2 Corinthians on Depression

liturgy

Father: Thank You for always being

Author

Scripture

Psalm 34:14, Luke 15:20, Hebrews 4:14, Romans 6:4, Acts 1:8, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Psalm 25:4-5, Matthew 11:28-30, Isaiah 41:10, John 14:13, James 1:5, 2 Corinthians 9:8, Habakkuk 3:2, Isaiah 6:8, Matthew 28:19-20

Father: Thank You for always being ready to welcome us and listen to us. Thank You for sending Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Savior: born like us, experiencing all that we experience yet sinless, who d...

liturgy

Gracious God, we are called to be a

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 51:10-12, Hebrews 4:16, Romans 5:8, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 1:7, Psalm 103:12, 1 John 1:9

Gracious God, we are called to be a joyful people, giving thanks for You and Your good gifts. There are times, however, when sin and sorrow grow, pushing joy to the side. We lose sight of Your grace, ...

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Author

Dick Ryan

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 4:16, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Lamentations 3:22-23, Isaiah 41:10, Psalm 147:3, James 4:10

Healing begins when, in the face of our own darkness, we recognize our helplessness and surrender our need for control… we face what is, and we ask for mercy.

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Joining the Human Race

Author

Parker J. Palmer

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 34:18, Isaiah 42:3, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Romans 8:22-23, Ecclesiastes 3:11, Hebrews 4:15

As the darkness began to descend on me in my early twenties, I thought I had developed a unique and terminal case of failure. I did not realize that I had merely embarked on a journey toward joining t...

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I am a Christian

Author

Christian Wiman

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 15:39, Hebrews 4:15, John 11:35, Luke 22:44, Psalm 22:1, 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, Isaiah 53:5

I am a Christian because of that moment on the cross when Jesus, drinking the very dregs of human bitterness, cries out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? . . . The point is that he felt huma...

liturgy

We pray to You our Lord, our Savior,

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 4:16, Romans 5:8, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 1:7, Psalm 103:12

We pray to You our Lord, our Savior, our Merciful God, that all our sins may be forgiven. Our sins are like a straight jacket, binding us, and keeping us from relationship with You. Although we know w...

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Brokenness can Create Beauty

Author

Frank Viola

Keywords

Beauty

Scripture

Psalm 34:18, Psalm 147:3-5, Isaiah 43:2, Psalm 51:17, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Romans 8:28-31, Hebrews 4:15-16

While brokenness is difficult, it’s beautiful because it makes God look good. Your natural gifts draw attention to yourself while brokenness draws attention to your Lord. With this in mind, power is d...

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Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 51:6, Hebrews 4:13, Luke 12:2-3, 2 Corinthians 4:2, Psalm 32:5, Proverbs 28:13

The strangest thing happens when what we have most wanted to conceal is brought into the open. We don’t die. Instead, we often begin to heal.

liturgy

Jesus, Lord—because you took on flesh,

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Isaiah 53:4-5, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Romans 12:15, 1 Peter 5:7, Psalm 34:18, Hebrews 4:15-16

Jesus, Lord—because you took on flesh, You know what it’s like to be us. You know what keeps us awake at night, or yanks us out of sleep in the early morning. You know what it’s like to have good days...

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The Blind Leading the Blind (In a Good Way)

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 4:10-16, Ruth 1:16-18 , Isaiah 41:10-13 , Psalm 23:4 , 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Hebrews 4:15-16

A student who had recently lost his sight was sent to the Seeing Eye Institute for the Blind in Morristown, New Jersey, for specialized training. Upon arrival, he was greeted by another young ma...

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Drawing From the Infinite Well of Joy

Author

Eunice McGarrahan

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 4:16, 2 Corinthians 12:9, 1 Peter 5:10, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Revelation 2:10

In Jonathan Kozol’s book, Amazing Grace , he tells of the struggles and sufferings of people in a community in the Bronx, New York. He is amazed at the courage and resilience he found there. He then ...

Quote

Author

Phillip Yancey

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:8-9, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:10, John 1:16, Hebrews 4:16, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Titus 2:11-12

We can never sink so far that God’s grace will not reach us. At the same time, grace does not leave us there. It raises us to new heights.

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Hearing God in our Deepest Struggles

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 34:17-18, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Hebrews 4:15-16, Hebrews 2:18, Matthew 26:38, Matthew 11:28-30

When do we hear God’s voice most clearly? It is often in our deepest struggles that we hear God’s voice. In the 1640s, George Fox, who would later establish the Quaker or Friends movement, wandered th...

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Author

Karl Barth

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 4:19, Psalm 46:1-2, Romans 5:6-8, Isaiah 41:10, Hebrews 4:16, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Matthew 14:13-21

Total need requires total help

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Brother Lawrence and Trusting God in Failure

Author

Ryan Bundrick

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 12:9, Isaiah 40:29, 2 Corinthians 3:5, Hebrews 4:16, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:6-7

Brother Lawrence, a 16th-century Carmelite monk, spent his days scrubbing pots and mending shoes. Largely uneducated, he filled his free time writing letters and notes that, after his death, friends g...

Quote

Author

Jonathan Edwards

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 5:12, 2 Corinthians 8:9, Colossians 1:15-16, Isaiah 53:2-3, Hebrews 4:15-16, Philippians 2:6-8

It is true that he [Christ] has awful majesty; he is the great God, and is infinitely high above you; but there is this to encourage and embolden the poor sinner, that Christ is a man as well as God; ...

Quote

Author

Julian of Norwich

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 5:10, Psalm 23:4, Matthew 11:28-30, Hebrews 4:15-16, 2 Corinthians 12:9, John 16:33

But Jesus spoke to me all that I needed to understand, and here is what he said, “Sin has a part to play in my plan, but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well...

Quote

Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Proverbs 24:16, James 1:12, Philippians 3:13-14, Psalm 103:13-14, Hebrews 4:15-16, Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 18:1-8, Exodus 16:, Mark 5:25-34, Romans 5:3-5

God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. What matters is the sincerity and perseverance of our will to overcome them.

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The Christ is a Man as Well

Author

Jonathan Edwards

Keywords

Humility

Scripture

Revelation 5:12, 2 Corinthians 8:9, Colossians 1:15-16, Isaiah 53:2-3, Hebrews 4:15-16, Philippians 2:5-8, John 1:14

It is true that he [Christ] has awful majesty; he is the great God, and is infinitely high above you; but there is this to encourage and embolden the poor sinner, that Christ is a man as well as God; ...

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The Reason He Never Shared His Vision

Author

William H. Willimon

Keywords

Scripture

John 3:19-20, Luke 5:8, Isaiah 6:5, Hebrews 4:13, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Hebrews 12:29, James 1:22

I am still haunted by a long conversation I had with a man who was a member of one of my early congregations. . . . He had a stunning vision of the presence of the risen Christ . . . [and] had never t...

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The Bible a Great Comfort

Author

Andy Cook

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 3:16-17, Romans 15:4, Isaiah 55:11, Hebrews 4:12-13, 2 Peter 1:19-21, Matthew 4:4, Matthew 24:35, Isaiah 41:8-10, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Psalm 46:, Genesis 37:12-36, 1 Samuel 19:, 1 Samuel 20:, 2 Corinthians 11:23-30, 2 Corinthians 4:17, Acts 21:27-36

For seven years, Terry Anderson was held as a hostage of Shiite Muslim fundamentalists. The former reporter for the Associated Press had been taken captive and held as a political prisoner, and for se...

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At the End of the Rope

Author

Elie Wiesel

Keywords

God's Existence

Scripture

Matthew 27:45-46, Hebrews 4:15-16, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Romans 8:18, Isaiah 53:3-5, Psalm 34:18

Elie Wiesel was a survivor of the dreaded Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. He wrote of his experiences in the book The Night. In that book he relates the harrowing story of two Jewish men and a Jewi...

lectionary

Baptism of the Lord

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 1:4-11, Mark 1:1-3, Isaiah 40:3, Mark 2:7, Philippians 2:7, Isaiah 53:null, Hebrews 4:15, 2 Corinthians 8:9

Preaching Commentary Enter John the Baptist John the Baptist enters the stage in Mark 1 as the “voice of one crying in the wilderness,” (Isaiah 40:3) whose message and ministry is to “prepare the w...

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God’s Inexhaustible Mercies

Author

Paul David Tripp

Keywords

Mercy

Scripture

Lamentations 3:22-23, Psalm 103:17-18, 2 Corinthians 4:16, Isaiah 40:31, Psalm 23:3, Romans 8:38-39, Hebrews 4:16

One of the stunning realities of the Christian life is that in a world where everything is in some state of decay, God’s mercies never grow old. They never run out. They never are ill timed. They neve...

Quote

Author

A. W. Tozer

Keywords

Scripture

John 5:39-40, 2 Timothy 3:7, 1 Corinthians 8:1, 2 Corinthians 3:6, Hebrews 4:12

The modern scientist has lost God amid the wonders of His world; we Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of His Word.

liturgy

Assurance of Pardon for Christmas

Author

Trinity Lutheran Church, Lisle, Illinois

Keywords

Scripture

Malachi 4:2, Isaiah 9:6, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Hebrews 4:16, Titus 2:11, John 1:16, Isaiah 9:6

Leader: People of God, rejoice! The sun of righteousness has dawned with healing in His wings. To us a Child has been born; to us God’s Son has been given! His eternal reign has broken throug...

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Can a Prayer be Bad?

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 8:26-27, Matthew 6:9-13, Hebrews 4:16, Isaiah 57:15, Psalm 34:18, 2 Corinthians 12:9

The Lord’s Prayer, like all prayer, is part work and part rest, Perhaps the only work we do is getting ourselves there. Once we’ve gotten ourselves there—to prayer—whatever mains of productivity is Go...

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A Wild Naked Man Running Towards Me Is A Very Scary Thing

Author

Brian Hardin

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 3:10, Mark 5:1-20, Luke 8:26-39, Romans 8:1, John 8:10-11, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Hebrews 4:13

The Summer Before Junior High School was filled with anticipation. I was excited to leave elementary school behind me. Junior high sounded so robust and adult. And I felt ready—with one caveat. Physic...

scripture guide

Scripture Guide, Mark 1:4-11

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 1:4-11, Isaiah 40:3, Mark 2:7, Philippians 2:7, Isaiah 53:null, Hebrews 4:15, 2 Corinthians 8:9, Mark 1:1-3

Enter John the Baptist John the Baptist enters the stage in Mark 1 as the “voice of one crying in the wilderness,” (Isaiah 40:3) whose message and ministry is to “prepare the way of the Lord.” Mark d...

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Author

Frederick Buechner

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 2:20, 2 Corinthians 4:10-11, Matthew 26:26-28, Hebrews 4:15, Romans 12:1

The Christian faith always has to do with flesh and blood, time and space, more specifically with your flesh and blood and mine, with the time and space that day by day we are all of us involved with,...

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