Daily Bible Verses

Heavenly Father
            in amongst all the destruction that takes place in this world,
            give me grace to do what is right
            and give me grace to allow you and others do what I cannot do (e.g. “close the door of the ark”)

¹ Yahweh said to Noah (⁶ who was 600 years old) , “Come with all of your household into…

Heavenly Father
In the storms of life, give me grace to know that you remember me and grace to be patient as I wait for the flood waters to subside.
In the face of evil, give me grace to smell the sweet aroma of the love that is also in humankind.

¹ God remembered Noah and all the animals that were with him in the ship; and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided.    ³ The waters continually receded from the earth.  ⁴ 5…

Heavenly Father
* Give me grace to be thankful for all the resources in the world, particularly those that have life within them;
* give me grace to respect all life; and
* give me grace to respect all those who are made in your image.

¹ God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 

² The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky.
…

Heavenly Father give me grace to turn away from what is indiscriminately destructive
* Give me grace to value interdependence with all of your creatures

⁸ God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 
⁹ “I establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature of the earth. 
¹¹  …

Heavenly Father
* give me grace to turn away from what is indiscriminately destructive
* give me grace to value interdependence with all of your creatures

⁸ God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 
⁹ “I establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature of the earth. 
¹¹  There…

Heavenly father
* give us grace to seek first the Kingdom of God, rather than to seek to make a name for ourselves.

¹ The whole earth was of one language and of one speech.  ⁴ They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”

⁵ Yahweh came…

Heavenly Father give us hope when we face tragedy and new circumstances.

²¹ Noah was the father of Shem, father of^:10 Arpachshad, father of ¹² Shelah, father of ¹⁴ Eber, father of ¹⁶ Peleg, father of ²⁰ Reu, father of ²² Serug, father of…

Heavenly Father,
give us grace to look forward to the next part of our lives, to know what we must leave behind, so that we can be a blessing to others.

¹ Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. ² I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. ^3 …

Heavenly father give us grace to call on your name (like Abraham), particularly in hard times so that we bring blessing to others rather than misfortune (unlike Abraham)

⁷ Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” ^[a]

He built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him. ⁸ He left from there to go to…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to return to the places where we have experienced your presence in the past, and to call on you.
(whether these are physical places or frames of mind or social settinns)

¹ Abram went up out of Egypt—he, his wife, all that he had, and Lot with him—into the South. ² Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ³ He went on his journeys from the South even to Bethel,…

Heavenly father give us grace to make wise decisions to avoid strife in our close relationships, and to avoid wickedness.

⁵ Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, herds, and tents. ⁶ The land was not able to bear them, that they might live together. 
⁷ There was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock.. 
⁸ …

Heavenly father give us grace to hear your voice, to lift up our eyes, to receive grace, to “get up and go” and to make space for you in our lives

¹⁴ Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, ¹⁵ for all the land which you see, I will give to you,…

Heavenly father give us grace to do the things that we can do in difficult situations, so that it is you who are at work in us.

⁸ The kings of Sodom, Gomorrah lost in battle against other kings  ¹¹ who took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, ¹²  and also Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who lived in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

¹⁴ When Abram heard that…

Heavenly father
* give us grace to appreciate those people who act as bridges between us and You (priests). 
* give us grace to share your blessings with others

¹⁸ Melchizedek, priest of God Most High, brought out bread and wine and ¹⁹  blessed Abram, and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth: ²⁰ and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your…

Heavenly father give us grace to seek to do what is right, rather than to seek to profit from doing right.

²¹ The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people (that you rescued from those who captured them), and take the goods for yourself.”  ²² Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, ²³ that I will not take a thread nor a sandal…

Heavenly father
* give us grace to hear your words and not be afraid
* give us grace to have hope and to believe in you

¹  Yahweh’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,  I am your exceedingly great reward.”
² Abram said, “Lord^[…

Heavenly father
* give us grace to hold on to the hopes and dreams which you give us, particularly when we are aware of the difficult realities which face us.
* give us grace to hold on to the fact that you alone are our ultimate hope

⁷ Yahweh said to Abram, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.”
⁸ Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?”

…

Heavenly father

• give us grace to trust in you in times when you seem absent (unlike Abram and Sarai in their barren-ness)
• give us grace to take responsibility for our own actions (unlike Sarai)
• give us grace to hear you speaking to us in difficult circumstances (like Hagar)

¹ Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. ² Sarai said to Abram, “See now, Yahweh has restrained me from bearing. Please go in to my…

Heavenly father
give us grace to walk before you and be blameless
and thank you for your covenant with those who do so, to be at home on earth with you as our God

¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him,
“I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless. 
² I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”

³ Abram fell on his face.

God talked with him, saying…

Heavenly father
give us grace to teach your covenant to the next generations
give us grace to sacrifice the needs of the flesh so that our spirits may become strong.
give us grace to allow ourselves to carry the painful marks of being in covenant relationship with you, at a very personal level.

⁹ God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 
¹⁰ This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your…

Heavenly father
give us grace to be honest about the hopes and dreams we believe you have given us.
give us grace to hold on to the hopes and dreams you have given us even when it seems laughable to do so.

¹⁵ God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, her name shall be Princess (Sarah). 
¹⁶ I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her.
She will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷ …

Heavenly father
give us grace to seek you and worship you today

18 Yahweh appeared to Abraham (our God, while never fully comprehended, can be “seen” by those who look)
by the oaks of Mamre (this takes place at home - the first place that Abraham lived in the land),
as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. (this takes place in a time of rest during the day- when no outdoor work could be done)
² He lifted up his eyes and looked, (He gave attention to that which was…

Heavenly father
thank you that you see when others are unkind to us
give us grace (like Jacob) to hear your voice and be obedient to it or (like his wives) to discern your voice speaking to others and be obedient to it. 

[Jacob said to Rachel and Leah]: ¹⁰ During mating season, I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the male goats which leaped on the flock were streaked, speckled, and grizzled. ¹¹ The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am…

Heavenly father
give us grace in difficult relationships to listen to you (as laban did),
and refrain from making things worse (as Jacob and Rachel did)  and from hankering after other Gods (as Rachel did) 

¹⁷ Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives on the camels, 
¹⁸ and he took away all his possessions to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan. 
¹⁹ Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep; and Rachel stole the teraphim [Gods] that were her…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to be honest about our fears (as Jacob did)
give us grace to avoid making rash statements when we are not in full possession of the facts (as Jacob did)

²⁶ Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done, that you have deceived me,
and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword? 
²⁷ Why didn’t you tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs; 
²⁸ and didn’t allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now have you done foolishly.…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to resolve conflicts today,  
and when it is time to go separate ways, give us grace to do so with love and blessings

³⁶ Jacob was angry, and argued with Laban. “What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me? 
³⁷ Now that you have felt around in all my stuff, what have you found of all your household stuff?
Set it here before my relatives and your relatives, that they may judge between us two.
⁴¹ These twenty years I have been in your house. I served…

Heavenly Father
give us grace, when faced with what we fear, to lift up our eyes and voice to you.

¹ Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 
² When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s army.” ^]

³ Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother,
⁴ He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau:
‘This is what your servant, Jacob, says.
I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now. 
…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to be creative in our use of resources in the pursuit of peace

13 Jacob stayed there that night, and took from that which he had with him a present for Esau, his brother: 
14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 
15 thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. 
16 He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants,
“Pass over before me, and put a space…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to dare to be alone with you, and the grace to have an honest struggle with you. 

22 He rose up that night, and took his two wives and eleven sons and 23 sent them over the Jabbok stream.
24 Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day. 
25 When he saw that he didn’t prevail against him,
the man touched the hollow of his thigh,
and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained as he wrestled. 
26 The man said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.”
Jacob…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to be courageous and humble in difficult situations today, like Jacob
give us grace to so focus on loving relationships that we are forgiving

1 Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men.
He divided the children between Leah, Rachel, and the two servants. 
2 He put the servants and their children in front, Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear. 
3 He himself passed over in front of them,
and bowed…