In the early years of my Christianity, I encountered many people who did not believe what the Bible taught. Some believed salvation must be earned, while others denied that Jesus was God or the only way to heaven.
I remember frantically searching the Scriptures for verses I knew contradicted their false beliefs but could not locate what I was looking for during my discussions with them.
More times than I can count, I walked away frustrated, agitated, and feeling defeated. I was angry with myself for being ill-prepared and not knowing where certain verses were located. I was also embarrassed when I could not back up my verbal claims with “chapter and verse.”
Adding to my aggravation was when the exact passage I searched for earlier suddenly popped into my mind hours later. But, at that point, it was “too little, too late.” All I could do was pray for that person and try to do better next time.
These repeat encounters and my resulting emotions finally led me to record several verses in the back of my Bible. My list included the clearest passages I could find on topics like salvation by grace, Jesus’ deity, heaven, and the reality of hell. I did not want to be caught unprepared again, so I made sure to keep my Bible and list handy. It worked beautifully!
It has been over 30 years since those frustrating days – but they were not in vain. Satan intended to use my discouragement as a deterrent against me witnessing to others. But Jesus used it as a catalyst to equip me much better and lead me to create my Scripture Subjects website, which contains over 2,700 verses on over 40 essential Bible subjects. Having these verses organized by topic makes it easy for me (and others) to refute false doctrine and help others know the truth!
What about you? Do you get discouraged when you do not have all the Bible answers others ask of you? What are you doing to prepare yourself in that area better? Let me know in the comments.
