Promise for Today - A Soul Restored

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.

Psalm 23:1-3 (ESV)

Why does your soul need to be restored—and how can God restore it?

There are all kinds of ways that souls are damaged, but they most often are damaged when we try to deal with our grudges, our guilt, and our grief on our own. The truth is, God never intended for you to carry those burdens alone. So how does Jesus bring you rest and restore your soul?

Jesus turns your hurts into holiness.
Sometimes we hold onto our hurt; in other words, we hold grudges. And when you start thinking about retaliation or getting revenge against someone who has hurt you, you become bitter. But you can trust God with your hurt. He has a way of bringing good even out of evil. Romans 8:28 promises, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (NIV).

Jesus takes your sins on himself.
You should only hold on to guilt for about five seconds—long enough to realize you were wrong, confess it to God, and let it go. But instead, many people carry around the burden of unconfessed guilt. The Bible teaches, “[Jesus] was willing to give his life as a sacrifice. He was counted among those who had committed crimes. He took the sins of many people on himself. And he gave his life for those who had done what is wrong” (Isaiah 53:12 NIRV). There’s no need for you to keep living with guilt for something that God has already forgiven and forgotten.

Jesus feels your grief and heals your heart.
Grief [can be] good; it’s how we get through life transitions. But sometimes we get stuck in our grief. And unprocessed grief will hurt you. But there’s good news: Jesus understands your grief because he’s experienced it, too. Isaiah 53:3-4 says, “He was hated and rejected by people. He had much pain and suffering... But he took our suffering on him and felt our pain for us” (NCV). However, he doesn’t just feel your grief; he heals it: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3 NIV).

God never intended for you to go through life carrying all your grudges, guilt, and grief alone. Jesus wants you to come to him for restoration. He promises, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28 NLT).

Talk It Over

What hurts have you held onto and allowed to become grudges? Ask God to take those hurts and work them for good in your life.

What old sin do you still feel guilty for? Take a few minutes to confess it, to accept God’s forgiveness, and to ask God to help you live in the freedom of being forgiven.

What grief have you never processed? Ask God to help you work through it and bring you healing.

- by Pastor Rick

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Prayer: (make it personal)

Father,

        My heart is heavy with the weight of grudges, the sting of guilt, and the ache of grief. I lay these burdens before You, trusting in Your mercy and grace. Help me to forgive where I have been hurt, and to seek forgiveness where I have caused pain. Wash away the shadows of regret, and fill the empty spaces with compassion and light. Teach me to let go of what I cannot change, to honor what I have lost, and to walk forward with courage and hope. May Your peace settle deep within me, healing what is broken, and guiding me toward a life rooted deeply in love. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen

Promise for Today - Blessing the Broken

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed.

Psalm 34:18 (NCV)

You don’t just "get over" a loss. You can’t go under it; you can’t go around it. You’ve got to go through the grief. And if you’re scared to express emotion and refuse to go through it, you just get stuck.

You get unstuck by letting God help you. Here are six ways God blesses a broken heart.

1. God draws you close to himself.
Psalm 34:18 says, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed” (NCV). When you grieve, God is not a million miles away, even though it may feel like it. In fact, he’s never been any closer.

2. God grieves with you.
The Bible tells us that Jesus was “a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (Isaiah 53:3 NLT). When you come to Jesus with your grief, he knows what you’re talking about, and he understands your pain. God is not apathetic. He is sympathetic, and he grieves with you.

3. God gives you a church family for support.
We’re meant to grieve and heal in community. We’re better together! The Bible says, “In Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. . . . Be devoted to one another in love. . . . Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:5, 10, 15 NIV).

4. God uses grief to help you grow.
God uses grief and pain to help you become more like Christ, and he does it in three ways:
God uses pain to get your attention (Romans 5:3-5), he brings good out of bad (Romans 8:28), and he prepares you for eternity (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

5. God gives you the hope of heaven.
Your life on earth is short, but if you trust Jesus Christ for your salvation, then you have the hope of spending eternity in heaven with God. That hope will sustain you through your time of loss. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4:13, “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” (GW).

6. God uses your pain to help others.
This is called redemptive pain, and it is the highest and best use of the pain you go through. God does not want you to waste a hurt. “[God] comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us” (2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT).

Talk It Over

Why do you think God has allowed you to experience grief and loss?

How does God want you to minister to others who grieve without hope?

What is the deepest pain you have experienced? In what ways can you use that pain to help others?

- by Pastor Rick

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Prayer:

Father, 

         We ask You for a fresh vision of what breakthrough will look like in our lives. Help us to pursue healing while we wait for Your miracle. Show us how to rest right in the middle of the storm. Help us to enjoy the feast You prepare for us, right in the middle of the battlefield. We want our whole life to testify that there’s a God in heaven who knows our names and who will get us safely home. Fill us afresh with the wonder of Your love and power. We are determined to win this battle by Your Grace. Help us to discern when to rest, when to feast, and how to actively engage our faith as we wait for You to break through. May our lives display Your power and Truth. Do the impossible in and through us, in Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Promise for Today - Doesn't Work Perfectly

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens ...a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. 

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 (NIV)

As you learn to rise above life’s inevitable losses, you need to understand a couple of truths that will give you better perspective.

Life is tough. The world is broken, and nothing works perfectly. Your body doesn’t work perfectly, the weather doesn’t work perfectly, the economy doesn’t work perfectly, and no relationship works perfectly. Life is full of losses.

First, God doesn’t expect you to be happy all the time. 

There is this myth that Christians should be always smiling, always happy, always cheerful. But the Bible says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens ...a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 NIV).

Sometimes the only appropriate, logical response to life is grief. The Bible says you should grieve over your losses, including your disappointments, your sin, the suffering in the world, and your friends who are spiritually lost. God doesn’t expect you to be happy all the time. In fact, he wants you to be intentional in your grief.

Second, grief is essential to your health.
If you never grieve over anything, it means one of three things: You’re out of touch with reality, you’re out of touch with your own emotions, or you don’t love. When you love and you see sad things, grief is a natural response.

Grief is a healthy and helpful emotion. And it’s God’s gift that helps you get through the transitions of life.

Maybe you were hurt many years ago growing up. Maybe your parents divorced. Maybe you were abused. Maybe you were hurt by something somebody said about you. As a child, you didn’t know how to grieve in a healthy way, so you just pushed it down deep inside you.

You need to grieve that hurt. Why? Because if you don’t grieve, you get stuck emotionally, and you spend the rest of your life reacting to something that happened a long time ago and taking it out on the people around you. It’s unhealthy!

David talked about this in Psalm 32:3: “When I kept things to myself, I felt weak deep inside me. I moaned all day long” (NCV).

The bad things that happen to you are not your choice. But grief is a choice! You’ve got to let yourself mourn losses so that you can move forward to emotional and spiritual health.

Talk It Over

What loss have you failed to grieve? How has it affected you physically, emotionally, and spiritually?

Do you think grief is the same for everyone? Why or why not?

In what specific ways can you support someone in your life who is grieving right now?

- by Pastor Rick

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Prayer:

Father, 

           You see the ache in our hearts and the weight we carry. Help us to not hide from our sorrow, but to walk through it with honesty and courage. Teach us to release our tears without shame, to remember without being crushed, and to honor what we’ve lost while still choosing life. Hold us steady when the waves of grief rise high, and remind us that healing is not forgetting, but learning to carry the love in a new way. Guide our steps toward peace, and surround us with people who will pray with us through the tough times. Keep us ever mindful that, with You, we are never alone. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

Repeating a Few Words of My Own

"See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end."
Hebrews 3:12-14 NIV

I want to go on record declaring I am a believer and follower of Jesus Christ and His gospel. I have a strong faith. I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God and the standard by which we are to live. I believe that we will live eternally somewhere and that both heaven and hell are real.

So, I have hope in the Lord. It's hope - not born of desperation, but rather of relationship - knowing in Whom I have believed and having been witness to His mighty works and amazing grace. I truly believe that God is good even when I don't understand the dark times. Let the believers say "Amen!" We miss them when we lose loved ones... but if they had chosen Jesus as their Savior, we WILL see them again. I know this because it's written in God's Word.

1st Thessalonians 4:13-18 NLT, "And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words."

Prayer:

Father,
            The heavens declare Your glory and I? I can only attempt to echo their praise. Thank You for Your grace and for salvation and for Your mercy, and help us to try to fathom the depth of Your great love...even in the dark times. May the many seeds bring about a great harvest, O God! In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

The Risen Savior

    But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”
    Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”
    She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”
    Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
John 20:11-16 NKJV

Jesus knew Mary, even though she didn't recognize Him. As I pondered these verses about the Risen Savior, I kept wondering - Why didn't Mary know Him? Had grief blinded her? I can certainly understand that - or was it that she knew Him so well as the promised Savior that she wasn't able to see the Risen Savior?

And then I wondered, do we do that? Do we accept the written plan and promise and then not receive the actual execution - the reality of it? It's one thing to believe it in black and white, but it can be quite another to walk it out in faith... something to think about.

Prayer:

Father,
          Your Word tells us And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive. We want to receive You and all that You have promised. Help us, O God, to believe the fulfillment of Your Plan and Promise and embrace it all! In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

We Have This Hope

And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 

1st Thessalonians 4:13 NLT

I don't know how non-believers deal with the death of loved ones. I have lost multiple family members and friends in the last 13 months. Words cannot fully convey the depth of loss when someone we love dies. In our case, by God's grace, ALL of them knew Christ and were in relationship with Him when they transitioned to eternity. So, although there are days when I am incredibly sad for being left here to do life without them, I have hope. I WILL see them again. FOREVER.

If we read further in the chapter for today, verses 14 - 18 explain this...

14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. 15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words. 1st Thessalonians 4:14-18 NLT

Are you encouraged? I know I am.

Prayer:

Father,
           Your Word tells us it won't be long till You come and bring Your reward to give to everyone according to their work. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! In Your Name we pray. Amen

Seasons of Life

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 NLT

It is true that life is made up of so many seasons. As Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 NLT enumerates,

A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.

Now, this next statement is just my opinion - I believe we carry grief for as long as we live on Earth. I don't mean to say that you will be in deep mourning for the rest of your life. No, I believe that grief has multiple stages and seasons just like life, but it's not something you just "get over" or "get past" and it's done, never to be thought about or experienced again - as anyone who has ever lost a loved one can testify.

For instance, in my own life, my mother died almost 25 years ago. I go for long periods of time and don't think about her, but early today, I missed her and cried for her like it happened yesterday. That's what makes me say that grief is for as long as we live... until Jesus comes to take us all home and we are reunited with our loved ones who have died in Christ. 

Verse 11 of this same chapter reads, Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. It's true, we cannot see the whole scope of God's work, but we do know and can believe that He has promised never to leave us or forsake us. 

If you're grieving right now or in a rough season of life, wait on the Lord. He will show up. He will carry you. You will get through this. Seasons do change.

Prayer:

Father,

           Thank You for Your Word to instruct and teach us how to live in each season. Thank You that Your Word carries us through all of them. Breathe fresh life into the eternity You planted in our hearts. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

None There

And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.
1st John 5:11-13 NLT

Several of my family and close friends are grieving the loss of multiple family members this year and my heart aches for them. Grieving is so difficult. One can get lost in the wilderness of it all. I don't know how people who don't have a relationship with the Lord can find their way through the valley of the shadow of death. I'll just tell you straight up, I could not. Not without God. Not without His promises. 

As Christians, we lean heavily upon His Word with regard to eternal life with Christ. Paul writes in Thessalonians that we don't grieve as the world grieves (without hope), but we still grieve. There's sorrow in the loss we feel this side of heaven, but Psalm 119:50 tells us, Your promise revives me; it comforts me in all my troubles. Today, as I was thinking about a friend who placed a bench in the cemetery near the loved one's gravesite, I rejoiced with the great good news that there are NO GRAVES IN HEAVEN. None. This whole grieving process will be left behind when Jesus comes to get us...

Revelation 21:4 promises that He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. There will be none there. Thank You, Lord!

Prayer:

Father,

          Thank You for the promise of eternal life. Thank You for giving us Your Word so we can remind ourselves when we forget. Thank You for the comfort that only You can provide and Your precious peace that passes understanding. Father, I pray for those who are sorrowing. Please let them feel Your presence all around them, loving and comforting. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

A Season of Grief

I am weary with my sighing; Every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears. My eye has wasted away with grief.  

Psalm 6:6-7

In the last year, too many of my family and friends have lost loved ones. Some lived a long, full life, but some were children. All were loved and all are lost to us forever as long as we're on Earth. There are no words to fix it or fast-forward through grief. The only true solace is hope found in the Word of God. For those of us who know and follow Christ, our hope is in His return where we will be gathered together again for eternity... but we're not there yet. And in all reality, whether it's been hours, days or lots of years, death leaves a hole in our hearts. So tonight, I offer you the following excerpts from the book Through a Season of Grief by Bill Dunn and Kathy Leonard, copyright Thomas Nelson.

Grief is not an enemy or a sign of weakness. It is a sign of being human. Grief is the cost of loving someone.

You may feel it is useless to talk about your grief because no one truly understands what you are going through. “You sometimes feel after an experience like this that you’re talking a foreign language,” says Dora, whose daughter died. “You feel like there’s no way anybody can know what you’re feeling. There is absolutely no way anyone can know the depth of your pain. So you feel like it’s futile to talk about it because words can’t express the pain.”

Although countless people have experienced grief before you, each person’s response to grief is different. Your path of grief will be uniquely your own. Be encouraged that regardless of how your grief appears to you or others...God, who knows intimately your personality, your relationships, and the experiences of your life, knows your grief and isn’t shocked or surprised by your responses.

Father, thank You that my way of grieving is distinctly my own, reflective of all You have sovereignly created me to be and experience.

Grief Runs Deep: Where Is the Hope?

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.
— Psalm 31:24

When your heart is breaking, you can place your hope and trust in the Lord.

Anne Graham Lotz declares that “Jesus is your hope for the future. One day Jesus Christ will come back, and He will set all of the wrong right. Good will triumph over the bad. Love will triumph over hate. Righteousness will triumph over evil. He’s going to make it all right, and you can have absolute confidence that that’s going to take place. That’s your hope.”

Sovereign God, I choose hope. I choose faith. I choose life. Give me an unshakable faith in You.

Grief Lasts Longer Than Expected

Grief ’s unexpected turns will throw you again and again. You may feel that for every step forward, you take at least one step back. The grieving process generally takes longer than you ever imagined.

“Knowing the Lord and His comfort does not take away the ache; instead, it supports you in the middle of the ache. Until I get home to heaven, there’s going to be an ache that won’t quit. The grieving process for me is not so much a matter of getting rid of the pain, but not being controlled by the pain.”

Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long? Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of Your unfailing love. — Psalm 6:2-4

I am weary with my sighing; Every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears. My eye has wasted away with grief. — Psalm 6:6-7

Heavenly God, I cannot even begin to put my grief in a time frame. Thank You that I don’t have to. Comfort me and support me as I lean on You.

Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to You, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. — Psalm 61:1-3

The Lord will carry you if you ask Him. When you are feeling so weak you cannot take another step, ask Him to lift you high into His loving arms. Then rest in Him with an open and listening heart. This does not mean your problems will disappear, but it does mean you will have Someone to share them with.

“If you are someone who does not know Jesus Christ as your Savior and you have just been widowed or bereaved, you have a tremendous burden,” says Elisabeth Elliot. “You are tired, and it is too big a burden to carry. The Lord says, ‘Come to Me, you who are tired and over-burdened, and I will give you rest.’” But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. — Isaiah 40:31

To receive peace and rest in Christ, the instructions are clear. Jesus says, “Come to Me.” You must first approach Him and then talk to Him and quietly listen.

Lord God, teach us to embrace our grief and not fight it, so that we may experience the true healing that comes from You. Lord, we come to You. Our hearts are worn out, and we need You. Take our heavy burden today - in Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

Called by Name

Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.” Then they remembered that he had said this.
Luke 24:5b-8 NLT

In the depths of grief and despair, it's difficult to remember even the important things. It's as though the disconnect affects everything. The details are lost under a mountain of memories and can't make their way to the top through the ocean of shock and (or) tears. Shock and grief can make you feel as if all the oxygen is being sucked out of your world. And as we all know, the brain doesn't operate well without oxygen. 

Christ was kind enough to warn His loved ones what was going to happen, but they were still in denial. In John 20, Mary Magdalene discovers the body of Christ is missing and runs to tell Peter and John. Later, after they're gone, she is still weeping at the tomb. How often do people go back to a graveside because it was the last place they 'saw' their loved one? It's human nature. Blinded by her grief, she didn't even recognize her beloved Savior until He called her by name. "Mary!" (verse 20)

God's Word tells us that He has ransomed us. He has called US by name and we are His. (Isaiah 43). Will we accept the ransom He paid for us on the Cross at Calvary? In our griefs, will we answer His call - that all who are weary and heavy-laden will come to Him and find rest? 

Prayer:

Father,

          There aren't enough words to properly thank You and praise You for all You have done to buy us back and redeem us from sin, death, hell, and the grave. But we believe Your Word - that Jesus Christ is Your Son, that He died on the Cross at Calvary to pay for our sins and that on the third day, He arose victorious over death, hell and the grave. We accept Jesus as our Savior and wait for the final day on this earth when You will call us home because we are Yours. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Friends' Favorite - Just to Be Clear

 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.

We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.
1st Thessalonians 4:13-18 NLT

I am writing this out with the hope of helping. I'm no great theologian. I just try to discover the Truth of things based on God's Word. So, this is for those I love who are following Christ, but who have lost or are losing someone they love. 

The Bible does NOT say you won't grieve or that you shouldn't grieve (as some will try to tell you); the Word simply states that we will not grieve like people who have no hope. There IS a difference. Christians aren't superhuman. We aren't perfect. We're forgiven. We're redeemed. We grieve when we lose someone we love, but because of what Christ did, we have hope in this life and for after. 

Prayer:

Father,
          Free us from the deceptive subtleties of the enemy to kill, steal and destroy our lives. Give us a fresh vision of eternity with You. Remind us of the hope we have in You. And please comfort as only You can, the hearts and minds of those who are grieving the loss of loved ones. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* Just to Be Clear

 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.

We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died[h] will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.

1st Thessalonians 4:13-18 NLT

I am writing this out with the hope of helping. I'm no great theologian. I just try to discover the Truth of things based on God's Word. So, this is for those I love who are following Christ, but who have lost or are losing someone they love. 

The Bible does NOT say you won't grieve or that you shouldn't grieve (as some will try to tell you); the Word simply states that we will not grieve like people who have no hope. There IS a difference. Christians aren't superhuman. We're forgiven. We're redeemed. We grieve when we lose someone we love, but because of what Christ did, we have hope in this life and for after. 

Prayer:

Father:

           Free us from the deceptive subtleties of the enemy to kill, steal and destroy our lives. Give us a fresh vision of eternity with You. Remind us of the hope we have in You. And please comfort as only You can, the hearts and minds of those who are grieving the loss of loved ones. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen