Daily Bible Verses

“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,…