The Bible always has something definite to say about personal problems, both spiritual and practical. It offers help without minimizing the problems and without giving the idea that it has some magic formula which guarantees instant success. The passages suggested on the following pages will help you personally, and in your relations with other people and God, because all through the Bible are important ideas concerned with relationships. Passages which are particularly helpful in this respect are Deuteronomy 6.4-5; Leviticus 19.33-34; Matthew 22.32-40; John 15.12. The passages are arranged under four headings to help you find exactly what you need to know.
Spiritual questions
what the Bible has to say about:
Christian courage and hope; read Romans 8.
What the church is really like; read 1 Corinthians 12, and the Letter of the Ephesians.
Doubt about God; look at Acts 17.22-28; Psalm 146; and Hebrews 11 which talk of God's presence and what it means to have faith.
Forgiveness; read Psalm 51 which is a prayer for forgiveness; then read Romans 7.19-25 which says what sin is; then Luke 15 and Philemon.
How to forgive; read Matthew 18.21-35, and learn how Jesus looks upon the sin of being unforgiving.
God; read Isaiah 40.12-31 and 43.1-21.
The Holy Spirit; John 16.5-15 and Acts 2.1-21.
How to learn humility; read Luke 18.9-14 and John 3.
Who Jesus really is; read John 6.10.
Becoming lax and indifferent; look at Matthew 25 and Revelation 3, and think about how you can change.
Leadership; read Matthew 20.20-29 and John 13.1-17 to see what Jesus says a leader should be like. Then read 1 Timothy 3 to see what Paul has to say.
How to pray; read Luke 11.1-13 and remember that is parable is a lesson of contrast.
You and God; look at Romans 8.28-39; John 14.6-13; Psalms 25,125,138 and see how precious you are to him.
Giving thanks; read any of the Psalms 95~97,98~100,101~103 and make them your own.
Knowing God's will; look at Micah 6.6-8; 1 John 4.7-21; Matthew 7.7-12; Psalm 119.9-16 to see how God wants us to live and what are the important considerations in our decisions.
The contents of text quotations are from BFBS, copyright (c) BFBS 1986