5 Verses that will Inspire You with Hope and Encouragement
I don’t know about you, but this is the time of year when I really need a bit of encouragement.
The fun of the holidays is long past, the anticipation of the new year has fallen into a winter routine, the resolutions I believed would be good habits are sporadic at best, and well, it’s easy for me to find myself experiencing the end of January blahs.
Yep, I need encouragement.
Did you know that many of the synonyms of “encouragement” are words we use in our faith conversations every day?
Words like: faith, inspiration, hope, comfort, and trust.
Did you also know that the definition of giving “encouragement” is to – inspire someone with courage?
The truth is . . . people who are inspired by the hope and encouragement that comes from Christ Jesus, should be the most encouraging individuals on the planet.
But we often need encouragement to be encouraging.
So, I’m running to Jesus, and here are just some of the verses that are giving me hope and encouragement this week:
♥ Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.
1 Peter 5:7
♥ Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Philippians 4:8
♥ Have you never heard? Have you never understood?
Isaiah 40:28–29
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of His understanding.
He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.
♥ I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:13
♥ I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me.
Psalm 16:7–8
I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for He is right beside me.
A Prayer for Hope and Encouragement
Father, Some days the darkness and gloominess weigh heavy on our hearts. News reports are discouraging and people around the world are hurting. Oh, how we need hope. We need courage and strength. We need more of You!
So, I run to You and I thank you for Your Word. Your promises fill me with hope and encouragement as they remind me that You are always with me. I am not alone. I am blessed by the presence of Your Spirit who gives me peace and strength and everything I need to live with faith.
You also give me all I need to fight my spiritual battles. You help me fight temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13), You help me take negative joy-robbing thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5), You give me strength (Psalm 68:35), and You help me carry my burdens (Matthew 11:28).
Your Word and Your Spirit give me hope and encouragement. I thank and praise You. Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and always. Amen.
As I look back over old posts and devotions, I realize I’ve written many words on the subject of hope and my need for courage. It may be because I spent so much of my life carrying around the burdens of fear and anxiety.
God doesn’t want that for me and He doesn’t want that for you either. He wants us to live with hope encouraged by His promises. He wants us to experience the blessing of knowing, trusting, and loving Him through faith in Jesus. He wants us to be filled with His Spirit.
I believe that’s what He means when He says He will give us everything we need when we SEEK His kingdom above everything else. He may not give us the health and wealth we think we want. He won’t fill the news with joy-filled accounts of kindness and love and He may not give us sunshine on a gloomy blah winter day…
But:
- By His divine power, He will give us everything we need for living a godly life. 2 Peter 1:3
- He will give us wisdom . . . ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. James 1:5
- He will extend mercy and comfort us . . . God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3
- And His Holy Spirit will produce this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22–23
And the truth is when I think about . . . that is everything I need.
God is good! He faithfully gives you and me a future filled with hope and encouragement.
If you need a little more encouragement from Jesus that will fill you with hope – check out: 20 Promises of Jesus that will Give You Hope.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t need encouragement on a daily basis, Deb. May our God provide us with that very thing, and may we, in turn, encourage others.
Blessings!
Amen, Martha! May we be encouraged to encourage. Have a beautiful Monday!
Brilliant verses Deb. I need encouragement as I am reading Mark at the moment. I Have just read about Jesus singing a hymn after the Last Supper. I am so tempted not to read further I always find it awful reading no matter how many times I read of His Crucifixion.
It is hard to read about His suffering and death. His love is overwhelming! That He would willingly suffer for you and me! What a wonderful Savior!! Blessings!
For me one of the biggest revelation about Jesus’ crucifixion was that GOD forsaken Him! That God Who promised NEVER forsake us, neither leave us, left and forsaken His Son, so we wouldn’t have to experience that same, excruciating loneliness and hopelessness. And when this revelation hit my heart, I looked at Jesus’ Cross in a different way…
I need encouragement and prayers. Couple of days ago almost lost my husband of 30 years. He’s still with me only by the grace of God. Then the following night he had another similarly severe seizure that I feared will take him from me for good. I’ve been praying over him based on James 5:14-15 that says if someone sick then pray over them and God will heal not only their body but soul as well.
The Lord also uses this heartache to grow my Trust and Faith in Him. I just realized that I need Him to be real to me. Not just someone I read about, or know about from sermons and the Word, but to have an intimate, real relationship with – just as He would be here in person.
We both most surely can use a heartfelt prayer ????????????
So sorry to hear about your husband. I am praying for you both right now x
God Bless you Angela, we surely can use your prayers ????????????????
Oh, Gaby, I’m sorry you’ve gone through this scare and thankful for the way the Lord answered your prayers. Rev went through surgery almost 15 years ago that doctors told us he most likely would not survive. It was a really hard time. But you’re right, it was one of the things that sent me running to Jesus. And I’ve been turning to Him every day since. I love how He is able to turn bad experiences into good in our lives. Blessings, my friend!
I deeply appreciate your warm thoughts Deb. We’re still not out of the woods as both ‘sides’ are fighting for his soul. Satan wants to destroy his body in order to destroy his soul. Thankfully Jesus is not giving up either. I have His promise from James 5, that – “14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”. So I pray over him this promise until the day the Lord fulfills it. In the meantime, we both going through a trial period….praying for endurance, more faith and more trust in Him ????
Thoughts and prayers