Daily Bible Verses

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.  ...

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Events in Iran have dominated the headlines in the last week, although curiously the BBC was slower than other media outlets to report on them. It was a reminder that the ‘news’ we consume is shaped by what an individual or group considers news – what one person, organisation, or group sees as news,...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2026-01-2-pilgrimage-part-1-r26

¹ How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty!
² My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
³ Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—
a...

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do...

Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.  Luke 14:34–35

As the salt of the earth, we are agents of human flourishing. Jesus is calling us to be fertilizer in his kingdom. We are the salt poured on that which is foul in order to foster fresh, new life. We are created to help others blossom and bud as they pursue the life God intends. Flourishing lives demonstrate evidence...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-12-31-show-me-your-ways-r25 

7 Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the ‘tent of meeting’. Anyone enquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside...

11 For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-12-26-children-r25

1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’

2 He called a little child to him, and...

But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behaviour in Christ may be put to shame.  1 Peter 3v14–16  

Have you ever had...

We human beings are forgetful. We need reminders of important things, including the gospel that feeds the soul and illuminates the divine loving self within. Mindful of the world’s beauty and violence, let’s steep for a moment in these encouraging and inspiring words:
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has become insipid, how will it be made salt again? It’s no longer good for anything then, except being thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city...

Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  — Colossians 1:15–17  

Early Christians understood Christ to be a transcendent Presence dwelling in and with them, transforming all things.  ...

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’ (Matthew 2v1-2)

Religious historian Diana Butler Bass invites readers to take a clear-eyed look at the world around us and how we...

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….  All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. —John 1:1, 3 

What was God up to in those first moments of creation? Was God totally invisible before the universe began? Is there even such a thing as “before”? Why did God create at all? What was God’s purpose in creating? Is the universe itself eternal, or is the universe a creation in time as we know it—like Jesus...

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labour in vain.   

Philippians 2:14–16  

The Magi noticed something different in the sky. Something unusual. Something out of the ordinary – and...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-12-8-whats-your-story-r25

1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer – at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the...

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  

1 Peter 2:9–10  

You are chosen. How does that sit with you? Take a moment to recognise the feelings this passage evokes in you and bring them before...

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:  
Who, being in very nature God,  
   did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;  
rather, he made himself nothing  
   by taking the very nature of a servant,  
   being made in human likeness.  

Philippians 2:5–7  

Jesus shows us what it is like to be truly and beautifully human...

Praise the Lord.  
Praise the Lord, my soul.  
I will praise the Lord all my life;  
   I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.  
Do not put your trust in princes,  
   in human beings, who cannot save.  
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;  
   on that very day their plans come to nothing.  
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,  
   whose...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-12-3-the-feast-by-still-waters-r25

38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to...

Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
   whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth,
   the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever Psalm 146:5–6

Every winter, millions of monarch butterflies make an extraordinary journey. Fragile as paper, weighing less than a paperclip you’d lose in a desk drawer, they travel nearly 3,000 miles from Canada to the forests of central Mexico. No maps. No guides. Astonishingly,...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-12-15-courageous-teenagers-r25

35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come over you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the one who is to be born will be holy. He will be called God’s Son. 36 ...

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God – the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for...

46 And Mary said:

‘My soul glorifies the Lord
47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
...

“Give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Brian McLaren highlights how gratefulness is a recurring theme in the Gospels: Jesus makes it clear that a life lived to fulfill God’s dream for creation will involve suffering. But even here, Jesus implies that there is reason for gratitude. You see it in the Beatitudes, Jesus’s eightfold way of happiness (Matthew 5:3–12). There is a blessing in poverty, he says; to the degree you miss out on the never-enough system, you partake of...

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: his mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.  

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary...

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;  
   from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.  
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him –  
   the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,  
   the Spirit of counsel and of might,  
   the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord –  
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.  
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,  
...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R-G2i_ezH0

‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.’ Luke 2:14

For a child has been born for us, 
   a son given to us; 
authority rests upon his shoulders, 
   and he is named 
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, 
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace  Isaiah 9:6

Allowing ourselves time to stop and wonder is a beautiful but tricky thing to do. Pausing long enough to rediscover the wonder of the Christmas story can be hard, but is, non the less, rewarding.

Isaiah 9...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-12-19-episode-2-wonderful-news

6 For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    ...

    
The wonderful art of knitting  (Psalm 139:6-14)

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,  
   too lofty for me to attain.  
Where can I go from your Spirit?  
   Where can I flee from your presence?  
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;  
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,  
   if I settle on the far...

‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’ (Luke 1:38)

All my life, I have been enamoured of the God-intoxicated ones. Those rarefied souls who slip into ecstatic states and spontaneously utter poetry. The ones who exude deep stillness, embody equanimity, listen more than they speak. The initiated and the ordained, the monastics…. 
I wanted to be one of them. Until I didn’t. 
I want you not to want that as well…. I...

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

In 1963, C.S. Lewis wrote an essay entitled ‘The Seeing Eye’. It was a response to Nikita Krushchev, the Russian politician who famously declared of the first man in space, ‘Gagarin flew into space but didn’t see God there’.

Krushchev considered the fact that God wasn’t spotted up there to be...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-12-5-tools-r25

1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal...

1 The desert and the parched land will be glad;
    the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom;
...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-12-12-struggling-with-what-feels-like-his-absence-r25

7 ‘Will the Lord reject for ever?
    Will he never show his favour again?
...

So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.’  

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, ‘I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession...

11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, ‘Jesus, Master, have pity on us!’
...

Richard Rohr reminds us that when we receive everything as a gift, we can live gratefully, allowing the energies of life and love to flow through us for the benefit of the whole. 
In Philippians 4:6–7, Paul sums up an entire theology of prayer practice in very concise form: “Pray with gratitude, and the peace of Christ, which is bigger than knowledge or understanding, will guard both your mind and your heart in Christ Jesus.” From that place we stop making...

35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-11-19-scrap-heap-r25

Job said:
‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
    and naked I shall depart.
The ...

 And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18v3)

Learning to see beyond our biases is essential for the ongoing conversion of faith.  

We need self-knowledge and the crucial need to recognize 
(1) when we are in denial about our own shadow and capacity for illusion; 
(2) our capacity to project our own fears...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-11-17-eleven-plus-spirituality-r25 

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a...

She [Abigail] fell at his feet and said: ‘Upon me alone, my lord, be the guilt; please let your servant speak in your ears and hear the words of your servant. My lord, do not take seriously this ill-natured fellow, Nabal… Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, since the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be like Nabal.  1 Samuel 25:24–26

Ever...

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him”.  James 1:5

“Lead us not into temptation” (Matthew 6:13)

In the search of wisdom we pray that we would not be led into the following temptations: 

Confirmation Bias: We judge new ideas based on the ease with which they fit in with and confirm...

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

I cry at Christmas adverts.
Wait! Can’t I see that they are weapons-grade emotional manipulation, deployed by the capitalist superstructure to manipulate me into spending money, in turn fuelling a system that not only exploits me, but the very cultural heritage it purports to celebrate?
I...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-11-14-creativity-r25 

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘See I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur,...

Jesus looked at him and loved him. (Mark 10:21)

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-11-10-maurice-r25 

Now David had said, ‘Surely it was in vain that I protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, but he has returned me evil for good. God do so to David and more also if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.’   1 Samuel 25:21–22

Have you ever just lost it? Gone Vesuvian over some relatively small thing? The failure of a colleague to include an appendix in a document? Or falling over the...

The Dignity of Attention - Richard Rohr 
Nature itself is the primary Bible. As Paul says in Romans 1:20, “What can be known about God is perfectly plain, for God has made it plain. Ever since God created the world, God’s everlasting power and deity is there for the mind to see in all the things that God has created.” The world itself is the primary locus of the sacred and provides all the metaphors that the soul needs for its growth. 
Thomas Aquinas, the...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-11-12-dream-r25 

‘“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. (Acts 2:17)

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick.’
 
When he heard this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be...

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,  since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (COLOSSIANS 3:23–24)

In these verses, Paul instructs the Colossians to work in all contexts with all their heart. Our culture presents hard work as the endless grind, morning routines that start before the sun is awake...

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
    He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
    he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,...

Love your neighbour as yourself. (Luke 10:27)

You’ve made it to the airport. The holiday was great, but now you need to be home with a big mug of Yorkshire tea, ASAP. But as you pass duty-free you hit chaos: no one’s boarding and they’re suffering in the heat and crush.

How would you respond? Anger, resignation, despair?

Devonshire mum Faye made a different choice. Stuck in a dense crowd at Corfu airport for over an hour, Faye noticed upset children and an...

Blessed are you when people revile you, persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, because your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.  Matthew 5:11

In parts of the world, the practice of Christianity is illegal, churches are bombed, and children are hounded. To be aware of this persecution should prompt his followers to risk their reputations to make peace when others...

6: Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you who are hungry and thirsty for justice, for you shall be satisfied.  
9: Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you peacemakers, for you shall be called children of God. 
 

Elias Chacour is a Palestinian Arab-Israeli and a former archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic church in Palestine. At one point in his ministry, Chacour went against the orders of local authorities to build a secondary school to educate the...

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 who, being in very nature^[a...

17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, ...

There was a cave and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. The men of David said to him, ‘Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, “I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him, as it seems good to you.”’ 1 Samuel24v3–4

Imagine: there it is, what you’ve always wanted, long prayed for, what you’re certain God has promised you, what you’ve been holding out for all these years. Perhaps the partner...

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-11-3-dark-days-r25 

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-10-17-be-like-a-child-r25 

15 People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not...

Blessed are you who are poor,
   for yours is the kingdom of God. (Luke 6:20)

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)

The kingdom of God on earth is Jesus’ specific proposal to humanity. While the Sermon on the Mount is not a complete statement of the proposal (it takes all four Gospels for that), it does contain many of the major points. So it is quite natural at the very beginning for Jesus to deal with the...

3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-10-20-being-family-r25 

4 Sing to God, sing in praise of his name,
    extol him who rides on the cloud;
...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-10-31-the-reality-of-mission-r25 

14 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. 15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with...

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.   Ecclesiastes 3:11

Last month, I swam, biked, and ran the Copenhagen Ironman.

Yes, I desperately want you to ask me how my summer was so I can not-so-casually drop it into conversation. Yes, I want you to ask, ‘How far is it?’ just so I can see your eyes widen. Yes, it was a high like no...

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realised that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.  (Acts 4:13)

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-10-29-presence-and-mission-r25 

Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the person in charge of the banquet.’ So they took it. When the person in charge tasted the water that had become wine and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), that person called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk....

Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking about his exodus, which he was about to fulfil in Jerusalem.    Luke 9:30–31

In a small Christian community in Nicaragua, everyday people reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ transfiguration, especially his conversation with Moses and Elijah. Writing from within the liberation movement, Ernesto Cardenal shares their insights: 
TOMÁS: “And those two dead men that appear...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-10-27-doubt-and-mission-r25

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. ...

Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)

Right now, there are few cultural figures more worthy of our attention than Yungblud.

The rockstar, born Dom Harrison in Doncaster, is on a stratospheric rise. He’s scored hit albums worldwide, his US arena tour sold out in one minute, and he’s an unstoppable social media force. He’s heir...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-10-24-who-am-i-r25

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family^[...

‘And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.’

Matthew 9:10–13

...