|
BEREAVED ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you read the Scriptures, there are prayers inserted in
RED ITALICS.
You could read along and make
them your own. Every time you need help, log on
and read the Bible portions and the prayers. GOD WILL HELP YOU THROUGH! |
|
Matthew 5:4 Blessed are
those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Dear God, I thank You that You care for those who mourn for their loved ones. You have promised that they will be comforted. Please comfort me. Thank You for Your promise to bless me even in my mourning. Thank You Lord.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can
comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have
received from God. Dear God , You have said that
Your are the “Father of compassion and the
God of all comfort”. Please comfort me
with the comfort and consolation that only You can give.
I find no comfort in anyone or in anybody’s
words. I am deeply hurt, bereaved and lost! O!
Come Lord and cover me with Your love, comfort and consolation. I am
desperate and helpless. I thank You for Your great promises. Fulfill
them in me and my dear ones. Sustain and strengthen us through our loss
and sadness which is great. 1 Thessalonians 4
(GW
Translation – GW) 13 Brothers and sisters, we don't want you to be
ignorant about those who have died. We don't want you to grieve like
other people who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and came back to life. We
also believe that, through Jesus, God will bring back those who have
died. They will come back with Jesus. 15 We are telling you what the Lord taught. We who are still alive when the Lord comes will not go into his kingdom ahead of those who have already died. 16 The Lord will come from heaven with a command, with
the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First,
the dead who believed in Christ will come back to life. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive
will be taken in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In this way we
will always be with the Lord. 18 So then, comfort each other with these words! Dear God, I thank you that just
as You raised Jesus Christ Your Son from the
dead, You will also raise up those dear ones who died believing in Jesus. I believe
that my dear one who died and left me bereaved
will one day be raised from the dead when Christ comes back
again. Lord, may Your Spirit grant me and my dear ones comfort through
this promise of Yours, now and always. I trust
in Jesus and I believe that on that day I too will be gathered with You and my dear one who has left me. 1 Corinthians 15 1 Brothers and sisters, I'm making known to you the
Good News which I already told you, which you received, and on which
your faith is based. 2 In addition, you are saved by this Good News if you
hold on to the doctrine I taught you, unless you believed it without
thinking it over. 3 I passed on to you the most important points of
doctrine that I had received: Christ died to take away our sins as the
Scriptures predicted. 4 He was placed in a tomb. He was brought back to life
on the third day as the Scriptures predicted. 5 He appeared to Cephas. Next he appeared to the
twelve apostles. 6 Then he appeared to more than 500 believers at one
time. Most of these people are still living, but some have died. 7 Next he appeared to James. Then he appeared to all
the apostles. 8 Last of all, he also appeared to me. I'm like an
aborted fetus who was given life. 9 I'm the least of the apostles. I'm not even fit to
be called an apostle because I persecuted God's church. 10 But God's kindness made me what I am, and that
kindness was not wasted on me. Instead, I worked harder than all the
others. It was not I who did it, but God's kindness was with me. 11 So, whether it was I or someone else, this is the
message we brought you, and this is what you believed. 12 If we have told you that Christ has been brought
back to life, how can some of you say that coming back from the dead is
impossible? 13 If the dead can't be brought back to life, then
Christ hasn't come back to life. 14 If Christ hasn't come back to life, our message has
no meaning and your faith also has no meaning. 15 In addition, we are obviously witnesses who lied
about God because we testified that he brought Christ back to life. But
if it's true that the dead don't come back to life, then God didn't
bring Christ back to life. 16 Certainly, if the dead don't come back to life, then
Christ hasn't come back to life either. 17 If Christ hasn't come back to life, your faith is
worthless and sin still has you in its power. 18 Then those who have died as believers in Christ no
longer exist. 19 If Christ is our hope in this life only, we deserve
more pity than any other people. 20 But now Christ has
come back from the dead. He is the very first person of those who have
died to come back to life. 21 Since a man (Adam
-the first man)brought death, a man (Jesus Christ) also brought life
back from death. 22 As everyone dies
because of Adam, so also everyone will be made alive because of Christ. 23 This will happen to
each person in his own turn. Christ is the first, then at his coming,
those who belong to him will be made alive. 24 Then the end will come. Christ will hand over the
kingdom to God the Father as he destroys every ruler, authority, and
power. 25 Christ must rule until God has put every enemy under
his control. 26 The last enemy he will destroy is death. 27 Clearly, God has put everything under Christ's
authority. When God says that everything has been put under Christ's
authority, this clearly excludes God, since God has put everything
under Christ's authority. 28 But when God puts everything under Christ's
authority, the Son will put himself under God's authority, since God
had put everything under the Son's authority. Then God will be in
control of everything. 29 However, people are baptized because the dead will
come back to life. What will they do? If the dead can't come back to
life, why do people get baptized as if they can come back to life? 30 Why are we constantly putting ourselves in danger? 31 Brothers and sisters, I swear to you on my pride in
you which Christ Jesus our Lord has given me: I face death every day. 32 If I have fought with wild animals in 33 Don't let anyone deceive you. Associating with bad
people will ruin decent people. 34 Come back to the right point of view, and stop
sinning. Some people don't know anything about God. You should be
ashamed of yourselves. 35 But someone will
ask, "How do the dead come back to life? With what kind of body will
they come back?" 36 You fool! The seed you plant doesn't come to life
unless it dies first. 37 What you plant, whether it's wheat or something
else, is only a seed. It doesn't have the form that the plant will have. 38 God gives the plant the form he wants it to have.
Each kind of seed grows into its own form. 39 Not all flesh is the same. Humans have one kind of
flesh, animals have another, birds have another, and fish have still
another. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies.
Heavenly bodies don't all have the same splendor, neither do earthly
bodies. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon has
another kind of splendor, and the stars have still another kind of
splendor. Even one star differs in splendor from another star. 42 That is how it will
be when the dead come back to life. When the body is planted, it
decays. When it comes back to life, it cannot decay. 43 When the body is
planted, it doesn't have any splendor and is weak. When it comes back
to life, it has splendor and is strong. 44 It is planted as a
physical body. It comes back to life as a spiritual body. As there is a
physical body, so there is also a spiritual body. 45 This is what
Scripture says: "The first man, Adam, became a living being." The last
Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual does not come first, but the physical
and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was made from the dust of the earth.
He came from the earth. The second man came from heaven. 48 The people on earth are like the man who was made
from the dust of the earth. The people in heaven are like the man who
came from heaven. 49 As we have worn the
likeness of the man who was made from the dust of the earth, we will
also wear the likeness of the man who came from heaven. 50 Brothers and
sisters, this is what I mean: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the 51 I'm telling you a
mystery. Not all of us will die, but we will all be changed. 52 It will happen in
an instant, in a split second at the sound of the last trumpet. Indeed,
that trumpet will sound, and then the dead will come back to life. They
will be changed so that they can live forever. 53 This body that
decays must be changed into a body that cannot decay. This mortal body
must be changed into a body that will live forever. 54 When this body that
decays is changed into a body that cannot decay, and this mortal body
is changed into a body that will live forever, then the teaching of
Scripture will come true: "Death is turned into victory! 55 Death, where is
your victory? Death, where is your sting?" 56 Sin gives death its
sting, and God's standards give sin its power. 57 Thank God that he
gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 So, then, brothers
and sisters, don't let anyone move you off the foundation of your
faith. Always excel in the work you do for the Lord. You know that the
hard work you do for the Lord is not pointless. Dear God, I thank You for Your
Son who died for my sin but You raised again from the dead. He manifested Himself to the disciples on many
occasions to prove His resurrection. Because You brought Jesus Christ from the dead I am not only
assured that You will bring again to life my dear one who
died but You will also bring me to life after death, when Jesus comes again. Thank You for in that day
You will change my mortal, sinful
body to be like that of the risen
Lord Jesus, immortal and without sin. Grant me
and my family comfort and hope in Your wonderful promise of life
eternal with You and Your Son and the Holy Spirit and all our departed
dear ones. Give us Your peace that is beyond human understanding even
in such distressing circumstances. Comfort and consol our sorrowful
hearts. |