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Everyone needs encouragement.
Giving it may require rendering personal help or expressing appreciation.
Often it involves assisting someone to see how to cope with a difficult situation or discussing reasons for confidence in a better future.
The Bible provides the finest basis for such encouragement.I thought I'd put some encouraging scriptures in here:
For those experiencing trials because of ILLNESS—
Rev. 21:4, 5: “‘[God] will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.’ And the One seated on the throne said: ‘Look! I am making all things new.’ Also, he says: ‘Write, because these words are faithful and true.’”
Matt. 9:35: “Jesus set out on a tour of all the cities and villages, teaching . . . and preaching the good news of the kingdom and curing every sort of disease and every sort of infirmity.” (By associating such healing with his preaching about the Kingdom, Jesus provided a marvelous foreview of what he will do for mankind during his Millennial Reign.)
2 Cor. 4:13, 16: “We too exercise faith . . . Therefore we do not give up, but even if the man we are outside [our physical body] is wasting away, certainly the man we are inside is being renewed [or given fresh strength] from day to day.” (We may be wasting away in a physical sense. But spiritually we are being renewed as we continue to feed on God’s precious promises.)
See also Luke 7:20-23.For persons who have lost loved ones in DEATH—
Isa. 25:8, 9: “He will actually swallow up death forever, and the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will certainly wipe the tears from all faces. . . . And in that day one will certainly say: ‘Look! This is our God. We have hoped in him, and he will save us. This is Jehovah. We have hoped in him. Let us be joyful and rejoice in the salvation by him.’”
John 5:28, 29: “Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.”
John 11:25, 26: “Jesus said to her: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He that exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life; and everyone that is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all. Do you believe this?’”
Ps. 146:5, 9: “Happy is the one . . . whose hope is in Jehovah his God. . . . The fatherless boy and the widow he relieves.” (Right now God has such loving concern for bereaved ones.)
See also Luke 7:11-16; 8:49-56.For persons facing PERSECUTION because of doing God’s will—
Ps. 27:10: “In case my own father and my own mother did leave me, even Jehovah himself would take me up.”
1 Pet. 4:16: “If he suffers as a Christian, let him not feel shame, but let him keep on glorifying God in this name.”
Prov. 27:11: “Be wise, my son, and make my heart rejoice, that I may make a reply to him that is taunting me.” (By faithfulness we provide an answer to Satan’s false charge that no one suffering great hardship will continue to serve God.)
Matt. 5:10-12: “Happy are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, since the kingdom of the heavens belongs to them. Happy are you when people reproach you and persecute you and lyingly say every sort of wicked thing against you for my sake. Rejoice and leap for joy, since your reward is great in the heavens; for in that way they persecuted the prophets prior to you.”
Acts 5:41, 42: “[The apostles], therefore, went their way from before the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy to be dishonored in behalf of his name. And every day in the temple and from house to house they continued without letup teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ, Jesus.”
Phil. 1:27-29: “Only behave in a manner worthy of the good news about the Christ . . . and in no respect being frightened by your opponents. This very thing is a proof of destruction for them, but of salvation for you; and this indication is from God, because to you the privilege was given in behalf of Christ, not only to put your faith in him, but also to suffer in his behalf.”
For those disheartened because of INJUSTICE—
Ps. 37:10, 11: “Just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more; and you will certainly give attention to his place, and he will not be. But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”
Isa. 9:6, 7: “There has been a child born to us, there has been a son given to us; and the princely rule will come to be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. To the abundance of the princely rule and to peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom in order to establish it firmly and to sustain it by means of justice and by means of righteousness, from now on and to time indefinite. The very zeal of Jehovah of armies will do this.”
Dan. 2:44: “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite.”
See also Isaiah 32:1, 2; 2 Peter 3:13.For those hard pressed by ECONOMIC PROBLEMS—
Isa. 65:21, 22: “They will certainly build houses and have occupancy; and they will certainly plant vineyards and eat their fruitage. They will not build and someone else have occupancy; they will not plant and someone else do the eating. . . . The work of their own hands my chosen ones will use to the full.”
Ps. 72:8, 16: “He [the Messianic King] will have subjects from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. There will come to be plenty of grain on the earth; on the top of the mountains there will be an overflow.”
Matt. 6:33: “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things [material necessities of life] will be added to you.”
Rom. 8:35, 38, 39: “Who will separate us from the love of the Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or hunger or nakedness or danger or sword? For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor governments nor things now here nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creation will be able to separate us from God’s love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
See also Hebrews 13:5, 6.For individuals who are discouraged because of their own SHORTCOMINGS—
Ps. 34:18: “Jehovah is near to those that are broken at heart; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.”
Ps. 103:13, 14: “As a father shows mercy to his sons, Jehovah has shown mercy to those fearing him. For he himself well knows the formation of us, remembering that we are dust.”
Neh. 9:17: “You are a God of acts of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness.”
2 Pet. 3:9, 15: “Jehovah is not slow respecting his promise, as some people consider slowness, but he is patient with you because he does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance. Furthermore, consider the patience of our Lord as salvation.”
Can anyone add?
Who here doesn't need to be encouraged?dave
Hi Woutlaw, and Cubes,
Thanks for missing me (or at least, wondering where I've been).
I went to the lake for a week. The last week, I've been kind of busy, and this weekend, I was away as well. I find I get a lot more reading done when I 'm not on here every day. I plan on cutting down the amount of time I spend on here.
I also plan on adopting the words of C. T. Russel, in an effort to save myself some time:
“If you stop to kick at every dog that barks at you, you'll never get very far.”davie.
Quote (david @ July 18 2006,12:14) Hi Woutlaw, and Cubes,
Thanks for missing me (or at least, wondering where I've been).
I went to the lake for a week. The last week, I've been kind of busy, and this weekend, I was away as well. I find I get a lot more reading done when I 'm not on here every day. I plan on cutting down the amount of time I spend on here.
I also plan on adopting the words of C. T. Russel, in an effort to save myself some time:
“If you stop to kick at every dog that barks at you, you'll never get very far.”davie.
Davie,
Good to have you back… who else am I going to debate with on whether or not we should go to war?
It's been sweltering hot out here in NY state so far this week, how about blowing us just a little of some of that cool air from your neck of the woods since it seems you supply all the arctic chill in the winter time?Hey Cubes, It's actually been quite hot here. The province I live in kind of goes from one extreme to the next, being up to +40 celcius in the summer and down to -40 celcius in the winter. (I don't know what that is in farenheit) Right now, it's around plus 30 C, so quite hot here.
Quote who else am I going to debate with on whether or not we should go to war?
Cubes, “we” should not go to war. Let the world have it's wars. The world will be done away with soon enough. Actually, out of all the topics on here, the views of the people of this forum on war surprises me the most.Hi David,
The dogs don't bark at you but at the rattling chains of the JW prison they hear.
We all love you and want to see you free.Thankyou for loving me Nick. I could have also mentioned that one of the reasons i was away last week was because I went swimming and plugged my ear and got an ear infection and the right side of my face went numb, and I just didn't feel very good for a few days. I actually considered asking Nick about it. Anyway, I went to my doctor, and most of the numbness is now gone, and I can actually hear out of both ears. You don't realize how important something like hearing is, until it is taken away.
On what Nick said,
But when they say things that are lies, Nick? Then what? It's really not worth my time.
If they have something half positive to say, or wish to discuss scripture, fine. But every now and then, we have come across ones on here who like to name call, to revile, to say bad things loudly, and aren't able to defend what they say in the least. They just say everything so loudly. It's deafening.
If someone can only repeat the slanderous lies that have been circulated over the internet and not spend more than 5 minutes looking into these subjects, why should I bother?I'm going to quote something that is fairly strong that I pulled from another forum. This is a quote from a non-Witness:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/10189/1.ashx“I consider the “truth” about this and every other JW-related issue to be EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, because OBVIOUS HORSE[….] like “Russell was a Mason” only serves the WTS's objective of painting XJWs as NUTS and LIARS.”
That quote was submitted by someone called “madapostate.”People like to throw out strings of accusations, not really knowing where they originated. Most of them are half truths (meaning half lies) or completely laughably wrong. But yes, for those that spend only 5 minutes on the internet, you may come to believe that Russel was a mason for example.
But Nick, how did they paint Jesus? Would you have believed the bad talk about him? Or would you have dug deeper?This thread is about encouragement. When someone says “hello” to me by throwing out every bad thing they've “discovered” through their tabloid internet “research,” and I use that term rather loosely, I find that rather discouraging. It only shows how good Satan is at what he does.
david
Hi david,
Do you take personally criticism of denominations like the JW's?
Surely your foundations are deeper than such human groupings?
Surely such assaults against what is clearly imperfect are helpful and good for us and help us remove obstacles between us and the Father?
Do you agree or do you feel like the catholics that faith in the institution is vital and what God wants, and actually expresses your faith in God?Quote (david @ July 19 2006,03:25) Hey Cubes, It's actually been quite hot here. The province I live in kind of goes from one extreme to the next, being up to +40 celcius in the summer and down to -40 celcius in the winter. (I don't know what that is in farenheit) Right now, it's around plus 30 C, so quite hot here. Quote who else am I going to debate with on whether or not we should go to war?
Cubes, “we” should not go to war. Let the world have it's wars. The world will be done away with soon enough. Actually, out of all the topics on here, the views of the people of this forum on war surprises me the most.
I need a mnemonic tool to remember the conversion from C to F because I keep forgetting… it's 30 something, plus or minus… anyway, I could look it up but what's the sense when I keep forgetting it? If any one has such a way to remember it, please help!A friend at work shared with us the neat way of remembering which months have 31 days as opposed to 30. I remember it by the recitation, “30 days have september…” Anyway, some of you may know both but I thought it was quite neat and simple:
She makes a fist, each knuckle represents 31 days starting with the index… the first dip (depression) b/n index and 3rd finger represents 30 or less days…. Using this technique, the month ends on the last knuckle of the first hand on July; starting with the second fist, first knuckle and following the same technique gets all the way thru' December.
Quote Do you take personally criticism of denominations like the JW's?
Nick, there are certain people that make it their objective in life to slander what I consider to be God's organization. Let's take trinity as an example. There are hundreds of websites that speak of the trinity. About 95 percent of them speak directly against JW's because we do not believe that God is part of a trinity. These websites speak lies. Often, the lies are obvious. Sometimes, they are not so obvious, more clever. Now, if somebody that doesn't really know about the Bible decides they want to come on here and attack you, Nick, because you don't believe the trinity and then they just repeat whatever they've heard on those websites, that bothers me. Doesn't it bother you? It's not what they say or what they believe. Its that others might believe without questioning it.Quote Surely such assaults against what is clearly imperfect are helpful and good for us and help us remove obstacles between us and the Father?
Jehovah's Witnesses are not perfect. It is made up of imperfect humans. You, nor I are perfect Nick. Assaults I don't mind. This is what I do mind:An example:
“Nick, you are crazy. Everything you say is clearly wrong. You don't believe Jesus is God? Insane. Utter Nonsence. Blasphemy. So please! Don't attempt to say anything. I have read your words. Your grandpa stole something once. I believe he had mob connections. Your wife doesn't believe what you say. Why should I? etc, etc, etc.”Of course, i don't believe anything I just said. But notice I didn't bother with facts. It's just slander with a clear purpose in mind. Would you consider that assault on you to be “helpful and good”? I wouldn't.
Quote Do you agree or do you feel like the catholics that faith in the institution is vital and what God wants, and actually expresses your faith in God? Nick, I simply believe that throughout history, Jehovah has most often had a people, and that Jehovah is a God of order. The fact that many who claim to be that people does in no way disprove in itself that he doesn't have a people–it only proves that most (not all) are wrong.
Nick, let me ask you this: It's the close of the first century. You're surrounded by faithful men of old, ones who learned from and knew the apostles and older men of the congregations. Now I don't know what you would call it, “faith in the institution,” but you would have felt something for the association of brothers.
Quote She makes a fist, each knuckle represents 31 days starting with the index… the first dip (depression) b/n index and 3rd finger represents 30 or less days…. Using this technique, the month ends on the last knuckle of the first hand on July; starting with the second fist, first knuckle and following the same technique gets all the way thru' December.
Hey cubes. Actually, I've never been good at remembering the days of the months. About 2 years ago, I came across this exact way. It's perfect for me, because I also use my fingers as a calculator. Why not as a calander too.David,
Glad your ear infection is much improved now. Sorry too about your feeling hurt over the things you recounted. In the long run, we can each only be responsible for our own accountability to Jesus, no? As Nick said, we love you.
Quote (Cubes @ July 19 2006,18:35) A friend at work shared with us the neat way of remembering which months have 31 days as opposed to 30. I remember it by the recitation, “30 days have september…” Anyway, some of you may know both but I thought it was quite neat and simple: She makes a fist, each knuckle represents 31 days starting with the index… the first dip (depression) b/n index and 3rd finger represents 30 or less days…. Using this technique, the month ends on the last knuckle of the first hand on July; starting with the second fist, first knuckle and following the same technique gets all the way thru' December.
Funny thing was I knew about the '30 has September' one, but my wife showed me the knuckle one just this week. I thought it was very clever.To david.
The first century believers were called Christians. There wasn't this division where some were called Christians and another bunch called say Aliens or WJs or Mentalcostals.
There were just 2 groups. The second group is the world and some of that second group pretended to be in the first.
Now fast forward a couple of millenia and we probably have a couple of million denominations. Who knows how many?
But the truth is that there are just 2 groups, (I guess 3 as I should include the Jews, and perhaps more if we include 144000 etc). But for gentiles who have been saved by grace, lets look at the 2 groups we can choose to belong. The Church or the world.
So where do the JWs fit into that. Are they the whole Church, or the World?
1) If you say the whole Church, you are wrong.
2) If you say part of the Church, you may be wrong too, if the JWs claim exclusivity. Do they?
3) The world is where I put this organisation. But I also believe that there are members in that organisation that are in the Church too. In other words I think there are true believers or children of God probably in many perhaps, most denominations and other bodies. That is why we are told to come out of Babylon.But nothing has really changed. There is still the Church and the World. The world pretends to be the church at times and the church acts like the world at times. That is unfortunate, but it is reality. But that blurring of the groups doesn't change the truth that there is the Church and the World.
Perhaps if you want to answer this post extensively we can move over to a more appropriate discussion.
Your servant in Christ.
Hey t8. I'm not sure what this post is doing in the “encouragement” thread. I'm not sure this is a “more appropriate” thread. You already posted it somewhere else. And I responded, somewhere else.
Hi,
Matt 7
” 7Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:8For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
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