This lifeline is for all the people who have been beaten up by church and family, told they were unacceptable to God because they did not live up to someone else’s religious standards. For those who have had their faith shakened, who have had the gift of Scripture turned on them, hammered by “clobber passages”, below is a selection of “Rescue Passages” to reassure you of God’s love, his grace and favor to you, to strengthen you in those moments of doubt and battle fatigue, and to remind you once again of your place in his Kingdom, your purpose and your calling.
In the words of the Apostle John, “This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who 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 so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13).
When you’re feeling beat up, read these one by one, and let them sink in. Because of Jesus, you are acceptable to God, and he has a plan for your life.
- 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 ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:38-39
- For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph 2:8-9
- Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Rom 5:1-2
- For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Rom 3:23-24
- I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. John 5:24
- I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. John 10:9
- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and ony Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:16-18
- Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. John 3:36
- He said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Acts 16:30-31
- Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Acts 2:21
- These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:31
- There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12
- For we maintain that a man is justified by faith, apart from observing the law. Rom 3:28
- By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, namely the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction. Rom 3:20-22
- Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are. Act 15:10-11
- I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law then Christ died for nothing. Gal 2:21
- What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. Rom 4:3-5
- This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Gal 3:1-3
- Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. Rom 5:9
- If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. Rom 10:9-10
- For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Rom 10:12-13
- You who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. Gal 5:4-5
- May I be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ: the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. Phil 3:9
- God made you alive with Chrst. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross. … Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink … Colossians 2:13-16
- Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:5-7
- For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Rom 8:3-4
- But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. 1 Cor 1:27-29
- If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. 2 Tim 2:12-13
- For this reason also, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you will live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For He rescued us from the dominion of darkness, and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col 1:9-14
- Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit — apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:4-8
- I will never leave you, nor forsake you. Heb 13:5
- As my Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. … You did not choose me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other. John 15:9-17
- And surely I will be with you always, even to the very end of the age. Mat 28:20
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Photo credit : save me from myself by frankieleon, cc