Sometimes life is tough. It can hit us hard and hurt us deeply. In those times, it’s hard to give thanks. But that’s what God calls us to. As Paul wrote, we are to “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
If you are struggling right now and feeling overwhelmed by life, here are 42 hope-filled truths that will overflow your heart with thankfulness.
Loved by God
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 ESV)
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10 ESV)
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39 NIV)
Chosen by God
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. (Ephesians 1:4 NIV)
Saved by Grace
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)
Made Alive in Christ
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24 ESV)
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ– by grace you have been saved– (Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV)
Born Again
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3 ESV)
Indwelt by the Holy Spirit
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (Romans 8:9 ESV)
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27 ESV)
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us–for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”– so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13-14 ESV)
Made into a Temple of the Holy Spirit
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV)
Made into a New Creation
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10 ESV)
Named a Child of God
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13 ESV)
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:1-2 ESV)
Adopted as a Son
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5 ESV)
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15 ESV)
Reconciled to God
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (Romans 5:10 ESV)
Redeemed
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. (Ephesians 1:7 ESV)
Totally Forgiven
I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. (1 John 2:12 ESV)
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses (Colossians 2:13 ESV)
Totally Cleansed
And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV)
And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. (Acts 15:8-9 ESV)
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7 ESV)
Made Holy and Blameless
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him…( Colossians 1:21-22 ESV)
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2 ESV)
Saved Completely
Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. (Hebrews 7:25 NIV)
And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:11-13 ESV)
Dead to the Law
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. (Romans 7:4 ESV)
An Heir of the New Covenant
So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (Galatians 4:7 ESV)
“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:10-12 NIV)
Translated out of Darkness into Light
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14 ESV)
For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. (Ephesians 5:8 ESV)
Baptized into Christ’s Body
For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free–and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. (1 Corinthians 12:13 NIV)
Raised and Seated with Christ
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1 NIV)
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6 NIV)
Hidden with Christ in God
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3 ESV)
Clothed with Christ
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Galatians 3:27 ESV)
Sealed in Christ
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14 ESV)
Made Righteous — Justified
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV)
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:23-24 ESV)
Saved from the Wrath of God
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (Romans 5:9 ESV)
Made at Peace with God
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1 ESV)
Freed from Condemnation
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1 ESV)
Sanctified (Made Holy)
And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:10 ESV)
Made Perfect
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14 ESV)
Totally Accepted
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. (Romans 15:7 NIV)
In Fellowship with God
God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:9 ESV)
Access to God
This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. (Ephesians 3:11-12 ESV)
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16 ESV)
A Citizen of Heaven
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 3:20 ESV)
Anchored by Hope
So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:17-20 ESV)
Free
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free… So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:32 NIV)
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1 ESV)
Victorious
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:31, 37 ESV)
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world– our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4-5 ESV)
Made into a Holy Priesthood
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5-6 ESV)
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9 ESV)
Complete in Christ
For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. (Colossians 2:9-10 NLT)
Blessed with Every Spiritual Blessing
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. (Ephesians 1:3 NLT)
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. (2 Peter 1:3 ESV)
Know God
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3 NIV)
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7 NIV)
Equipped to Share His Life and Forgiveness
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant–not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6 NIV)
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19 NIV)
Category: Identity/Self-Image
I Can't Forgive Myself
“I know God has forgiven me, but I am having a hard time forgiving myself.”
This might be your situation. If so, you are not alone. Many people find it difficult to forgive themselves.
Look underneath the hood of this perplexing problem and three main causes emerge.
- People who struggle with forgiving themselves also struggle with God’s forgiveness. They may say they know that God has forgiven them, but the fact they cannot forgive themselves indicates that they are not resting in Christ’s finished work on the cross.
- People wrestling with forgiving themselves constantly dwell on the sins of the past. Whenever a person dwells on past mistakes and the consequences of those mistakes, they experience guilt, shame and fear in their present. These feelings mask the truth that Christ has taken away their sins and that forgiveness is theirs.
- People wrestling with forgiving themselves struggle with a poor self-image. Rather than seeing themselves through God’s eyes, they see themselves in light of their sins. They may verbalize their identity in Christ, but in their hearts they still see themselves as sinners.
The path to experiencing personal forgiveness starts at the cross.
Step one is to rest in the finished work of Christ, thanking Him for the forgiveness you have in Him.
- He died once for all of your sins. He took them away, nailing them to the cross.
- He remembers your sins no more.
- In Him, you are forgiven people.
Step two is to leave your past behind.
- Since God does not remember you sins, it doesn’t make sense for you to keep dredging them up.
- The word forgiveness means to send away or to let go. This conveys the idea of letting sins go from ones further notice or care. Jesus judged sin, he condemned sin and he paid the penalty for sin in full. He did it all.
- Choosing not to dwell on the past is an attitude that grows out of this liberating truth.
Step three is to embrace your identity in Christ.
- No longer are you called a sinner. God declares you to be His child. You may not feel or act like a child of God at times, but this does not change the truth.
- God sent his Spirit into your hearts to bear witness with your human spirit that we are a child of God. This testimony breaks the bonds of fear in your life and gives confidence to draw near to God.
If you are struggling with forgiving yourself, step fully into the forgiveness of God and rest in Christ’s finished work on the cross. His forgiveness will enable you to keep your past in the past and will help you live in your identity as a child of God.