Some poems about our situation before God
Jesus for Life
SELECTED
PASSAGES FOR
PRAYERFUL
MEDITATION
We are all different, yet we seem to be assailed by many
similar thoughts and concerns. The following selection of
passages from the Bible may provide you with material
for further deep thought and consideration. We suggest
that you do pray to God that He will open the eyes of
your understanding, so that you may truly understand
what He is saying to you here.
___________________________________________________
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who
has become for us wisdom from God - that is, our
righteousness, holiness and redemption.
1 Corinthians
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things
that come from the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them,
because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians
For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you
proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
1
Corinthians
For what I received I passed on to you as of first
importance: that Christ died for our sins according to
the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised
on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he
appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
1
Corinthians 15:3-6 (NIV)
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his
Son, purifies us from all sin.
1
John 1:7 (NIV)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness.
1
John 1:9 (NIV)
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not
sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks
to the Father in our defence -
Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
1
John 2:1 (NIV)
We know that we have passed from death to life,
because we love our brothers.
Anyone who does not love remains in death.
1
John
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son.
1
John
I write these things to you who believe in the name of
the Son of God so that you may know that you have
eternal life.
1
John
Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will
you waver between two opinions?
If the LORD is God, follow him;
but if Baal is God, follow him."
1
Kings 18:21a (NIV)
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death
and destruction. For I command you today to love the
LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his
commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and
in the land you are entering to possess.
But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient,
and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods
and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will
certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land
you are crossing the
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against
you that I have set before you life and death,
blessings and curses.
Now choose life, so that you and your children may live
and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his
voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life,
and he will give you many years in the land he swore to
give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Deuteronomy
30:15-20 (NIV)
Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in
sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your
fathers served on the other side of the flood,
and in
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose
you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods
which your fathers served that were
on the other side of the flood,
or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell:
but as for me and my house,
we will serve the LORD.
Joshua
24:14-15 (KJV)
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed,
but of imperishable,
through the living and enduring word of God.
1
Peter
though you do not see him now, you believe in him
and
1
Peter 1:8 (NIV)
… you also, like living stones, are being built into a
spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God through
Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a
stone in
the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.
But to those who do not believe, "The stone the
builders rejected has become the capstone,"
1
Peter 2:5-7 (NIV)
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people belonging to God, that you may
declare the praises of him who called you
out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1
Peter 2:9
To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you,
leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
"He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth."
1 Peter 2:21-22
(NIV)
Your beauty should not come from outward
adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of
gold jewellery and fine clothes. Instead, it should be
that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle
and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.
1
Peter 3:3-4 (NIV)
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who
asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect, ….
1
Peter
This is good, and pleases God our Saviour,
who wants all men to be saved and to come to a
knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and
one
who gave himself as a ransom for all men -
the testimony given in its proper time.
1
Timothy 2:3-6 (NIV)
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will
abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and
things taught by demons. Such teachings come
through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have
been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to
marry and order them to abstain from certain foods,
which God created to be received with thanksgiving
by those who believe and who know the truth.
1
Timothy 4:1-3 (NIV)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2
Corinthians
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that
in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2
Corinthians
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do
righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or
what fellowship can light have with darkness? What
harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What
does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
What agreement is there between the
temple
of
For we are the temple of the living God.
As God has said:
"I will live with them and walk among them, and
I will be their God, and they will be my people."
"Therefore come out from them and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
"I will be a Father to you, and
you will be
says the Lord Almighty."
2
Corinthians 6:14-18 (NIV)
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
2
Corinthians
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for
my power is made perfect in weakness."
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my
weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
2
Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the
teaching of Christ does not have God;
whoever continues in the teaching has both
the Father and the Son.
2
John 9 (NIV)
For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man,
but men spoke from God
as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
2
Peter
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance
with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of
counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in
every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.
They perish because they refused to love the truth and
so be saved. For this reason God sends them a
powerful delusion so that they will believe
the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not
believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
2
Thessalonians 2:9-12 (NIV)
…. Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
2
Corinthians
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents,
ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving,
slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the
good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness
but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
2
Timothy 3:2-5 (NIV)
.... while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse,
deceiving and being deceived
2
Timothy
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in
righteousness, so that the man of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2
Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)
After Jesus said this, he was taken up before their very eyes,
and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going,
when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives,
a Sabbath day's walk from the city. When they arrived,
they went upstairs to the room where they were staying.
Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot,
and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
Acts
1:9-14 (NIV)
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved.
Acts
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and
to the fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Acts
Salvation is found in no one else,
for there is no other name under heaven given to men
by which we must be saved."
Acts
But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves
whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than
God. For we cannot help speaking about what
we have seen and heard."
Acts
4:19-20 (NIV)
Peter
and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!
Acts
5:29 (NIV)
God exalted him to his own right hand as
Prince and Saviour that he might give
repentance and forgiveness of sins to
Acts
So the word of God spread. The number of
disciples in
number of priests became obedient to the faith.
Acts
6:7 (NIV)
Then Philip began with that very passage of
Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
Acts
The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on
Straight Street and ask for a man from
Tarsus
named
Saul, for he is praying.
Acts
He then brought them out and asked,
"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and
you will be saved - you and your household."
Acts
All the prophets testify about him that
everyone who
receives forgiveness of sins
Acts
16:30-31
Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians,
for they received the message with great eagerness and
examined
the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Acts
17:11-12 (NIV)
But I have had God's help to this very day, and so I
stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am
saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses
said would happen - that the Christ would suffer and,
as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim
light to his own people and to the Gentiles."
Acts
26:22-23 (NIV)
See to it that no one takes you captive through
hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on
human tradition and the basic principles of this world
rather than on Christ.
Colossians
2:8 (NIV)
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your
hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the
right hand of God. Set your minds on things above,
not on earthly things. For you died, and
your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Colossians
3:1-3 (NIV)
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as
members of one body you were called to peace.
And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you
teach and admonish one another with all wisdom,
and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs
with gratitude in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:15-16
(NIV)
Then the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard
the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a
voice. He declared to you his covenant, the
Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to
follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets.
And the LORD directed me at that time to teach you the
decrees and laws you are to follow in the land that you
are crossing the
of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you
at Horeb out of the fire.
Therefore watch yourselves very carefully,
so that you do not become corrupt and make for
yourselves an idol, an image of any shape,
whether formed like a man or a woman,
Deuteronomy
4:12-16 (NIV)
There is not a righteous man on earth
who does what is right and never sins.
Ecclesiastes 7:20
(NIV)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms
with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Ephesians
1:3 (NIV)
… he predestined us to be adopted as his sons
through Jesus Christ,
in accordance with his pleasure and will
Ephesians
1:5 (NIV)
In him we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins,
in accordance with the riches of God's grace
Ephesians
1:7 (NIV)
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and
sins, in which you used to live when you
followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the
kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work
in those who are disobedient.
Ephesians
2:1-2 (NIV)
…. built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, with Christ Jesus himself
as the chief cornerstone.
Ephesians
But because of his great love for us, God,
who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ
- even when we were dead in transgressions -
it is by grace you have been saved.
Ephesians
2:4-5 (NIV)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith
- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -
not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians
2:8-9 (NIV)
"You shall have no other gods before me.
"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of
anything in heaven above or on the earth
beneath or in the waters below.
"You shall not bow down to them or worship them;
for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God,
punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the
third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but
showing love to a thousand generations of those who