Encouraging Bible Verses

by Richard Thompson and Mike Bennett

The Bible is the ultimate source for real help and encouragement. These 100+ encouraging Bible verses can still reach our hearts and minds today.

The Bible is God’s instruction book for His greatest physical creation: humanity. The guidelines, living principles and eternal laws that are contained in the Bible can help and encourage all of us, regardless of where we live or what challenges we face.

100+ encouraging Bible verses

There are so many encouraging and uplifting passages in the Bible, it is hard to choose which to list. But below are links to some of our favorite encouraging Bible verses in seven categories. You may also want to see our page on “Inspirational and Motivational Bible Verses.”

Encouraging verses reflect our loving, Creator God

Taken as a whole, the message of the entire Bible can give us encouragement because it shows us that God loves us and has a wonderful plan for us. Our Creator formed us in His image. Human beings have the capacity to be shaped spiritually by God through His Holy Spirit to become like He is in character.

Many verses in the Bible show us what God is like. They help us to know how we should think and define for us what is right and wrong—what is sin—in the eyes of God.

(Our bimonthly Discern magazine covers issues like this regularly. We’d be happy to give you a free subscription to Discern. Digital subscriptions are available worldwide; print subscriptions are currently available in the United States, Canada and much of Europe.)

In addition to specific laws of God, there are many encouraging Bible verses that help us to know that there is a loving, caring God who understands the frailties of human life. The Bible contains thousands of verses that give direction in our lives for the good times and the bad times.

By regularly studying the Bible, you will find encouragement and hope for both today and the future.

A closer look at an encouraging section of the Bible

Take, for example, Psalms 42 and 43.

The psalmist describes his sorrows and longings, and then tells himself three different times:

“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance [face]” (Psalms 42:5, 11; 43:5).

The last two verses end with “the help of my countenance and my God.”

The writer of these psalms provides us with hope to empower us to climb out of situations that cause our hearts and minds to become disquieted, discouraged or, as we sometimes say in the vernacular, “down.” These encouraging Bible verses tell us we can safely hope in God! They tell us that we will praise Him in the future for His help, as He personally helps us as if face to face.

These encouraging verses show God’s personal involvement

These verses tell us that God will intervene and help us by giving us His undivided attention to our immediate needs.These verses tell us that God will intervene and help us by giving us His undivided attention to our immediate needs. The psalmist encourages us to rely on our Creator for His help and know that He will help!

Regardless of what a person’s situation may be, the Creator God wants to be present with us and empower us through His Spirit. Our countenance—the expression on our face—will change from sad to joyful as a result of His divine help and presence.

God is a very present help in our time of need as many verses such as these clearly indicate.

God’s love and mercy for those created in His image is never ending!

More encouraging Bible verses

In addition to all the verses in our categorized pages linked to above, here are even more encouraging verses to meditate on:

• “Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!” (Psalm 27:14).
• “Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues” (Psalm 31:19-20).
• “I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them” (Psalm 34:4-7).
• “Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday” (Psalm 37:4-6).
• “I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps” (Psalm 40:1-2).

For more encouraging verses, see our Daily Bible Verse Blog.