http://www.flash.net/~jconant/019_encourage.htm
NOTE:
1. I would like to give the credit to the Lord for all insight and anything beneficial (2 Tim. 3:16-17) found here, as He is to whom we pray. (John Conant, Jr.)
2. I found these passages in Scripture to be encouraging one day.
John 8:48-11:57
John 8:
48 The Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"
49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.
50 "But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges.
51 "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."
John 8:
58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."
John 9:
1 And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.
2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?"
3 Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.
4 "We must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work.
5 "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
6 When he said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes,
7 and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). And so he went away and washed, and came back seeing.
8 The neighbors therefore, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, "Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?"
9 Others were saying, "This is he," still others were saying, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the one."
10 Therefore they were saying to him, "How then were your eyes opened?"
11 He answered, "The man who is called Jesus made clay, and annointed my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to Siloam, and wash'; so I went away and washed, and I received sight."
12 And they said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know."
John 9:
24 So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner."
25 He therefore answered, "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see."
26 They said therefore to him, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?"
27 He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?"
28 And they reviled him, and said, "You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
29 "We know that God has spoken to Moses; but as for this man, we do not know where He is from."
30 The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes.
31 "We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing, and does His will, He hears him.
32 "Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.
33 "If this man were not from God, He could do nothing."
34 They answered and said to him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" And they put him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had put him out; and finding him, He said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
36 He answered and said, "And who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"
37 Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you."
38 And he said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshipped Him.
John 10:
7 Jesus therefore said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 "All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
10 "The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.
11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
12 "He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters them.
13 "He flees because he is a hireling, and is not concerned about the sheep.
14 "I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me,
15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
16 "And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd.
17 "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it up again.
18 "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father."
19 There arose a division again among the Jews because of these words.
20 And many of them were saying, "He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?"
21 Others were saying, "These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?"
22 At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem;
John 10:
23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.
24
27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
28 and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.
29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
30 "I and the Father are one."
31 The Jews took up stones again to stone Him.
32 Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?"
33 The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God."
34 Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'?
35 "If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),
36 do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?
37 "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;
38 but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father."
39 Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.
40 And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there.
41 And many came to Him and were saying, "While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true."
42 And many believed in Him there.
John 11:
11 This He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awaken him out of sleep."
12 The disciples therefore said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."
13 Now Jesus has spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep.
14 Then Jesus therefore said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead,
15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may beleive; but let us go to him."
John 11:
21 Martha therefore said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 "Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."
23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother shall rise again."
24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world."
28 And when she had said this, she went away, and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, "The Teacher is here, and is calling for you."
29 And when she heard it, she arose quickly, and was coming to Him.
30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him.
31 The Jews then who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her, also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit, and was troubled,
34 and said, "Where have you lain him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."
35 Jesus wept.
36 And so the Jews were saying, "Behold how He loved him!"
37 But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have kept this man also from dying?"
38 Jesus therefore again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
39 Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days."
40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you, if you beleive, you will see the glory of God?"
41 And so they removed the stone. And Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me.
42 "And I knew that Thou hearest Me always; but because of the people standing around I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me."
43 And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth."
44 He who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings; and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
45 Many therefore of the Jews, who had come to Mary and beheld what He had done, believed in Him.
46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done.
47 Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs.
48 "If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."
49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all,
50 nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish."
51 Now this he did not say on his own initiative; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,
52 and not for the nation only, but that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.