I am sick
¡V James 5:13-16 ¡V
Is anyone among you suffering? He should keep on praying about it. And those who have reason to be thankful should
continually be singing praises to the Lord.
Is anyone sick? He should call for the elders of the church and they should pray over him and pour a little oil upon
him, calling on the Lord to heal him. And their prayer, if offered in faith, will heal him, for the Lord will make
him well; and if his sickness was caused by some sin, the Lord will forgive him.
Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man
has great power and wonderful results.
I am afraid
- Psalms 27 -
The Lord is my light and my salvation; He protects me from danger - whom shall I fear?
When evil men come to destroy me, they will stumble and fall! Yes, though a mighty army marches against me, my heart shall know no fear! I am confident that God will save me.
The one thing I want from God, the thing I seek most of all, is the
privilege of meditating in His Temple, living in His presence every day
of my life, delighting in His incomparable perfections and glory.
There I 'll be when troubles come. He will hide me. He will set me on
a high rock out of reach of all my enemies. Then I will bring him
sacrifices and sing His praises with much joy.
Listen to my pleading, Lord! Be merciful and send the help I need.
My heart has heard you say, 'Come and talk with me. O my people.'
And my heart responds, 'Lord, I am coming.'
'Oh, do not hide yourself when I am trying to find you. Do not angrily
reject your servant. You have been my help in all my trials before;
don't leave me now. Don't forsake me, O God of my salvation. For if
my father and mother should abandon me, you would welcome and comfort me.
Tell me what to do, O Lord, and make it plain because I am surrounded
by waiting enemies. Don't let them get me, Lord! Don't let me fall
into their hands! For they accuse me of things I never did, and all
the while are plotting cruelty. I am expecting the Lord to rescue me
again, so that once again I will see His goodness to me here in the
land of the living.
Don't be impatient. Wait for the Lord, and He will come and save you! Be brave, stouthearted and courageous. Yes, wait and He will help you.
- Psalms 91:1 - 16 -
We live within the shadow of the Almighty, sheltered by the God who is
above all gods.
This I declare, that He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is
my God, and I am trusting Him. For He rescues you from every trap, and
protects you from the fatal plague. He will shield you with His wings!
They will shelter you. His faithful promises are your armor. Now you
don't need to be afraid of the dark any more, nor fear the dangers of
the day; nor dread the plagues of darkness, nor disasters in the morning.
Though a thousand fall at my side, though ten thousand are dying around me,
the evil will not touch me. I will see how the wicked are punished but I will
not share it. For Jehovah is my refuge! I choose the God above all gods to
shelter me. How then can evil overtake me or any plague come near? For
He orders His angels to protect you wherever you go. They will steady you
with their hands to keep you form stumbling against the rocks on the trail.
You can safely meet a lion or step on poisonous snakes, yes, even trample
them beneath your feet!
For the Lord says, 'Because he loves me, I will rescue him; I will make him
great because he trusts in my name. When he calls on me I will answer; I
will be with him in trouble, and rescue him and honor him. I will satisfy
him with a full life and give him my salvation.'
I am weak
- Psalms 121:1-8 -
Shall I look to the mountain gods for help? No! My help is from
Jehovah who made the mountains! And the heavens too! He will never
let me stumble, slip or fall. For He is always watching, never sleeping.
Jehovah Himself is caring for you! He is your defender. He protects
you day and night. He keeps you from all evils, and preserves your
life. He keeps his eye upon you as you come and go, and always guards you.
I am worried about tomorrow
- Matthew 6:25 - 30 -
'So my counsel is: Don't worry about things - food, drink, and clothes.
For you already have life and a body - and they are far more important
than what to eat and wear. Look at the birds! They don't worry about
what to eat - they don't need to sow or reap or store up food - for
your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to Him
than they are. Will all your worries add a single moment to your life?'
And why worry about your clothes? Look at the field lilies! They
don't worry about theirs. Yet King Solomon in all his glory was not
clothed as beautifully as they. And if God cares so wonderfully for
flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't He more surely
care for you, O men of little faith?
- Philippians 4:6 - 7 -
Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything: tell God
your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do
this you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than
the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and
your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.
- 1 Peter 5:7 -
Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking
about you and watching everything that concerns you.
I am facing death
- Psalms 23 -
Because the Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need! He lets me
rest in the meadow grass and leads me beside the quiet streams. He
gives me new strength. He helps me do what honors Him the most.
Even when walking through the dark valley of death I will not be afraid,
for you are close beside me, guarding, guiding all the way.
You provide delicious food for me in the presence of my enemies. You
have welcomed me as your guest; blessings overflow!
Your goodness and unfailing kindness shall be with me all of my life,
and afterwards I will live with you forever in your home.
- Romans 8:1 -2 -
So there is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ
Jesus. For the power of the life-giving Spirit - and this power is
mine through Christ Jesus - has freed me from the vicious circle of sin and death.
- Romans 14:7 - 9 -
We are not our own bosses to live or die as we ourselves might choose.
Living or dying we follow the Lord. Either way we are His. Christ
died and rose again for this very purpose, so that He can be our Lord
both while we live and when we die
- John 6:35 - 40 -
Jesus replied, ' I am the Bread of Life. No one coming to me will
ever be hungry again. Those believing in me will never thirst. But the
trouble is, as I have told you before, you haven't believed even though
you have seen me. But some will come to me - those the Father has
given me - and I will never, never reject them. For I have come here
from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to have my own way.
And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all
those He has given me, but Father's will that everyone who sees His Son
and believes on Him should have eternal life - that I should raise Him
at the Last Day.'
- John 11:25 - 27 -
Jesus told her, 'I am the one who raise the dead and gives them life again.
Anyone who believes in me, even though He dies like anyone else, shall live
again. He is given eternal life for believing in me and shall never perish.
Do you believe this, Martha?'
'Yes, Master,' she told Him. 'I believe you are the Messiah, the Son
of God, the one we have so long awaited.'
- John 14:1 - 7 -
'Let not your heart be troubled. You are trusting God, now trust in me. There are many homes up there where my Father lives, and I am going to prepare them for your coming. When everything is ready, then I will come and get you, so that you can always be with me where I am. If this weren't so, I would tell you plainly. And you know where I am going and how to get there.'
'No, we don't,' Thomas said. 'We haven't any idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?'
Jesus told him, 'I am the Way - yes, and the Truth and the Life. No one can get to the Father except by means of me. If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my father is. From now on you know Him - and have seen Him!'
- 1 Corinthians 15:35 - 57 -
But someone may ask, 'How will the dead be brought back to life again? What kind of bodies will they have?' What a foolish question! You will find the answer in your own garden! When you put a seed into the ground it doesn't grow into a plant unless it 'dies' first. And when the green shoot comes up out of the seed, it is very different from the seed you first planted. For all you put into the ground is a dry little seed of wheat, or whatever it is you are planting, then God gives it a beautiful new body - just the kind He wants it to have; a different kind of plant grows from each kind of seed. And just as there are different kinds of seeds and plants, so also there are different kinds of flesh. Humans, animals, fish, and birds are all different.
The angels in heaven have bodies far different from ours, and the beauty and the glory of their bodies is different from the beauty and the glory of ours. The sun has one kind of glory while the moon and stars have another kind. And the stars differ from each other in their beauty and brightness.
In the same way, our earthly bodies which die and decay are different from the bodies we shall have when we come back to life again, for they will never die. The bodies we have now embarrass us for they become sick and die; but they will be full of glory when we come back to life again. Yes, they are weak, dying bodies now, but when we live again they will be full of strength. They are just human bodies at death, but when they come back to life they will be superhuman bodies. For just as there are natural, human bodies, there are also supernatural, spiritual bodies.
The Scriptures tell us that the first man, Adam, was given a natural, human body but Christ is more than that, for He was life-giving Spirit.
First, then, we have these human bodies and later on God gives us spiritual, heavenly bodies. Adam was made from the dust of the earth, but Christ came from heaven above. Every human being has a body just like Adam's, made of dust, but all who become Christ's will have the same kind of body as His - a body from heaven. Just as each of us now has a body like Adam's, so we shall some day have a body like Christ's.
I tell you this, my brothers: an earthly body made of flesh and blood cannot get into God's Kingdom. These perishable bodies of ours are not the right kind to live forever.
But I am telling you this strange and wonderful secret: we shall not all die, but we shall all be given new bodies! It will all happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For there will be a trumpet blast from the sky and all the Christians who have died will suddenly become alive, with new bodies that will never, never die; and then we who are still alive shall suddenly have new bodies too. For our earthly bodies, the ones we have now that can die, must be transformed into heavenly bodies that cannot perish but will live forever.
When this happens, then at last this Scripture will come true - 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' O death, where then your victory? Where then your sting? For sin - the sting that causes death - will all be gone; and the law, which reveals our sins, will no longer be our judge. How we thank God for all of this! It is He who makes us victorious through Jesus Christ our Lord!
- 2 Corinthians 5:1- 10 -
For we know that when this tent we live in now is taken down - when we die and leave these bodies - we will have wonderful new bodies in heaven, homes that will be ours forevermore, made for us by God Himself, and not by human hands. How weary we grow of our present bodies. That is why we look forward eagerly to the day when we shall have heavenly bodies which we shall put on like new clothes. For we shall not be merely spirits without bodies. These earthly bodies make us groan and sigh, but we wouldn't like to think of dying and having no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will, as it were, be swallowed up by everlasting life. This is what God has prepared for us and, as a guarantee, He has given us His Holy Spirit.
Now we look forward with confidence to our heavenly bodies, realizing that every moment we spend in these earthly bodies is time spent away from our eternal home in heaven with Jesus. We know these things are true by believing, not by seeing. And we are not afraid, but are quite content to die, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So our aim is to please Him always in everything we do, whether we are here in this body or away from this body and with Him in heaven. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged and have our lives laid bare - before Him. Each of us will receive whatever he deserves for the good or bad things he has done in his earthly body.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13 - 18 -
And now, dear brothers, I want you to know what happens to a Christian when he dies so that when it happens, you will not be full of sorrow, as those are who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and then came back to life again, we can also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with Him all the Christians who have died.
I can tell you this directly form the Lord: that we who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to meet Him ahead of those who are in their graves. For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a mighty shout and with the soul-stirring cry of the archangel and the great trumpet-call of God. And the believers who are dead will be the first to rise to meet the Lord. Then we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with Him forever. So comfort and encourage each other with this news.
I have hopes
- 2 Corinthians 4:16 - 18 -
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our inner strength in the Lord is growing every day. These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and won't last very long. Yet this short time of distress will result in God's richest blessing upon us forever and ever! So we do not look at what we can see right now, the troubles all around us, but we look forward to the joys in heaven which we have not yet seen. The troubles will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.
- Romans 8:18 - 39 -
Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later. For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day when God will resurrect His children. For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay - the things that overcame the world against its will at God's command - will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God's children enjoy.
For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as His children, including the new bodies He has promised us - bodies that will never be sick again and will never die.
We are saved by trusting. And trusting means looking forward to getting something we don't yet have - for a man who already has something doesn't need to hope and trust that he will get it. But if we must keep trusting God for something that has happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently.
And in the same way - by our faith - the Holy Spirit helps us with our daily problems and in our praying. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how to pray as we should; but the Holy Spirit prays for us with such feeling that it cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows, of course, what the Spirit is saying as he pleads for us in harmony with God's own will. And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into His plans.
For from the very beginning God decided that those who came to Him - and all along He knew who would - should become like His Son, so that His Son would be the First, with many brothers. And having chosen us, He called us to come to Him; and when we came, He declared us 'not guilty,' filled us with Christ's goodness, gave us right standing with himself, and promised us His glory.
What can we ever say to such wonderful things as these? If God is on our side, who can ever be against us? Since He did not spare even His own Son for us but gave Him up for us all, won't He also surely give us everything else?
Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? Will God? No! He is the one who has forgiven us and given us right standing with Himself.
Who then will condemn us? Will Christ? No! For He is the one who died for us and came back to life again for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us there in heaven.
Who then can ever keep Christ's love from us? When we have trouble or calamity, when we are hunted down or destroyed, is it because He doesn't love us anymore? And if we are hungry, or penniless, or in danger, or threatened with death, has God deserted us?
No, for the Scriptures tell us that for His sake we must be ready to face death at every moment of the day - we are like sheep awaiting slaughter; but despite all this, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us enough to die for us. For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from His love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels won't, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God's love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, or where we are - high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean - nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when He died for us.
I will praise the Lord
- Psalms 103:1 - 5 -
I bless the holy name of God with all my heart. Yes, I will bless the Lord and not forget the glorious things He does for me. He forgives all my sins. He heals me. He ransoms me from hell. He surrounds me with loving kindness and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things! My youth is renewed like the eagle's!
- Psalms 63:1 - 8 -
O God, my God! How I search for you! How I thirst for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. How I long to find you! How I wish I could go into your sanctuary to see your strength and glory, for your love and kindness are better to me than life itself. How I praise you! I will bless you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. At last I shall be fully satisfied; I will praise you with great joy.
I lie awake at night thinking of you - of how much you have helped me - and how I rejoice through the night beneath the protecting shadow of your wings. I follow close behind you, protected by your strong right arm.
I will become other's blessings
- 2 Corinthians 1:3 - 6 -
What a wonderful God we have - He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of every mercy, and the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials. And why does He do this? So that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can pass on to them this same help and comfort God has given us. You can be sure that the more we undergo sufferings for Christ, the more He will shower us with His comfort and encouragement. We are in deep trouble for bringing you God's comfort and salvation. But in our trouble God has comforted us - and this, too, to help you: to show you from our personal experience how God will tenderly comfort you when you undergo these same sufferings. He will give you strength to endure.
- 2 Corinthians 12:9 -
Each time He said, 'No. But I am with you; that is all you need. My power shows up best in weak people.' Now I am glad to boast about how weak I am; I am glad to be a living demonstration of Christ's power, instead of showing off my own power and abilities.
- 2 Timothy 1:8 - 10 -
If you will stir up this inner power, you will never be afraid to tell others about our Lord, or to let them know that I am your friend even though I am here in jail for Christ's sake. You will be ready to suffer with me for the Lord, for He will give you strength in suffering.
It is He who saved us and chose us for His holy work, not because we deserved it but because that was His plan long before the world began - to show His love and kindness to us through Christ. And now He has made all of this plain to us by the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ, who broke the power of death and showed us the way of everlasting life through trusting Him.
