Topics
BibleGateway.com is a great tool for searching for Bible verses, especially in multiple versions.
dailyverses.net has a large list of Bible verses by topic, so feel free to look there as well to find more than I have here.
- God is always with you - Matthew 28:20
- Why did God let this happen? - Romans 8:28
- Feeling like there's something wrong with you? - Ephesians 2:10
- Making mistakes - Isaiah 43:25 , Matthew 6:14-15
- Needing favor - Psalms 5:12
- Needing hope - Jeremiah 29:11 , Phillippians 4:13
- Once saved, always saved? - Ezekiel 33:11-12
- Declare who you serve - Joshua 24:15
God is ALWAYS with you.
You're never alone, even when you're at your lowest. Just like any good parent would never abandon their child, God will never abandon you either.
Teach them to do all the things I have told you. And I am with you always, even to the end of the world.
Matthew 28:20 (NLV)
Why did God let this happen?
This is a tough question to give a short explanation to if you want a real answer, so buckle up. This question is also known as the problem of evil and this explanation combines information from multiple sources, including this article.
I break this topic down into two categories: There are bad things that happen, and there are evil things that happen. Evil things that happen are the result of an intentional choice to do something bad or evil. Bad things that happen are things that are not the result of an intentional choice, like accidents, disease, or as a result of nature, such as hurricanes or earthquakes, or similar non-intentional acts.
The reason evil things happen boils down to free will. Let me explain, but first, a note about God: God is a God of love. He's all about love. The trinity of God means he is 3 people at the same time: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. There exists a perfect love between the three of them, so God's love has always existed, just as God has always existed. God has never existed without love. The Bible's main message is that God loves us. In the Bible, God talks about love more than any other topic. That being said, when God created us, he desired to create something to have a relationship with, and to share love with. Something He could love that would also love him back in a perfect relationship of love, just as he has within the trinity. Love, by definition, is a choice. You can't have real love without real choice. If we were programmed or forced to love God, that wouldn't be real love, but some fake imitation of love that wouldn't have any real meaning. Having a real choice to love God or not requires free will. Free will means having the ability to make good choices or bad choices. If we are to have actual choices, there have to be actual consequences. If God intervened every time someone made a morally evil choice and stopped them, the moral choice would essentially be meaningless, since it didn't have any consequence. The evil things that happen in this world are the result of people using their free will to make bad or evil choices.
The principal reason bad (non-intentional) things happen is a little more complex. God loves us and helps us, and He wants us to become people that will love and help each other. People that love and help each other have positive character traits like bravery, patience, perseverance, and faith. All those positive character traits are acquired through difficult circumstances. You don't become brave if there is nothing to fear. You become brave by facing your fears during scary times. You don't become patient without enduring things that require you to develop patience. You won't have perseverance unless you've been forced to persevere through trying times. You develop real faith only when you have no choice but to have faith in something. The bad times are all used to help you grow, to toughen you, and to allow you to develop real strength. If your father always held your hand and helped you walk your whole life, you'd never develop the balance and strength needed to walk on your own. Strength requires adversity. People grow through challenges. We become the kind of people God wants us to be when we learn to stand in a world filled with hardships. Through hardships, we develop the ability to help each other. For example, when a person loses a loved one and needs someone to talk to or help them, who do you think would be more helpful for that person: Someone who has never lost a loved one, or someone who has? If a person just came out of prison after 10 years and was having a hard time adjusting to life on the outside, who do you think would be able to relate to them and help them the most? Someone who's lived in church their whole life, or someone who spent time in prison? God can use anybody, and they don't necessarily have to have experience with what you're going through to help, but God uses broken people all the time, and the ways in which you've been broken are actually the ways in which he can use you the most. Those scars are what give you the strength and experience to help someone who's struggling with what you already went through.
When your heart hurts, these reasons don't stop your hurt, and they aren't meant to. These reasons are to help you understand. The only treatment for a hurting heart is love: God's love and the love of people God will use to help you. God has been loving you since before you were born, and he loves you right now, no matter where you are in life. Let God's love help you today.
Everything happens for a reason, even the bad things, but God can use all of it for good.
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Feeling like there's something wrong with you or you can't do anything right?
For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
If you think about this verse, realize that God doesn't make mistakes. That means he didn't make any mistakes when he made you. Not only that, but he calls you a MASTERPIECE. You don't say that about something you made that is ok. You say it about something that is the best work you've done, so quit questioning if you're good enough. You may not be perfect, but you're perfect for the plan God has for your life. Read the second part of that verse again. God has a plan for your life, which means you were created for a purpose. You weren't an accident. Let me ask you a question: If you were struggling with an issue with raising your kids, would you want or trust advice from someone who never had any kids? I know I wouldn't. This is why God likes to use broken people. The areas you've struggled in and the ways you've been hurt make you someone God can use to reach others who are hurting in the same ways or struggling with the same things. A lot of people wonder why they are in a particular place in their life, either physically (like a location) or emotionally (like grieving over a lost loved one) or spiritually (like struggling to hear God's voice). Sometimes your purpose in such a place isn't about the place. Sometimes it's about someone else around you who's stuck in that place, and God wants to use you to help that person. Praying and reading your Bible are the best ways to understand God's direction for your life, so when you don't know why you are where you are, start looking around to see if God has given you an assignment.
I keep making mistakes
I, only I, am He who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake,
And I will not remember your sins.
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
I keep making mistakes too! You will never be perfect, but as long as you forgive others, God will continue to forgive you. Notice He didn't say He would forgive you but remember and use it against you later when you make the same mistake again. It says He "will not remember your sins." It's as if they never happened. THAT'S how great God's grace and mercy is for us if we just ask for it.
Need some hope?
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
God never gives you more than you can handle, so if you're feeling overwhelmed, remember that God already knows you have the strength to make it if you use all the tools at your disposal. God's always there, just waiting for you to ask him for his help.
Once saved, always saved?
“Therefore, son of man, say to your people, ‘If someone who is righteous disobeys, that person’s former righteousness will count for nothing. And if someone who is wicked repents, that person’s former wickedness will not bring condemnation. The righteous person who sins will not be allowed to live even though they were formerly righteous.’
If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done.
Just to clarify: This is addressing those who believe that once they are saved they can do anything they want and get away with it because all is forgiven. God sees what's in your heart, and trying to cheat using technicalities simply isn't going to work. These verses are NOT saying that as someone who is saved, if you commit a sin but then die before you can repent, that sin will keep you out of heaven; it will not. God sees your heart, and his grace will cover you.
Want to declare who you serve?
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
I plan to continue adding verses here that address a variety of issues. My intent here is to give short, easy-to-read, helpful information. If you want to read more or one of the verses here speaks to you, you might want to click on the reference link and read the whole chapter so you get the full context of what's being said.
The Bible isn't for God. It's for US. It's got a lot of knowledge and advice, but it's also full of passages about God's love for us. If you need help with something, pray. In 1 Peter 3:12, the Bible says that God is always listening.