A Devotional Bible Study
Day 5 and Optional Day 6
Day 5
This is the final day of this Bible study on grieving. It is a day of celebration for what the Heavenly Father will accomplish in your heart, mind, and life. I believe it for you.
Even if you don’t feel it right now, that’s alright because Romans 4:17 says that God calls things that are not as though they were. It is a matter of faith. Praise God!! We are not righteous, yet he declares that we are. We are not justified (acquitted from sin) but he says that we are. And it is all because Christ is each of those things on our behalf. We only have to have faith and believe in him.
The same is true of your victory over grief and despair. The Lord God of heaven and earth will bring you through the waters victorious. Through him, you will not drown in your grief. He will see you through and, over time, will heal you.
Each of these passages celebrates and praises and thanks God for what he has accomplished. Write down what stands out to you from each passage.
First of all, look up Psalm 22:22–25. One day you will do this!
Next, Psalm 30:11–12; 119:49–50, 74; and Isaiah 61:1–3. This passage in Isaiah speaks of the coming of the Messiah. It was fulfilled in Jesus’s ministry on earth.
Finally, Lamentations 3:21–26, 31–33. The book of Lamentations, traditionally attributed to Jeremiah, portrays the overwhelming sense of loss felt by the Jewish people when Babylon decimated their beloved Jerusalem and Temple, subsequently taking more of their people into captivity. It was written from a place of utter brokenness and despair. Yet in it, we still find hope. We find the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord in the midst of trouble.
Mark these verses in your Bible and refer to them often. As mentioned before, keep a journal of your journey through your pain so future you can see what the Lord has done. Write the scriptures on cards and post them around your house so you can see them and be constantly reminded of the truths God is teaching you from his Word.
I pray that you will be strengthened through your trial and emerge victorious on the other side.
Optional Day 6
This day is for the person who hasn’t yet come to the place of accepting the gift of salvation by faith in Jesus.
The first thing you have to do is understand your need for a Savior. If you’re struggling in the swimming pool and I knock you on the head with a lifesaver to try and drag you out, assuming you’re drowning when you’re not, you’re going to be upset with me.
If, on the other hand, you are drowning and desperately hope someone will come along and pull you to safety, you will be so grateful for that lifesaver.
So why do people need a Savior?
Romans 3:23 and 6:23 tell us that everyone has sinned. There is no one who is righteous, “No, not one.” But God will forgive us and make us righteous in his sight if we have faith in Jesus.
The Bible calls that being “born again.” (John 3:3). You may have heard that term before. Jesus said in John 14:6 that he is the way, and the truth, and the life, and no one can come to the God, the Father, except through him.
So let’s review right quick. We are all sinners. We’re born that way. Can’t help it. If you think about it, you never have to teach a child how to lie or how to be selfish. They know that instinctively. What you have to teach them is truthfulness and kindness.
God, on the other hand, IS holy, righteous, perfect, sin-free. His very nature requires that he judge sin. So what’s to do? How can we know God? How can we go to heaven? How can we gain forgiveness from sin?
You have to recognize your need for a Savior, your need for forgiveness of your sin. Romans 10:9-10 says that you have to confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believer in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Then you will be “saved,” “justified,” “born again.” Those are all terms the Bible uses to mean FORGIVEN!!
There’s no magic prayer or special words you have to say. You just have to come to God and humbly ask him for salvation and forgiveness. Romans 3:24 says he justifies us FREELY by his grace. It is all by faith in Jesus, not by our own righteousness (remember, we have none) or by our works. God through Jesus did all the work. We just have to believe (Ephesians 2:8-10 and Titus 3:3-7).
If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior and received forgiveness of sin, you are now a child of God, a Christian. Your work is now ahead of you. You must learn the teachings of the Bible and work in God’s kingdom and grow in your faith.
Step 1: TELL SOMEONE!! Share what God has done in your life.
Step 2: Find a person or a ministry who can help you grow and support you as you learn to live for Jesus. (I heartily recommend BibleThinker.org or Grace to You ministries at gty.org or Precept Ministries at precept.org or LifeWord.org.)
Step 3: Find a local, Bible-following church where you can be baptized and join in fellowship with other believers. There are many out there, so don’t be discouraged if you try one and it doesn’t quite fit. Churches are like shoes. There are hundreds of sizes and styles and types of functionality. You have to try them on to see what fits.
But the Bible is clear: we can’t be a Christian all on our own. We are part of the body of Christ, his CHURCH, made of many, many members across the world in hundreds of countries. There are local meeting places where we meet together, but we are all brothers and sisters, and we encourage and support one another as we serve Jesus in this difficult life.
writerly thoughts 