Wednesday

10 Bible Verses of Encouragement on The Promises of God - plus FREE PRINTABLE


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 around the topic of God's Promises.







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 to be encouraged about those Promises God has made to us.


Because these are
 




1. God's Faithfulness

Deuteronomy 7 v 9

Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, 
the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations 
with those who love him and keep his commandments. 




God is faithful to keep His covenant (promise) with all those who love and obey Him.
When we read about the Covenant God made with His people in the Old Testament we can see how sacred and important He considered it to be.



2. God's Presence

Joshua 1 v 9

Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, 
for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. 




Many times we just quote the latter part of this verse and in fact when we were leaving Northern Ireland to go and live in Belgium and feeling rather inadequate because I did not speak French or Dutch I was given this lovely picture below and I have loved having it as a reminder of this promise of God ever since.







3. God's Guidance


Psalm 32:8

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye. 




God has promised to teach us the way to go through this life.
He has promised to be our guide. 




4. God's Strength

Isaiah 40:31

But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; 
They shall mount up with wings like eagles, 
they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.  




Look at all the benefits spoken of here in this verse yet only one thing is required of us  -  to wait on the Lord.
Take the time to just wait on God, read His Word, think on His Word, memorize His Word, hold it close to our hearts and we will know these benefits.




5. God's Care & Help

Isaiah 41:13

For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand.
Saying to you, 
'Fear not, I will help you.' 



God cares enough to hold our hands through everything, He is promising to care for us and help us and will do not need to be afraid.



6. God's Mercy

Isaiah 54:10

For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the Lord, who has mercy on you. 




God has promised we will never be without his kindness and peace because He has mercy on us and that mercy is forever and ever - even when this world is over. 



7. God's Love

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believes on him should not perish 
but have everlasting life. 




God has promised to love us forever and the outworking of that is His gift of Salvation for us when we put our trust in Him. 



8. God's Provision

John 6:35

Then Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. 
He who comes to me shall never hunger, 
and he who believes in me shall never thirst." 




We never have to worry about anything because God is all-sufficient and can provide us with everything we need in our Spiritual Life.



9. God's Heaven is our Hope

John 14:2

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. 




God has promised the greatest thing of all - HOPE - an eternity in His Presence that He prepared for each one of us.








10. God's Peace

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. 
I do not give to you as the world gives. 
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. 





While we are still here on earth we do not need to be worried or anxious about what will happen as times change and governments change.
God through the words of Jesus has promised us His Peace.




You can download this FREE copy of the Bible Verse Graphics I made for this blog post 
from my
 















Sunday

Reading Through the Bible - The 10 Shortest Books in the Bible





We are looking at the 10 Shortest books in the Bible.

You might be surprised at what they actually are.






There are 3 ways of deciding on the sizes of Bible books.

Number of Chapters.

Number of Verses.

Number of Words.

You can see a chart comparing these in my Reading Plan by Order of Size of Books


OR - if time is more important to you Number of minutes, hours & days



Here are the

 10 shortest books of the Bible by Number of Chapters


The First 5 each only contain 1 chapter.

None of the other 5 books are more than 3 chapters long.

  1. Second John (1 chapter)
  2. Third John (1 chapter)
  3. Jude (1 chapter)
  4. Obadiah (1 chapter)
  5. Philemon (1 chapter)
  6. Haggai (2 chapters)
  7. Habakkuk (3 chapters)
  8. Nahum (3 chapters)
  9. Titus (3 chapters)
  10. Zephaniah (3 chapters)

Note: In my Reading Plan I have combined   1,2 & 3 John,  1 & 2 Peter,  1 & 2 Timothy,  1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Corinthians and  as it seemed more logical to me to read these letters to the same churches consecutively as well as the 1st & 2nd books in the Old Testament because they logically & historically followed on from each other.



Here are the

 10 shortest books of the Bible by Number of Verses


The First 5 each only contain 1 chapter.

Only one of the other 5 books are more than 3 chapters long.

  1. Second John (13 verses)
  2. Third John (14 verses)
  3. Obadiah (21 verses)
  4. Philemon (25 verses)
  5. Jude (25 verses)
  6. Haggai (38 verses)   2
  7. Titus (46 verses    3
  8. Nahum (47 verses)   3
  9. Jonah (48 verses)    4
  10. Zephaniah (53 verses)   3





Here are the

 10 shortest books of the Bible by Number of Words


The First 5 are each only contain 1 chapter.

None of the other 5 books are more than 3 chapters long.

  1. Third John (219 words)
  2. Second John (245 words)
  3. Philemon (430 words)
  4. Jude (608 words)
  5. Obadiah (669 words)
  6. Titus (896 words)
  7. Haggai (1130 words)
  8. Nahum (1284 words)
  9. Jonah (1320 words)
  10. Habakkuk (1475 words)



If TIME is more important to you


Number of Minutes, Hours, Days can be considered.



Of course then it would have to be the number of words to calculate from because people have worked out how long it takes to read a certain number of words and hence from that how long it takes to read the various books of the Bible.






For Example in:

30 mins  you could read the book of Ecclesiastes.

1 hour & 30 mins  you could read the Gospel of Mark.

5 hours  you could read the Book of Psalms.

10 hours  you could read the 4 Gospels and the Book of Acts




This is all to do with reading the Bible.

If you would like to start in the whole bible then why not try my Plan



Studying and memorizing of course will take longer.

If you are interested in studying you may find these  Devotionals  
and  Bible Studies  helpful 

or 

if you are thinking of trying to memorize more of the Bible then try our page on Memorizing Scripture  to get help and advice (we even have videos of songs there).








OTHER POSTS ABOUT THE BIBLE & BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ARE ADDED REGULARLY AND AN UPDATED LIST CAN BE FOUND AT OUR






Friday

There is a Green Hill Far Away - A Hymn of Encouragement








I was born in the city of Londonderry, Northern Ireland and that means I have a hometown that is famous for various things.
  • It is a walled city
  • There was a siege in 1689
  • For political reasons it now has to be referred to as as both Londonderry and Derry on the news.
  • It has produced many well-known song writers


Perhaps the one who wrote most pieces was actually the Hymn Writer and Poet 
Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander


One of her hymns is a great one for Easter Time and especially for Good Friday

There is a Green Hill Far Away


When this was first published in 1848 it was in a selection of "Hymns for Little Children" and in various hymn books it has been classified in the children's sections.


Hymnology Archive




Each verse is a great tool for teaching young children about the sacrifice Christ made for us and can be said to have been based around various verses of scripture including  John 3 v 16





and  Romans 5 v 8





Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander was the wife of  William Alexander who was the Bishop of Londonderry and later became the Archbishop of Armagh.

The Bishop was based in St. Columb's Cathedral which along with their home sat within the Walls of Londonderry and outside those walls Mrs Alexander would have had a view of the hills around the city which would have reminded her of the hill on which her saviour died.  Hence these lovely words were penned:


There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified
Who died to save us all.

We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains he had to bear,
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.

He died that we might be forgiven,
He died to make us good;
That we might go at last to heaven,
Saved by his precious Blood.

There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven, and let us in.

O dearly, dearly has he loved,
And we must love him too,
And trust in his redeeming Blood,
And try his works to do.


and because of the short verses of 4 lines each would have been easily remembered by everyone. 





DON'T FORGET TO DOWNLOAD THIS FREE PRINTABLE 



(Available in both A4 & Letter Size)
 




So we have a great hymn sung to a peaceful tune that is a great reminder of Good Friday and in fact a good reminder everyday of the love of Jesus.








You can find Songs for Kids at  Kids Resources


You can find Other Easter Posts at  EASTER


All my Free Printables can be found by going to Sandra's Ark Resource Library