These past couple of weeks have been hard, and that seems to be going around. I’ve talked to several people who have been facing some setbacks, challenges, discouragement, hurt, unexpected changes—some hard things. One unfortunate part of this life is that it is often difficult. No matter who you are, you know this to be true.
This week I ran into a friend at a coffee shop and we both just shared with one another how our lives have been going recently. We talked about grieving over losses in our lives and how we needed to adapt to the ways things are changing. We laughed and we got teary-eyed, we shared our praises and our woes with one another, then we prayed together. We thanked God for His goodness, for the way He is always with us and always has good plans. We shared hope with each other and encouraged one another, and the way we did that was through reminding each other of the hope we have in Christ.
It struck me that even with the really difficult weeks we both had, we shared so much hope and peace with one another. Yes, there is room to express the struggles we go through, and yet, there should be SO much more room to share the hope we have even in those struggles.
I was thinking through this past week and the way the Lord has just been my hope and my rock, and then that spontaneous yet not-so-coincidental interaction with my friend and I just felt the need to share this encouragement. This hope we have is not meant to be hoarded or hidden. It is meant to be shared as much as possible. Whether you are new to this hope I am talking about, or you cling tightly to it, I want to share in it with you today.
There are 4 things I’m sharing: Bible Verses, a book that gives me hope, songs that have encouraged me, and an app that has helped me have peace and focus on God. The main thing I am going to share is some of the Bible passages I have been reading this week that have given me peace and reassurance. I hope you are encouraged and that this gives you hope that is very much needed.
Bible Passages For Encouragement
1)Psalm 23
“1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.”
2)2 Corinthians 1:3-11
Praise to the God of All Comfort
“3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.”
3)Romans 8:1-2
Life Through the Spirit
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. “
4)Romans 8:18-39
Present Suffering and Future Glory
“18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
More Than Conquerors
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
5)Ephesians 6:10-18
“10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
6)Psalm 27
“1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked advance against me
to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
who will stumble and fall.
3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then I will be confident.
4 One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock.
6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the Lord.
7 Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
be merciful to me and answer me.
8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, I will seek.
9 Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
God my Savior.
10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will receive me.
11 Teach me your way, Lord;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
spouting malicious accusations.
13 I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.”
7)Isaiah 55:6-11
“6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
8)John 14:27
“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.”
9)Proverbs 13:12
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”
10)Galatians 5:1
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
11)Galatians 5:22-25
“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
12)Matthew 6:25-34
Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
13)John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
14)Acts, honestly just all of Acts…
Songs I’ve Been Playing on Repeat:
1)“God Will Work it out” -Maverick City Music
2)“First Things First” -Shane and Shane
3)“Glorious Day”-Passion
4)“Jireh”-Maverick City Music
5)“Promises” Maverick City Music
6)“Worthy of My Song (Worthy of it All)”-Phil Wickham, Chandler Moore
7)“QUIET”-Elevation Rhythm
8)“Better Word”-Leeland
9)“Reason to Praise”-Cory Asbury
10)“1,000 Names”-Phil Wickham
“The Gospel Primer” by Milton Vincent
This little book is one of the most life-giving and Gospel-centering books you could find. It encourages me more than any book besides the Bible. It explains how the Gospel actually applies to our everyday lives in a way I never understood before. I could list so many quotes from this book, but instead, I will just leave the link here so you can go buy it. So… go buy it!
Click here to buy The Gospel Primer
The Glorify App
This app has encouraged me very much recently. It has allowed me to start my mornings reading or listening to Scripture and reflecting on what it says. I am new to this app and don’t think it is quite as solid as the Bible App in interpretation. It should be said that there have been a couple of possible misinterpretations of some passages, but 99% are solid. The part that I enjoy most in this app is the meditations. There are tons that incorporate reading Scripture and declaring Biblical promises and truths over your life. It is very different than any other type of meditation I have seen in that it is fully centered on God. It has centered me on Scripture and has helped me practice meditating and dwelling on Scripture.
Here are some of the meditations I listened to this past week that I really enjoyed:
Anxiety, Stress, and Fear Release Meditation
I know this post hasn’t been many of my own words, but I’m realizing more and more of my role in this life is to point others to the only one who can really give them hope: JESUS. I seek to share the things I’ve learned with you as much as possible, and today I wanted to be sure to share some resources. These are the things that have been giving me life, I hope they give you life as well. Thanks for showing up,
-Elena ❤
Rejoicing in Truth 
♥️🙏♥️🙏
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