiah 41 v 13

Here His instruction again is not to Fear,  

• Why - because He is our God.
• Why - because He will hold our right Hand.
• Why - because He will Help us.

When God says something we need to listen and take heed to His Words but when He repeats something it makes it all the more important.

2.   Joshua 1 v 9

    

God is gracious to us and knows that we forget what He has told us or lapse in our faith so we need to be reminded of what He has said He will do as this verse states

Not only is God with us now so we should not fear but He is going to always be with us wherever that may be so should never need to fear.

3.   Matthew 10 v 28 

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul

Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Here we have two kinds of fear

Fear of Man and the influence of evil

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul

Fear of God who is Good

Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Fear of God

 is awe of God,

 respect of God,

 admiration of God

 and

 believing that He is in control of everything

The Fear of God is the right type of fear because it leads us to God.

I previously wrote a Dose of Encouragement about the Right Type of Fear it's called  A Good Kind of Fear

4.   Psalm 23 v 4 

This psalm is a Psalm of great comfort to us because if we read it carefully and thoughtfully we will see that the Psalmist is acknowledging how God is with us in everything.

No matter what situation we are in we need not be afraid.

Even when we feel we may be near death:

 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

He will be with us and we will not need to fear any evil.

You may want to look further into Psalm 23

Here in the series Pondering the Psalms

5.   Psalm 34 v 4    

Oh how good it is to know that God knows all our fears, listens to us and hears us when we are afraid and on top of that is loving towards us in His attitude to us in our fear because He cares enough to bring us through whatever the situation is.

God asks one thing of us when we are afraid - seek Him.

God does two things for us when we are afraid & seek Him - He hears us & He delivers us

6.   Psalm 27 v 1

In this verse God is 3 things to the Psalmist and because of these 3 things the Psalmist has the confidence that he need not be afraid of anyone.

The Lord is his Light

The Lord is his Salvation

The Lord is the Stronghold of his life

Think carefully and consider do we believe like the Psalmist that the Lord is these things to us?

If we do then just like the Psalmist we can say

"Who can we possibly fear?"

7.   Psalm 56 v 3

We are only human and no matter what happens we will act and think in human ways.

So because of this we will often fear when a situation comes upon us but the important thing is not to stay engulfed in that fear but to remember that in that situation we can trust in God and then to act on that knowledge.

8.   1 John 4 v 18

Love is the opposite of fear.

Love is stronger than fear.

Hence where there is Love there can be no fear and God is Love and His Love is the perfect love that cannot be marred by anything even fear

God has love in store for us in which fear can have no stronghold nor cause us any harm.

9.   Deuteronomy 31 v 8

Not only will God not leave us alone when we are afraid but He also will never forsake us.

We are the ones who run away from God yet He is always there going in front of us and walking beside us.  He is prepared for what is going to happen because He knows everything.

10.   2 Timothy 1:7

Where does our feelings of fear come from?

They certainly do not come from God because His Word is clear to tell us this.

Not only is God not the author of fear He is instead the one who cares so much that He wants to give us His Spirit which is the Spirit of Power and the Spirit of Love and the Spirit of a sound mind.

God never adds to our Fear - He adds better qualities to our life.

God gives us the opposite of fear.

When we keep close to Him and trust in Him we will look at things in the right way and witness His Power and His Love and His right thought for us.

10 Bible Verses of Encouragement in Times of Bereavement

We all need encouragement and the best place to go is to the Bible.

In this blog Post I have tried to gather some Bible passages or Bible verses which will encourage us all when we are grieving over a bereavement.

I do believe that we should not just grab a verse and read it on its own but we should always lift our bibles and read a passage of scripture to make sure that we know the real meaning and context of each of the verses we are putting our trust in. 

I pray that you will do the same and only use this list to guide you as to where you may find help.

So here are 10 Bible verses or short passages for us to turn to in times of  Bereavement

1.   John 11 v 1-44     

Starting off with this passage in John's Gospel where we have the story of the death of the friend of Jesus, look it up, read it through and then focus in on these two sections:

When Jesus comes and is confronted by Martha the sister of Lazarus who believed that if Jesus had been there earlier her brother would not have died  v. 21-24

21 Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Even though she was upset that Lazarus was dead she still knew the authority Jesus held.

We are naturally and emotionally upset and hurt and distraught in the death of a loved one but we can still have the same belief and trust in Jesus as we did before the event.

Jesus then comforts her with the hope of the future  v. 25-26 and remember these are the words of Jesus

Martha's answer is not a simple yes answer to His question but instead it is a statement of what she believes  v. 27

27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

and because of what she believes she has faith in Jesus.


Then Mary speaks to Jesus in a similar way v 32

32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Both sisters had faith in Jesus.

But we are not left with that, and then Jesus could show His power and raise Lazarus from the dead.  

No!

We then have the shortest verse in the Bible but one which shows more than you could think 2 short words could  v 35

Jesus Wept

Before the joyous act of resurrection we witness the feelings of grief and sorrow that Jesus shared with these two sisters.

May we always remember

 He shares our grief and our sorrow too.

2.   Matthew 5 v 4

    

In the Beatitudes the second blessing is on those who mourn - Jesus cares and He promises comfort.

3.   Isaiah 25 v 8

Even in the Old Testament it was proclaimed that God would destroy death.      

It has always been in His plan.

He will swallow up death forever,

And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces;

The rebuke of His people

He will take away from all the earth;

For the Lord has spoken.

4.   Revelation 21 v 4    

Not only is God concerned with our sadness over a death of a loved one or friend at any time but the Bible shows us that He also wants us to look forward to a time when there will be no more death

God has given us a Hope in the future even over death.

5.   John 14 v 1-3

This was my father-in-law's favourite portion of scripture and it should be loved by us all, such assurance that death is not the end.

1 Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 

2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 

Jesus has already prepared that place for us because He did it by going to the cross.

At the cross His work for our salvation was finished.

6.   1 Corinthians 15 v 52 - 57

There is a resurrection for the saints.

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 

54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 

55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 

56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 

57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

No matter how death leaves us so distraught it does not last forever when we are in Christ and the grave cannot hold the saints just as it could not hold the Saviour.

God prepared the way for all of this through Jesus.

7.   Lamentations 3 v 31 - 33

God allows us to go through grief at different times.

31 

31 For the Lord will not cast off forever. 

32 Though He causes grief,Yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.  

33 For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.

However in Mercy He will be compassionate toward us.

8.   John 6 v 39 - 40

God's Will and plan was established long before the Cross and His assurance was that the saints would be safe in the hands of Christ.

Jesus knew the Will of the Father and looked forward to the time when He would raise us up because we trusted in Him.

9.   1 Thessalonians 4 v 13 - 14

In our grief and sorrow over a death of a loved one we need to remember what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians and the words are still true today.

13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.  

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

For those who had trusted in Christ there is resurrection with Him and that is our great Hope.

Then we must also remember that we should always consider how God cares for each of us in our bereavement and grief.

So to finish here is a verse for us to be encouraged to use to encourage others because of these words straight from Jesus.

10.   John 16 v 22

Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and

 your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.

Jesus knows our sorrow but also knows the the effect of the joy that we will have when we see Him face to face.

Such a promise for the future.