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I have chosen a few passages from the Bible that offer me inspiration and encouragement. I hope you may find the same.
Ria Wayne Come to me and rest Jesus said, "If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. Take the yoke I give you. Put it on your shoulders and learn from me. I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest. This yoke is easy to bear, and this burden is light." Matthew 11: 28 - 30 (CEV translation) The story of The Prodigal Son Jesus told a story, "Once a man had two sons. The younger son said to his father, "Give me my share of the property." So the father divided the property between his two sons. Not long after that, the younger son packed everything he owned and left for a foreign country, where he wasted all his money in wild living. He had spent everything, when a bad famine spread through that whole land. Soon he had nothing to eat. He went to work for a man in that country, and the man sent him out to take care of his pigs. He would have been glad to eat what the pigs were eating, but no one gave him a thing. Finally he came to his senses and said, "My father’s workers have plenty to eat, and here I am, starving to death! I will go to my father and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you. I am no longer good enough to be called your son. Treat me like one of your workers.’ " The younger son got up and started back to his father. But when he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt sorry for him. He ran to his son and hugged and kissed him. The son said, "Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you. I am no longer good enough to be called you son." But his father said to the servants, "Hurry and bring the best clothes and put them on him. Give him a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. Get the best calf and prepare it, so we can eat and celebrate. This son of mine was dead, but now has come back to life. He was lost and has now been found." They began to celebrate. The older son had been out in the field. But when he came near the house, he heard the music and dancing. So he called one of the servants over and asked, "What’s going on here?" The servant answered, "Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father ordered us to kill the best calf." The older brother got so angry that he would not even go into the house. His father came out and begged him to go in. But he said to his father. "For years I have worked for you like a slave and have always obeyed you. But you have never even given me a little goat, so that I could give a dinner for my friends. This other son of yours wasted your money on prostitutes. And now that he has come home, you ordered the best calf to be killed for a feast." His father replied, "My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we should be glad and celebrate! Your brother was dead, but he is now alive. He was lost and now has been found." Luke 15:11 - 32 (CEV translation) Ask, seek and knock Jesus said, "Ask and you will receive, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive, everyone who searches will find, and the door will be opened for everyone who knocks. Which one of you would give your child a scorpion if the child asked for an egg? As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks." Luke 11:9 - 13 (CEV translation) Jesus is the Good Shepherd "I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest. I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd gives up his life for his sheep" John 10:10, 11 (CEV translation) We hope that you may be inspired by this familiar and wonderful hymn written by a man whose life was radically transformed by his faith in God. A M A Z I N G G R A C E Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see. ‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come; ‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home. The Lord has promised good to me, His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be As long as life endures. Yes, when this heart and flesh shall fail, And mortal life shall cease, I shall possess within the veil A life of joy and peace. John Newton 1725 - 1807 ‘John Newton was one of the most remarkable figures in the Evangelical Revival that swept through Britain in the eighteenth century. His father was a sailor and his mother died when he was seven. After only two years of schooling, he was sent to sea at the age of eleven. His early life was, by his own account godless and dissolute. Flogged for deserting from the navy at the age of twenty-two, he became captain of a ship engaged in the slave trade between Britain, West Africa and the West Indies. Three years later he underwent a dramatic conversion to Christianity, which seems to have started while he was reading ‘The Imitation of Christ’ by Thomas a Kempis, on a voyage across the Atlantic. A violent storm blew up, and Newton spent 9 hours manning the pumps and a further 17 hours at the ship’s wheel as the waves crashed around him. Several times he found himself crying aloud to God for protection. The storm eventually abated and Newton later traced the first stirrings of the ‘great change’ that was to turn him towards evangelical religion to his sense of deliverance after this terrible experience. Forsaking the slave trade and seafaring life, he became friendly with John Wesley and George Whitfield, the two leading figures in the Evangelical Revival and spent 9 years training for the Anglican ministry. In 1764 he was ordained and became curate at Olney, Buckinghamshire. There he collaborated with the poet, William Couper, a fellow Evangelical, to produce a collection of hymns, including 280 of his own compositions. He remained at Olney for 16 years and then went to London as rector at St. Mary Woolnoth, where he stayed until his death.’ Extract from ‘The Penguin Book of Hymns’ edited by Ian Bradley |
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