Bible Verses for Encouragement

When you're ready to give up

For the stretch where effort seems to lead nowhere.

• "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

  Galatians 6:9

  Harvest has its own season, and it's rarely the week you planted. The faithful thing you did today isn't wasted — it's in the ground.

• "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"

  Philippians 1:6

  You are not a project God starts and abandons. What he began in you, he intends to finish.

• "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

  Joshua 1:9

  Joshua was told to be strong for one reason only: God would be with him. Courage here isn't a personality — it's a companion.

• "And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed."

  Deuteronomy 31:8

  Before you, with you. Whatever tomorrow holds, God has already walked into it ahead of you.

When you need to hear you're loved

For when discouragement has become a story about your worth.

• "The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing."

  Zephaniah 3:17

  God doesn't merely tolerate you. This verse pictures him singing over you — glad you exist.

• "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

  Isaiah 41:10

  Strengthen, help, uphold — three promises stacked on top of each other, as if God knew one wouldn't be enough on a hard day.

• "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."

  Romans 15:13

  Hope here is something you're filled with, not something you manufacture. You can ask to be filled again today.

Encouragement to pass on

Sometimes the quickest way out of discouragement is to lift someone else.

• "Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do."

  1 Thessalonians 5:11

  Paul assumes we can't do this alone. Encouragement was always meant to travel between people.

• "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:"

  Hebrews 10:24

  "Consider" means to think carefully about someone. Who comes to mind right now? That might be your nudge.

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