Daily Bible Verses by Book

43 ‘You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbour^[i] and hate your enemy.” 44 …

Heavenly father
give us grace to love those who do not love us, so that we may be your children today. 

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’
⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you,
and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, 
⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven.
For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends…

Jesus taught them, “But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” —Matthew 5:44 

Richard Rohr describes how loving our enemies is a practice of “integrating the negative,” accepting what we find unacceptable within ourselves: 

Our enemies always carry our own shadow side, the things we don’t like about ourselves. We will never face our own shadow until we embrace those who threaten us (as Francis of Assisi embraced the leper in his conversion experience). The people who turn us off…

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

Rev. James Lawson (1928–2024), an influential teacher of nonviolence in the civil rights movement, insists on the effective power of nonviolence: 

There is impracticality to violence. It’s ineffective and has been ineffective throughout the world for too many years. We must not let people who romanticize or mythologize violence persuade us that it has proven to be efficacious…. It has proven to be the most ineffective weapon. It drains emotional, psychological, moral,…

Heavenly father
give us grace to be like you in not just loving those who love us today

⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 
⁴⁷ If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 
⁴⁸ Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Heavenly father
give us grace to give today without drawing attention to ourselves. 

¹ “Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them,
or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 
² Therefore, when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men.
Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. 
³ But when you do…

6 “Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving^[a] before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no…

Heavenly father
give us grace to pray today, heart to heart

⁵ “When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets,
that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward. 
⁶ But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door,
pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 
⁷ In praying, don’t use…

‘But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.’   MATTHEW 6:6

Father God, you invite me to spend time with you. I accept!

‘The Christian spiritual journey is responding to God’s invitation to personal encounter in love. Prayer is our response. Prayer is the place of encounter. Growth in prayer is growth in loving intimacy with God.’ (David Benner, Opening to God…

Heavenly father
give us grace to …

⁹ Pray like this:

“‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
¹⁰ Let your Kingdom come.
    Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² Forgive us our debts,
    as we also forgive our debtors.
¹³ Bring us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.
For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the…