12 Encouraging Verses For The New Year

I want to share just twelve short passages from the Bible to encourage you in this new year.  It is so imprtant to be in God’s Word daily and if you memorize scripture God will bring it to mind when you most need it.

WHEN MAKING PLANS

At the beginning of the year we make our plans and fill in the calendar with appointments and events but let us look for His guidance first.

Jeremiah 29:11   For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Proverbs 3:5–6   Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

WHEN YOU ARE DISCOURAGED

God will give us the strength needed to persevere.  Don’t give up!

Isaiah 40:28–31     Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.  He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;  but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Philippians 1:6b   He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

WHEN WE GET DISTRACTED

So many things vie for our attention it is easy to lose focus on what is really important.

Hebrews 12:1–2    Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

1 Corinthians 9:24–25     Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.   Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

 

WHEN WE FEEL OVERWHELMED

We tend to be very busy people, always on the go.  Social media often presents a picture of the rich and famous or a life free of problems but that is far from the truth.  Life presents all kinds of challenges, choices and disappointments.

1 Peter 5:7  …casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Philippians 4:5b–7     The Lord is at hand;  do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.   And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:13   I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

 

WHY WE HAVE HOPE

When we look at people and problems we get disouraged. The news leads us to believe that all chaos has broken out but we know God is in control.

Jeremiah 32:17   Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.

Romans 8:38–39   For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, (nothing)will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Peter 1:3–4    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

Dear Friends,  choose one of these verses and apply it to what ever you are facing today. May the God of hope give you peace and confidence in the year ahead.