My Favorite Scriptures When I'm Fearful

by Perry 8 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Perry

  

  Isaiah 41:13 ESV

  For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

  Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV

  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.

  John 16:33 ESV

  I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

  Psalm 23:1-6

  A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ...

  Psalm 119:105

  Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

  Matthew 6:25-7:29

  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ...

  Deuteronomy 31:8

  It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

  Joshua 1:9

  Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

  Psalm 25:1-22

  Of David. To you, O Lord , I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. Make me to know your ways, O Lord ; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. ...

  John 14:1-31

  “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself,

  1 Corinthians 14:33

  For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,

  Romans 8:39

  Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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  sspo

  Glad the scriptures help you out and provide comfort to you.

  A long time ago they worked for me also.
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  Perry

  They never worked for me when I was a JW. Back then, I got a lot more of what I thought was comfort by reading the WT. The promises of God were always filtered through my performance as a Christian publisher. Now, I have direct access. It is awesome to experience the closeness and enormity of God.
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  sspo

  The only problem with that Perry is i feel it's like a one way street.

  You talk to him, you pray to him, you praise him, you make plans with him and then you yourselves have to figure out whether he has acted in your behalf. After praying to him and things don't turn out the way you wanted, must likely you will excuse him..."it's not his will and his thoughts are higher than mine".

  Keep doing what you're doing if it works for you.
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  rawe

  Hi Perry,

  While I'm an atheist and don't believe the Bible is the Word of God, I continue to read it regularily and some of verses still resonate with me. Here are a few...

  Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld. - Hebrews 11:1

  Many times you'll see comments disparaging faith. Certainly where 'faith' stands in for belief in the highly unlikely, maybe even harmful, then I too would say that I don't admire such faith. But here faith is connected to "hope" and belief in what is "real." Thus I feel that hope and belief in something that is likely real -- but just out of reach for the moment -- is important. I see it in my work as a software engineer. Much of my work is not creating new software as much as it is hunting down bugs in existing systems. Having a sort of unshakable faith that logic will prevail and given enough time and energy any bug can be teased out into the open and understood and solved.

  The senseless one has said in his heart: "There is no Jehovah." They have acted ruinously, they have acted detestably in [their] dealing. There is no one doing good. - Psalms 14:1 (repeated as Psalms 53).

  True, this verse calls atheists such as myself 'senseless' (a 'fool' in other translations). But using it as a mere put down misses some important conclusions the next words speak to -- doing good and avoiding acting ruinously and being destestable in our dealings. I have little doubt the Psalmist literally means a real existing Creator God when he says "Jehovah." However, I don't think it is going too far afield to read this verse as "There is no moral authority" and then think about where denial of such would lead. So I see myself, even as an atheist, continuing to "seek Jehovah" (verse 2) in the sense of continuing to look for insight and find the best way forward in terms of how to act towards myself and others.

  Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of torrents of oil? Shall I give my firstborn son for my revolt, the fruitage of my belly for the sin of my soul? 8 He has told you, O earthling man, what is good. And what is Jehovah asking back from you but to exercise justice and to love kindness and to be modest in walking with your God - Micah 6:8

  Bible writers truly reach wonderful conclusions at certain points! Perhaps even reflecting on what they saw as misguided approaches to worship in others. In this case making great sacrifices. How much better off would the world be if all that we committed to do religious or not was to "exercise justice", "love kindness" and "be modest"?

  Of course they are many others -- such as how Proverbs opens up with the focus on gaining wisdom and how important that is, etc.

  Cheers,

  -Randy
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  70wksfyrs

  Hi Perry,

  Thanks for the scriptures, and this thread. Many brothers and sisters have made comments to me over the years such as.

  "Yeah I know the Bible says God cares"

  "Why doesn't Jehovah answer my prayers?"

  "I am doing everything the bible says, and doing my best to apply the good moral standards of the bible, but I don't seem to be getting anywhere"

  As a JW I used to try and encourage them and confirm that Jehovah really does care about them, and he can see all their trials. I told them that Jehovah understands them better than I do. If I can see their frustration and dispair, then how much more so can Jehovah.

  Perry I have a question for you.

  You have been posting here for 8 years, but you only post in a limited way and don't get involved with athiests talking about science. As I haven't been able to see, you have probably answered this question in other posts years ago, but please repeat yourself on my account.

  Why do you believe what you do after so many years?

  Thanks for your thread Perry

  70wks...
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  xelder

  I want to be as repectful as I can here, but I think Perry inadvertantly described the situation well.

  FEAR , fear of bad, fear of death, ....the wish that somebody who cares is watching over and will make all things better.

  It certainly is understandable. Fear drives people to religion and then religion uses fear to control people.

  The Bible writer claims to quote God 'FEAR ME'
• 

  70wksfyrs

  oops
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  70wksfyrs

  xelder,

  You make a nice fuzzy point, which pleasantly surprises me. In my experience many men, especially elders are not warm and fuzzy. Having a hope about a benevolent invisable being may possibly make us feel better. Having a hope that things will improve for the better in our lives personally and in the future for mankind is a positive omptimistic view to have.

  I cannot say at this point whether or not I agree with your point. I do like warm and fuzzy however. I will mull over your point, it is worth the time.

  70wks...