Daily Bible Verses

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Nonviolence teacher Ken Butigan understands God’s love to be at the center of nonviolence. 

Our true calling is to love one another as God has loved us. When we take this seriously, we are transformed into lovers who care for all beings. In practical terms this means resisting the tendency of the violence system to divide the world into various enemy camps. A fundamental…

The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
    he stretches out the heavens like a tent
and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.  He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.  
He makes winds his messengers,
    flames of fire his servants. - Psalm 104:2-4

Dear Heavenly Father,

One glance at a sky full of clouds and I can see your majesty and grandeur.  What a…

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2024-09-18-overflow-with-hope-r3

“forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”  

Brian McLaren identifies how prayers of petition help us to experience forgiveness:   

Since being wounded or sinned against is a terribly common experience, I suspect we need to pay more attention to it. In fact, being wronged is directly linked in the Lord’s Prayer to the reality of doing wrong; we pray, “forgive us…

The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” Matthew 20:28

I’m not called to die on a cross. But I am called to do last night’s washing up without expecting a medal.
Simon Martin from London Institute for Contemporary Christianity writes:  

The latest season of one of my favourite shows, …

35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’ 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 …

9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.  10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.…

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing. 

Many of us pray similar words of Jesus when we say, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

When we pray this when we meet for Gathered Worship and in our personal prayers, sometimes we are not challenged by these words, but at other times we are struck how hard it is to forgive someone who has deeply offended and hurt us…. It is difficult to let go of the past and be present now to…

“Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.” —Luke 23:34 

Author Megan McKenna considers Jesus’ ability to forgive and how we are called to the same:  

We were created to be the friends of Jesus, the friends of God, friends with one another…. And so, we begin this journey of becoming, this way of being in the world guided by Jesus’s own words and actions that we will repeat over and over again in all our relationships and in…

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,…

¹ You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins, ² in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience. ³ We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. ⁴ But…

23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you.
    You have held my right hand.
24 You will guide me with your counsel,
   …

Give thanks to Yahweh,^[a] for he is good,
    for his loving kindness endures forever.
…

Heavenly father
lead us not into the temptation of taking it out on other people when we are suffering ourselves. 

³⁸ Then there were two robbers crucified with him, one on his right hand and one on the left.
³⁹ Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads 
^40 …

Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to

⁴ When Yahweh saw that he came over to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!”
He said, “Here I am.”
⁵ He said, “Don’t come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.” 
…

Heavenly Father
Give us grace today 

2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be healthy, even as your soul prospers. 

3 For I rejoiced greatly when brothers came and testified about your truth, even as…

Heavenly father
give us grace today

⁵⁰ Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.

⁵¹ Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to celebrate all that is good in you and in the world.  

47 Save us, Yahweh, our God,
    gather us from among the nations,
    to give thanks to your holy…

Heavenly father
give us grace to direct our difficult questions to you today in a way that it honest and real

⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
⁴⁶ About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?”…

Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to open our eyes to see your work in the world. 

² Yahweh’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. ³ Moses said, “I will go now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”…

Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to truly love our close friends.

1 The elder to Gaius the beloved, whom I love in truth.

Heavenly father
give us grace today to know what to say and what not to say. 

¹¹ Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, saying, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus said to him, “So you say.”
¹² When he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he…

⁵ Trust in Yahweh with all your heart,
    and don’t lean on your own understanding.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

Heavenly father
give us grace today to show loving kindness to those in distress

44 Nevertheless he regarded their distress,
    when he heard their cry.
45 He remembered for them his covenant,
…

16 But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them. 17 When they saw him, they bowed down to him; but some doubted. 18 Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to help people to escape from anything which is oppressive

40 Therefore Yahweh burned with anger against his people.
    He abhorred his inheritance.
41 He gave them into the hand of the nations…

Heavenly father
lead us not into the temptation today of standing by while bad things happen

³⁵ When they had crucified him, they divided his clothing among them, casting lots
 ³⁶ and they sat and watched him there. 
^37…

Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to go about the normal work of life knowing that you will guide us and be present with us

¹ Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, 
and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb. 

Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to rejoice in the company of others

12 Having many things to write to you, I don’t want to do so with paper and ink, 
but I hope to come to you, and to speak face to face, that our joy may be made full. …

Heavenly father
give us grace to be alert for the important things that take place today

³³ When they came to a place called “Golgotha”, that is to say, “The place of a skull,” ³⁴ they gave him sour wine to drink mixed with gall.
 When he had tasted it, he would not drink. …

1 Sing to Yahweh a new song,
    for he has done marvellous things!
    His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to not do anything destructive, particularly anything which harms the next generation

36 They served their idols,
    which became a snare to them.
37 Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to carry the burdens of others

³² As they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they compelled him to go with them, that he might carry his cross. 

Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to cry out to you in assurance that you hear our groanings. 

23 In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. 24 God heard their groaning, and God remembered his…

Heavenly Father
Give us grace today be careful in our thinking and lead us not into the temptation of being led astray from the teaching of Christ

9 Whoever transgresses and doesn’t remain in the teaching of Christ, doesn’t have God. 
He who…

Heavenly father
lead us not today into the temptation of mocking other people. 

²⁷ Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium, and gathered the whole garrison together against him. 
²⁸ They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. 
²⁹ They…

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love, 5 having…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to keep apart from all that desructive. 

32 They angered him also at the waters of Meribah,
    so that Moses was troubled for their sakes;
33 because they were rebellious against his…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to take responsibility, both for what we do and what we don’t do. 

²⁴ So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, 
he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, 
saying, “I am innocent of the…

Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to be a blessing to those who live as foreigners in a a foreign land 

21 Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter. 
22 She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, “I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land.”

Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to not be deceived 

7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who don’t confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. 
This is the deceiver and the Antichrist. 
…

Heavenly father
give us grace today not go along with the crowd.

²⁰ Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 
²¹ But the governor answered them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”
They said, “Barabbas!”
…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to not be involved with anything which is destructive. 

28 They joined themselves also to Baal Peor,
    and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to pay attention to dreams, both our own and other people’s 

¹⁹ While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, 
“Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him.”

Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to practice hospitality

18 When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, “How is it that you have returned so early today?”
19 They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock.”
…

Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to be obedient to the commandment to love

(5 … commandment … that we love one another. )
6 This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments. 
…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to choose the ways of Christ rather than that of a zealot

¹⁵ Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release to the multitude one prisoner whom they desired. 
¹⁶ They had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas. 
¹⁷ When…

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up.

Heavenly father
give us grace today to celebrate what we have been given and believe in you 

24 Yes, they despised the pleasant land.
    They didn’t believe his word,
25 …