Birthdays are a wonderful time of celebration, and being grateful that God has given our loved ones life. 

For the birthday person, it is a good time to take stock of the past and look forward to the future.

Sending a Bible verse to encourage a friend or family member on his birthday is what Christians love to do, but do you find yourself falling back to the same verse every single time? (Our guess is, it’s either Numbers 6:24-26 or Psalm 20:4, right?)

For the loved one (or even yourself!) celebrating a birthday, Salt&Light highlights five, fresh, non-clichéd Bible verses that will remind them of God’s presence in their life.

1. God has been with you from the beginning: Psalm 22:9-10

“Yet you brought me safely from my mother’s womb and led me to trust you at my mother’s breast. I was thrust into your arms at my birth. You have been my God from the moment I was born.” (NLT)

Years ago on this day, God was the One who brought you safely out of your mother’s womb years and into His loving embrace.

How wonderful it is to know that you have a Father who has known and loved you intimately long before you were aware of Him.

Thank Him for the life that He has given to you.

2. God will be with you till the end: Isaiah 46:4

“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” (NIV)

Just as God has been with you from the beginning, so will He be till the very end.

Some of us may feel afraid about experiencing our bodies growing frailer with each passing year. Others may feel uncertain about what the future holds. But know that God promises to carry, sustain and rescue us through it all.

Whatever your fears, commit the years ahead to the Lord who will walk beside and before you every step of the way.

3. God enables you to enjoy life: Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

“There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?” (ESV)

In this broken world, life can often seem futile and meaningless, as the book of Ecclesiastes so clearly points out.

Perhaps you’re in a season where you feel like there’s nothing much to celebrate or look forward to in your life. That’s okay. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy life still.

Even in mundanity of everyday life, God gives us gifts of enjoyment. Such gifts as a warm cup of morning coffee, the comfort of falling into bed after a long day, a good meal with friends, or the satisfaction of completing a task at work.

All these come from the hand of God who delights in giving us good things. What little joys you can thank God for today?

4. God promises you a better life to come: 1 Timothy 6:12

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (ESV)

Each birthday that passes is a reminder that our time on this earth is temporary, and that we are destined for eternal life with Christ. In that life, He promises that there will be no more tears, pain or suffering.

Let this birthday remind you to fight the good fight of faith, that you might take hold of this eternal life.

If you’ve been walking closely with Jesus, continue to do so in the coming year of your life. If you’ve found yourself losing focus, recommit your walk with Jesus to Him and ask Him to help you keep your eyes on what truly matters.

5. God will lead you in the way everlasting: Psalm 139:23

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (NIV)

Psalm 139 tells us that God knows us intimately and deeply, and perhaps even better than we know ourselves.

The Psalmist invites God to examine the deepest parts of his heart and surface any sins to him, so that he may walk in God’s everlasting ways.

As you strive to follow Jesus in the coming year, praise God for His deep understanding of you. Ask Him to examine your heart and reveal to you the sinful parts so that you can grow in wisdom and holiness.

A prayer for someone’s birthday

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for giving (name) the gift of life.

Thank You for bringing him safely out of his mother’s womb and into the world all those years ago. Thank You for sustaining and guiding him till today. We praise You for calling him to Yourself and for all the work that You have done in his life.

As (name) enters into a new year of life, we pray that You will remind him that you will go before him and walk beside him. May you bless the work of his hands as he serves You in his roles (as parent/ spouse/ child/ employee/ student, etc).

Grant him little gifts of enjoyment in the grind of everyday life, and the abundant joy that comes with walking closely with You.

Help him to continue to fight the good fight of faith and take hold of the everlasting life with You that You have promised him. Assure him that You will lead him there.

Sovereign and loving God, we commit him into Your hands. In Jesus’ most precious name we pray, amen.

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