Key Scripture Verses, Passages, and Relevant Quotes
THE BLESSED MAN
“Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!”
Psalm 112:1 ESV
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”
Psalm 1:1-3 ESV
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 ESV
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”
Psalm 34:8 ESV
BEING STRONG AND COURAGEOUS
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9 ESV
“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.”
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 ESV
“But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
1 Timothy 6:11-12 ESV
SPIRTUAL WARFARE
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
John 10:10 ESV
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
1 Peter 5:8-11 ESV
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places…In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.”
Ephesians 6:10-12, 16-17 ESV
“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.”
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 ESV
AGAPE LOVE
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””
John 13:34-35 ESV
HUSBANDS
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,”
Ephesians 5:25 ESV
FATHERS
“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
Ephesians 6:4 ESV
FRIENDS
“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”
Proverbs 27:17 NLT
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
Proverbs 17:17 ESV
“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”
Proverbs 27:6 ESV
“Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.”
Proverbs 27:9 ESV
THE WORD OF GOD
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”
Psalms 119:105 NIV
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
Hebrews 4:12 NIV
“…the Holy Scriptures… are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:15-17 NIV
“Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’”
Matthew 4:4 NIV
“[Jesus] said to [the eleven disciples after his resurrection], ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.”
Luke 24:44-45 NIV
“For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, ‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’ And this is the word that was preached to you.”
1 Peter 1:23-25 NIV
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“Nothing helps more powerfully against the devil, the world, the flesh, and all evil thoughts than occupying oneself with God’s Word, having conversations about it, and contemplating it.”
-Martin Luther
“We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.”
-John Stott
“Read the Word of God with affection. Get your hearts quickened with the Word; go to it to fetch fire. Labor that the Word may not only be a lamp to direct but a fire to warm. Read the Scripture not only as a history but as a love letter sent to you from God that may affect your hearts.”
-Thomas Watson
"Visit many good books, but live in the Bible.”
-C.H. Spurgeon
“’Sola Scriptura’ simply means that all truth necessary for our salvation and spiritual life is taught either explicitly or implicitly in Scripture.”
-John MacArthur
“The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men.”
-Westminster Confession of Faith
PRIDE / HUMILITY
“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’”
1 Peter 5:5b NIV
“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Proverbs 16:18 NIV
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
James 4:10 NIV
“The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted…The arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day,”
Isaiah 2:12, 17 NIV
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:3-11 NIV
“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.””
Luke 18:9-14 NIV
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“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”
– Saint Augustine
“If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realise that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.
– CS Lewis
“Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is the first duty and the highest virtue of the creature, and the root of every virtue. And so pride, or the loss of this humility, is the root of every sin and evil.”
-Andrew Murray
“Through pride the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every vice, it's the complete anti-God state of mind.”
-C.S. Lewis
"A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”
-C. S. Lewis
"Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil's reach as humility.”
-Jonathan Edwards
“For the Christian, humility is absolutely indispensable. Without it there can be no self-knowledge, no repentance, no faith and no salvation.”
-Aiden Wilson Tozer
"Be not proud of race, face, place, or grace.”
-Charles Spurgeon
"The surest mark of true conversion is humility.:
-J. C. Ryle
THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-6 ESV
“And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How do you read it?’ And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.’”
Luke 10:25-28 ESV
“‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’”
Matthew 22:36-40 ESV
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“To love God does not mean to meet His needs, but rather to delight in Him and to be captivated by His glorious power and grace, and to value Him above all other things on earth. All the rest of the commandments are the kinds of things that we will do from our hearts, if our hearts are truly delighted with and resting in the glory of God's grace.”
-John Piper
“It is not a little love that God deserves, nor is it a little love that he will accept. He blesses us with all his heart and all his might, and after that fashion are we to love him.”
-Charles Spurgeon
“Passages like this should teach us our need of Christ's blood and righteousness. To Him we must go if we would ever stand with boldness at the bar of God. From him we must seek grace, that the love of God and man may become ruling principles of our lives.”
-J.C. Ryle