Daily Bible Verses

Remain in me as I remain in you” (John 15:4) 

We go through our lives, our years on this Earth, thinking of ourselves as separate. That sense of separateness basically causes every stupid, sinful, silly thing we ever do. The little, separate self takes offense when people don’t show us proper respect. The separate self lies, steals, and does unkind things to other people. When we’re separate, everything becomes about protecting and defending ourselves. It can consume our lives. 

One word for overcoming that false sense of separateness, that illusory self, is heaven;…

Heavenly father
give us grace to “see” Jesus and understand Him, so that we may understand His name
and give us grace to ask for those things that are in His name

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip?
He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ 
10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the…

Heavenly father
give us grace to obey your commandments (of love), and to be open to your Spirit of Truth 

15 If you love me, keep my commandments. 
16 I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor,  that he may be with you forever: 
17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him and doesn’t know him.
You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you. 
18 I will not leave you orphans. I…

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” ²² Judas (not Iscariot)…

Heavenly father
give us grace to live in Christ and for Christ to live in us, 
give us grace to keep your commands and love you

19 Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me.  (after the resurrection)
Because I live, you will live also. 
20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 
21 One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me.
One who loves me will be loved by my…

Heavenly father
pour out your Holy Spirit on us today so that we may be taught by you and have the grace to keep and obey your words 

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him,
“Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word.
My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him. 
24 He who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my…

Heavenly father
give us grace to remain untroubled and pure in the face of the prince of this world

27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you.
Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. 
28 You heard how I told you, ‘I go away, and I come to you.’
If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I said ‘I am going to my Father;’
for the Father is greater than I. 
29 Now I have told you before it happens so that when it…

¹ “I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. ² Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.

Heavenly father give us grace to remain in you and bear fruit today

¹ “I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. 
² Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away.
Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 
³ You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 
⁴ Remain in me, and I in you.
As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you…

I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in them will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. —John 15:5  

Richard Rohr understands Jesus’ vine and branches metaphor as an illustration of mutual indwelling: Christ in us and us in Christ.  

The motivation, meaning, and inherent energy of any action comes from its ultimate source, which is the person’s foundational and core vantage point. What is their real and honest motivation? What does the seeing? Is it the cut-off branch, the egoic self, trying to work…

Heavenly father
give us grace to bear much fruit today, particularly in our love, obedience and joy

⁷ If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.
⁸ “In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples. 
⁹ Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. 
¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love;…

⁹ Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.

¹² “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ^14…

‘I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.’  JOHN 15:11
 
Lord, thank you that your joy is my strength (Nehemiah 8:10). I celebrate your great love for me.

Joy is essential to our spiritual lives. Jesus reveals to us the Father’s love so that his joy may become ours and that our joy may become complete. Joy is the experience of knowing that we are unconditionally loved and that nothing – sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even…

Heavenly father give us grace to love one another in such a way that is life giving to those we love

¹² “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. 
¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 
¹⁴ You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. 
¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does.
But I have called you friends…

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s own life for one’s friends” 

Love is a firm commitment to act for the well-being of someone other than yourself. It can be personal or political, individual or communal, intimate or public. Love will not be segregated to the private, personal precincts of life. Love, as I read it in the Bible, is ubiquitous. It affects all aspects of life.…  

An oft-quoted passage in the New Testament says, “God so loved the world that he gave his only son” [John 3:16]. The Greek word used by the New Testament…

‘You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.’   JOHN 15:14–15
 

Lord, I long for true friendship with you. Help me to hear your voice and obey your commands.

Pray Continually: One way to acknowledge God’s presence with us throughout the day is to talk with him, as with a…

Heavenly father
give us grace to be obedient to your command to love all others, particularly when there is pressure not to. 

¹⁷ “I command these things to you, that you may love one another. 
¹⁸ If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. 
¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own.
But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 

Heavenly father
give us grace to endure the pain of suffering when we have done what is right. 

²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’
If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 
²¹ But they will do all these things to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me. 
²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse…

Heavenly father
give us grace to receive your Spirit of truth today
give us discernment to know what truth needs speaking, whatever the consequences

^15:26 “When the Counsellor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. 
²⁷ You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

^16:1 “I have said these things to you so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble. …