Laziness

 

And to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

• 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

 

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

• Romans 12:11

 

A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

• Proverbs 13:4

 

Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

• Ephesians 4:28

 

Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.

• Proverbs 10:4-5

 

For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat.

• 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12

 

Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies will have their fill of poverty.

• Proverbs 28:19

 

A man’s field may produce abundant food, but injustice sweeps it away.

• Proverbs 13:23

 

The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.

• 2 Timothy 2:6

 

I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

• Proverbs 24:30-34

 

Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.

• Proverbs 20:13

 

The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.

• Proverbs 15:19

 

The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.

• Proverbs 21:5

 

Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.

• Proverbs 12:24

 

Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.

• Proverbs 12:11

 

Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds.

• Proverbs 27:23

You will have plenty of goats’ milk to feed your family and to nourish your female servants.

• Proverbs 27:27

 

This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a man to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God.

• Ecclesiastes 5:18-19

Joy

 

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

• Isaiah 55:12

 

Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, Lord. They rejoice in your name all day long; they celebrate your righteousness.

• Psalm 89:15-16

 

Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: “The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”

• Psalm 118:15

 

You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.

• Psalm 4:7

 

Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

• Psalm 126:5-6

 

Light shines on the righteous and joy on the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name.

• Psalm 97:11-12

 

Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God.

• Job 22:26

 

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

• John 15:11

 

yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

• Habakkuk 3:18

 

Those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

• Isaiah 51:11

 

In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.

• Psalm 33:21

 

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.

• 1 Peter 1:8

 

Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

• Nehemiah 8:10

 

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

• Isaiah 61:10

 

You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

• Isaiah 41:16

 

The righteous will rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him; all the upright in heart will glory in him!

• Psalm 64:10

 

I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

• Psalm 63:5

 

But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful.

• Psalm 68:3

 

So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

• John 16:22

Jealousy

 

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

• Deuteronomy 5:21

 

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

• James 3:16

 

Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?

• James 4:5

 

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

• Psalm 37:7

 

He boasts about the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.

• Psalm 10:3

 

Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways.

• Proverbs 3:31

 

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

• Proverbs 14:30

 

And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

• Ecclesiastes 4:4

 

Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?

• Proverbs 27:4

 

Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

• Galatians 5:26

 

Do not envy wicked men, do not desire their company.

• Proverbs 24:1

 

But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.

• James 3:14

 

Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord. There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

• Proverbs 23:17-18

 

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.

• Luke 12:22-23

Humility

 

Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

• Matthew 18:4

 

You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry.

• Psalm 10:17

 

For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

• Matthew 23:12

 

When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then he will save the downcast.

• Job 22:29

 

Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. 

• Proverbs 16:19

 

He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.

• Proverbs 3:34

 

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

• James 4:6

 

For he who avenges blood remembers; he does not ignore the cries of the afflicted.

• Psalm 9:12

 

Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life.

• Proverbs 22:4

 

Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord, and humility comes before honor.

• Proverbs 15:33

 

A man’s pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.

• Proverbs 29:23

 

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

• 1 Peter 5:6

Hospitality

 

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

• 1 Peter 4:9-10

 

Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?

• James 2:15-16

 

Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose his reward.

• Mark 9:41

 

“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

• Acts 20:35

 

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

• 1 John 3:17

 

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality.

• 2 Corinthians 8:13-14

 

Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

• Romans 12:13

 

” ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “

• Matthew 25:35-36

 

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ “

• Matthew 25:40

 

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

• Hebrews 13:2

Hope

 

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

• Psalm 42:11

 

Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

• 1 Peter 1:21

 

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

• 1 Peter 1:13

 

Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

• 1 John 3:3

 

When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous have a refuge.

• Proverbs 14:32

 

The faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel

• Colossians 1:5

 

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

• Colossians 1:27

 

 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

• Psalm 31:24

 

For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth.

• Psalm 71:5

 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

• 1 Peter 1:3

Honesty

 

“ ‘Do not steal.’ “

“ ‘Do not lie.’ “

“ ‘Do not deceive one another.’ “

• Leviticus 19:11

 

Am I still to forget your ill-gotten treasures, you wicked house, and the short ephah, which is accursed? Shall I acquit someone with dishonest scales, with a bag of false weights? Your rich people are violent; your inhabitants are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully.

• Micah 6:10-12

 

“ ‘Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. ‘ “

• Leviticus 19:35

 

The Lord detests dishonest scales, but accurate weights find favor with him.

• Proverbs 11:1

 

You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.

• Deuteronomy 25:15-16

 

The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously.

• Psalm 37:21

 

And that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.

• 1 Thessalonians 4:6-7

 

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

• Colossians 3:9-10

 

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.

• Proverbs 3:27

 

“ ‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. ‘ “

• Leviticus 25:14

 

Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.

• Leviticus 25:17

 

Those who walk righteously and speak what is right, who reject gain from extortion and keep their hands from accepting bribes, who stop their ears against plots of murder and shut their eyes against contemplating evil—they are the ones who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. Their bread will be supplied, and water will not fail them.

• Isaiah 33:15-16

 

Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice.

• Proverbs 16:8

Holy Spirit

 

Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings.

• Proverbs 1:23

 

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

• John 14:16-17

 

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

• John 7:38-39

 

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

• John 16:13

 

“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord.

• Isaiah 59:21

 

^“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

• Luke 11:13

 

“But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

• John 4:14

 

And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

• Ezekiel 36:27

 

He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

• Galatians 3:14

 

As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

• 1 John 2:27

 

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

• Romans 14:17

 

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

• Romans 8:26-27

 

What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.

• 1 Corinthians 2:12

 

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

• Romans 8:15

Help in Troubles

 

The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble.

• Psalm 37:39

 

The Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous.

• Psalm 146:8

 

The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.

• Nahum 1:7

 

Though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.

• Psalm 37:24

 

You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

• Psalm 32:7

 

Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up.

• Psalm 71:20

 

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

• Psalm 42:11

 

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

• Psalm 73:26

 

No harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

• Psalm 91:10-11

 

Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

• Psalm 126:5-6

 

Love the Lord, all his faithful people! The Lord preserves those who are true to him, but the proud he pays back in full.

• Psalm 31:23

 

“Even while you sleep among the sheep pens, the wings of my dove are sheathed with silver, its feathers with shining gold.”

• Psalm 68:13

 

“Surely God does not reject one who is blameless or strengthen the hands of evildoers. He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.

• Job 8:20-21

 

From six calamities he will rescue you; in seven no harm will touch you.

• Job 5:19

 

For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.

• Psalm 22:24

 

The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

• Psalm 9:9

 

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes; with your right hand you save me.

• Psalm 138:7

 

You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.

• Psalm 18:28

 

The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.

• Psalm 34:19

 

For no one is cast by the Lord forever.  Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.

• Lamentations 3:31-33

 

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

• Psalm 18:2

 

Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.  Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the Lord’s wrath, until he pleads my case and upholds my cause. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness.

• Micah 7:8:9

 

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

• John 16:33

Guilt

 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

• John 1:9

 

Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

• Isaiah 55:7

 

“If you return to the Lord, then your brothers and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will return to this land, for the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him.”

• 2 Chronicles 30:9

 

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

• Psalm 103:12

 

If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

• 1 John 3:20

 

“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

• Hebrews 8:12

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

• 2 Corinthians 5:17

 

“No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

• Jeremiah 31:34

 

I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me.

• Jeremiah 33:8

 

I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

• 1 John 2:12

 

“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.

• Isaiah 43:25

 

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, purifies us from all sin.

• 1 John 1:7