In November and December 2008, people were asked to share Bible verses that have encouraged them
in their faith journey. Some of the verses include reflections of those who wanted to share.
May we all be encouraged by this glimpse of the Bible to meditate on and allow God’s word to sink deep
into our hearts.
If you would like to share verses that have encouraged you in your faith journey with others, please email
missions@sturge.org.
For the word of God is alive and powerful. Hebrews 4:12a (NLT)
My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart. If you do
this, you will live many years, and your life will be satisfying. Proverbs 3:1-2 (NLT)
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The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; The
LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)
This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that
you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous,
and then you shall have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; be
not frightened, neither be dismayed; for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:8-9
(RSV)
Joshua 1:8-9 - I thank God for the love of the Scriptures He has given me. I know it’s a gift from the Lord
because nothing in our old, fallen nature would lead us to love and revere God’s Word. I pray that I could
become better at obeying God’s Word. Anonymous
… the joy of the Lord is your strength!” Nehemiah 8:10 (NLT)
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me
beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's
sake. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with
me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine
enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23 (KJV)
Psalm 23 was my mother’s favorite passage. At the moment of her passing, we placed a Bible open to
this passage at the foot of her bed. As I read it out loud, it helped me a lot to start the grieving process,
knowing of God’s presence and gift of eternal salvation. Nanci
Recently, I experienced a concern and worry, when my husband was taken ill suddenly. While waiting in
the waiting room at the hospital, I happened to have a small book containing the New Testament and the
book of Psalms. I found the 23rd Psalm comforting, along with Proverbs 3:5-6, which I have always
liked. Lillian
The Lord is my light and my salvation – so why should I be afraid? The Lord protects me from danger –
so why should I tremble? Psalm 27:1 (NLT)
Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 (NIV)
Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10a (NIV)
Psalm 46:10a brought me a deep sense of peace and calmness as I awaited my 3 rd biopsy for breast
cancer. It was delayed as the surgeon had an emergency so my anxiety while waiting in pre-op, started
to mount. But this verse turned my feelings completely around. Nanci
Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth! Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before him, singing with
joy. Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of
his pasture. For the LORD is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to
each generation. Psalm 100:1-3, 5 (NLT)
Today is the day the LORD has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 (NLT)
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any
offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV)
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways
acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3 (NIV)
But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will
run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 (NLT)
Fear not for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass
through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the
LORD, your God…Isaiah 43:1-3a (NIV)
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our
peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV)
“…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…” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
“…Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and
find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring
you back from captivity…”
Jeremiah 29:12-14a (NIV)
Jeremiah 29:11-14 helps me to remember when we first started coming to church…how (I think) my faith
has grown and how I was so held captive by the secret of my mom being mentally ill. I still have some
areas of captivity but God is faithful. He will give me hope and a future and bring me back from captivity!
Lisa
What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your
God? Micah 6:8 (ESV)
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But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your
giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew
6:3-4 (NIV)
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble
of its own. Matthew 6:34 (NIV)
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and
with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:1-2 (NIV)
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and
learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is
easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
When I found out my son Tyler has cerebral palsy, it changed my life. Expectations adjusted, milestones
delayed, and time slowed. I went through the same process of grief, anger, and acceptance similar to
someone who had just lost a loved one. As Al Gore puts it in his film, An Inconvenient Truth, when his
own son had a severe accident, ‘it was almost as if you could look at that calendar, and just go (he
blows), and everything just blew off…seemed trivial, insignificant.’ Matthew 11:28-30, Matthew 16:25-26,
Matthew 6:33, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Proverbs 3:5-6, and James 1:2-4 are some of the verses which give
me perspective and encouragement over time. HWS
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will
it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for
his soul? Matthew 16:25-26 (NIV)
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard
seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible
for you." Matthew 17:20 (NIV)
…and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew 28:20 (KJV)
Matthew 28:20 - I really didn't realize this was my life verse until I was older and reflected back on my life
- I had taken chances, gone forward, unafraid, and I realized that it was because I knew that God was
always with me, that he would always be there for me, as long as I believed in him and in Jesus. Vivien
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for
many. Mark 10:45 (NLT)
I am trying to start my time with God every day with Colossians 4:2 in mind. Mark 10:45 and Proverbs
3:5-6 are pretty much my life verses. I also really like Philippians 2:5-8 as a guide on what it means to be
Christ-like. Tom
For nothing is impossible with God. Luke 1:37 (NIV)
Don’t be afraid; just believe… Luke 8:50 (NIV)
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...we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4 (NIV)
2 Corinthians 4:16-18, 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, Romans 8:28, Romans 5:3-4, Philippians 4:6-7, Proverbs
3:5-6 are some Scripture that encouraged me and gave me a sense of hope during my few years of
debilitating chronic pain and depression. Thuy-Hoa
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of
sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba Father." Romans 8:15 (NIV)
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 with groans that words cannot express. Romans 8:26 (NIV)
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. Romans 8:28 (NIV)
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the
future, nor any powers, 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. Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by
confessing with your mouth that you are saved.
Romans 10:9-10 (NLT)
For "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." But how can they call on him to save
them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him?
And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? Romans 10:13-14 (NLT)
A few years ago, I sat down (over the course of a number of months) to try to discern my own personal
mission statement. Romans 10:9-10 and Romans 10:13-14 are special to me and come from that effort.
God's mission for me comes from this passage, reinforcing that (although we don't want to be all "words"
and no action) words are important. These passages remind me that I need should be bold in sharing the
Gospel and that I need to use whatever gifts of communication (writing, speaking) that God has given me
to that end. Paul
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Romans 12:12 (NIV)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with
hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 (NIV)
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy
gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and
possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I
would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast
about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way.
It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices
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whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures
through every circumstance.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will
last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part
of the whole picture! But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish
things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect
clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as
God now knows me completely.
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13
(NLT)
For me, 1 Corinthians 13 embodies all that we should aspire to be as Christians and as authentic human
beings. It takes in not only the need to be authentic, but to be humble and respectful and mindful of the
fact that we can not know everything, that we are important to God only in our service in true regard and
love for God and for others. I am never, ever, perfect in this, and I repeat this chapter to myself when I'm
in danger of getting or have gotten too full of myself. Vivien
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being
renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far
outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is
temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for
you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my
weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in
weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (NIV)
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (NIV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control. Galatians 5:22-23a (NIV)
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider
equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient to death - even death on a cross! Philippians 2:5-8 (NIV)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present
your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)
In the uneasy times of my life, 1 Peter 5:7 and Philippians 4:6-7 have continued to bring me solace.
Originally, my sister gave me this verse when undergoing a mastectomy. It has brought me much comfort
in the years of parenting a teenage girl. I turn to this also in this very unsteady economic downturn.
Nanci
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Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13 (ESV)
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:17 (NIV)
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to
God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17 (NIV)
Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Colossians 4:2 (NLT)
Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who
belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NLT)
All Scripture is inspired by God, and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is
wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to
prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT)
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you
know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your
endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:2-4 (NLT)
If you need wisdom, if you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him and he will gladly tell you. He
will not resent your asking. James 1:5 (NLT)
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive,
full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of
righteousness. James 3:17-18 (NIV)
So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil and, and he will flee from you. Draw close to God,
and God will draw close to you. James 4:7-8 (NLT)
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil
prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith,
because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
1 Peter 5:7-9 (NIV)
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and
eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20 (NIV)
The reason I have chosen Revelation 3:20 is because the Lord has opened many doors for me. In my life
time, I have slammed the door and literally locked it, not letting Jesus in when he was knocking. An
example: When I was approached to be nominated for Vice-Moderator of the San Francisco Presbytery, I
literally slammed the door shut and locked it, as I really felt I couldn’t perform the tasks required of a ViceModerator and of course, not of a moderator. I prayed and prayed and spoke to some close friends and
relatives and they literally pried the door open and made me run through it. I have not regretted opening
that door as it has opened many more doors for me. The Lord willing, I will run through many more
doors!! Alice
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