Tag: Suffering
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Insomnia
Job 7:4 NIV: When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’ The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn. Next up in my series exploring different facets of anxiety is insomnia. Of all the ways anxiety presents, this one may be the most relatable. Even the book of…
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My Rock
Psalm 62:1-2 NIV: Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly, he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. I would call myself a visual person when it comes to my prayer time. Yes, I use words at times, but other times…
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Jars of Clay
2 Corinthians 4:7-9 NIV: But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed If you need encouragement, this verse and…
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Comfort
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. Repetitive words in scripture should…
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Knock
Luke 11:8 NIV: “…yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.” I haven’t been able to get the phrase “shameless audacity” out of my mind since reading this passage on prayer in the book of Luke. In the original Greek, it’s a single word:…
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Wounds
John 20:27 NIV: He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Poor Thomas, his claim to fame as a disciple stems from this encounter. He just happened to be the one disciple who wasn’t there when Jesus appeared…
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When you…
Isaiah 43:2 NIV: 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. The question is never whether you will go through hard…
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Jesus Wept
John 11:35 NIV: “Jesus wept.” Known in many trivia questions as the shortest verse in the Bible, this verse is paradoxically rich in meaning. The context is everything to understanding this simple statement recorded by John in his gospel writing. Chapter 11 tells us that Jesus’s close friend Lazarus is very sick. Jesus is at…
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Not Consumed
Lamentations 3:22 NIV “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.” This verse is part of a greater section of Lamentations that I adore. This chapter starts off very grim. The author of this writing, Jeremiah, laments all the things afflicting him. He mentions being mocked, deprived of peace,…
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Desperation
Mark 5:28 KJV: “For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.” When you hear the word desperation, what comes to mind? The definition was stronger than I realized. The Oxford Dictionary defines desperation as “a state of despair, typically one which results in rash or extreme behavior.” When were you last…
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Yet I Will
Habakkuk 3:18 NIV: “yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” If you were to just read this verse on its own, it would be unremarkable. Finding joy or rejoicing in God seems to be a common theme throughout the Bible. For the most part, if life is…
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Abide
John 15:4 ASV “Abide in me, and I in you.” Abide is most definitely not a word we use frequently today. When’s the last time you heard someone say, “I’ll just abide here until you get back.” Probably, the best contemporary substitute in English is stay, so this verse could read, “Stay in me and…