Love your enemies (Matthew 5:44)
King so imbued this understanding of nonviolence into his followers that it became the ethos of the entire civil rights movement. One evening … the large crowd of black and white activists standing outside the Ebenezer Baptist Church was electrified by the sudden arrival of a black funeral home operator from Montgomery. He reported that a group of black students demonstrating near the capitol just that afternoon had been surrounded by police on horseback, all escape barred, and cynically commanded to disperse or take the consequences. Then the…
moreHeavenly father
give us grace to be like you in not just loving those who love us today46 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.There is a common misperception that deeply distorts the reading of the Scriptures and much spirituality. I call it “spiritual capitalism,” which centers around a common philosophy of “I can do it, and I must do it, and I will do it.” This is the mindset of early-stage ego consciousness. It puts all the emphasis and total reliance on “me,” my effort, and my spiritual accomplishments. It has little active trust in God’s grace and mercy.
Unfortunately, the driving energy is fear and more effort, instead of quiet confidence and gratitude.
It becomes about climbing instead of…
moreHeavenly 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,
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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…Heavenly father
give us grace to pray today, heart to heart5 “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,
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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…
moreHeavenly father
give us grace to …9 Pray like this:
“‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
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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…your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-06-18-fully-real-r25
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors (Matthew 6v12)
The jubilee mandate helps us to imagine what a community living life in all its fullness could look like when living justly, loving compassion and walking humbly.
—Cheryl Haw and Caitlin Collins, Jubilee, God’s Answer to PovertyAuthor Kelley Nikondeha describes how Jesus encouraged his disciples to practice jubilee actions in their daily lives:
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Under the Galilean sun Jesus taught his disciples to pray about their most tangible concerns—bread for today, no debts for tomorrow, and the end of violence…
Daily Bible Verses
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