Daily Bible Verses

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ …

In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. —Mark 1:35 

If the desert is a place of renewal, transformation, and freedom, and if the heat and isolation served as a nurturing incubator …, one wonders if a desert experience is necessary to reclaim this legacy.  

One need not wonder long when there are so many deserts within reach. Today’s wilderness can be found in bustling suburban and urban centers, on death row, in homeless shelters in the middle of the night, in the eyes of a…

A leper came to him begging…, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” —Mark 1:40–41 

Walter Brueggemann emphasizes that we are all in need of Jesus’ healing touch: 

Jesus touched him. He put his strong hand into the sore skin. He risked touching the contagious skin and thereby making himself, as well, socially unacceptable and ritually impure. He risked all of that in his compassion. And the narrator says, “Immediately! The leprosy left him, and he was made…

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 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. …

Jesus woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased and there was a dead calm. He said to the disciples, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
—Mark 4:39–40 

In the midst of uncertainty and swift transition, in the midst of personal and institutional upheaval, and amid the “fightings within and fears without” that separate peoples, races, and nations, we desperately need to hear a little good news. And this passage from the fourth chapter of Mark’s Gospel, which relates how Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee, is…

17 As he was going out into the way, one ran to him, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God. 19 …

42 Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your…

22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” 

28 One of the teachers of the law asked Jesus, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’ 29 ‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. …

Heavenly father
give us grace not to be defined by our failures in the past (both our own and our families) 
 

1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
² Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob, [who had a feud with Esau]
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers [who all hated Joseph]
³ Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, [who was raped]
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,…

Heavenly father
give us grace to continue to hope when everything is falling apart 

⁶ David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
⁷ Solomon the father of Rehoboam, [who like those in bold afterwards did evil in the sight of the Lord]
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
⁸ Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
⁹ …

Heavenly father
give us grace to see the bigger picture today
give us grace to see the importance of those who are marginalised by society (just as women in general and Mary in particular were).

¹² After the exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
¹³ Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,
Abihud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
¹⁴ Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Elihud,
¹⁵ …

Heavenly father
give us grace today to do seek to do what is right and what is kind 

¹⁸ 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. 
¹⁹ 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.

Heavenly father
give us grace to not only rejoice that you are with us today, but also to be obedient to what you command us to do today. 

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife,
because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 
²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, 
because he will save his people from their sins.’

²² All…

Heavenly father
give us grace to worship you today, and to shepherd those who are entrusted to our care. 

¹ Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod,
behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, 
² “Where is he who is born King of the Jews?
For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.” 
³ When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 
⁴ Gathering together all the chief…

Heavenly father
give us grace to rightly value people and things today, and to value you above all.

⁷ Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star appeared. 
⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child.
When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him.”

⁹ They, having heard the king, went their way;
and behold, the star, which they saw in the east,
went before them until…

Heavenly father
give us grace to be attentive to hearing you and being obedient to you today 

¹² Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.
¹³ Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying,
“Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you,
for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”
¹⁴ He…

Heavenly father
give us grace to restrain our own anger, to bare the sorrow of others, and to bear our own sorrows.

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry,
and sent out and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside,
from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men. 
¹⁷ Then that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,

¹⁸ “A…

Heavenly father
give us grace to be attentive to your promptings, particularly when we are afraid; and give us grace to then be obedient 

¹⁹ But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, 
²⁰ “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child’s life are dead.”
²¹ He arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. 
^…

Heavenly father
give us grace to see that the Kingdom of Heaven is among us, and to turn away from anything which is not of your Kingdom. 

¹ In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 
² “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” 
³ For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
    make the way of the Lord ready!
    Make his paths…