Daily Bible Verses

I know that my redeemer lives,
    and that in the end he will stand on the earth. JOB 19:25

At Christmas, we remember and celebrate the coming of Christ down to earth. Amidst the mince pies and the carols, the image of Jesus at the forefront of our minds is, understandably, as a newborn in Mary’s arms. 
It’s worthy of the hype. To quote Job, our redeemer lives and stands on the earth. For followers of Jesus today, we can take Job’s words as our own. Our redeemer has stood on the earth;…

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you shall declare to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? … Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you…

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.   The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

As John’s Gospel opens, we have no mention of a birth,…

Happy Christmas

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 
² The same was in the beginning with God. 
³ All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. 
⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 
⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it. 

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² The same was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it. 

⁹ The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.
¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn’t recognize him. 
¹¹ He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him. 
¹² But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name: 
¹³ who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 
¹⁴ The…

“From God’s fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” John 1:16 

Richard Rohr insists that grace is the essence of who God is.  

The goodness of God fills all the gaps of the universe, without discrimination or preference. God is the gratuity of absolutely everything. The space in between everything is not space at all but Spirit. God is the “goodness glue” that holds the dark and light of things together, the free energy that carries all death across the great divide and transmutes it into life. When we say that Christ “paid the debt once and for…

Jesus taught us to pray “Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven”
The kingdom of heaven is of primary importance, what happens on earth is important but is secondary.
 How does that work out in practice:

¹ On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, ² and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the…

¹³ Jesus went to celebrate God’s gift of freedom (in the feast of Passover) at the place set aside for worship (the temple).
¹⁴ Instead of being a place which focused on God and His gifts, the temple was a place focussed on things to be bought and sold.
^15-17 Jesus drove out those whose primary concern was money saying “Stop turning my Father’s house into a market”

Summary:
    …

Chapter 2 so far:
¹¹Jesus has done the first of his signs and revealed his glory.

Reading:
²³ Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.^[d] 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to…

Heavenly Father, please make me aware of the signs that point me to you, and then give me grace to be changed from above so that I may see the kingdom of God.

¹ Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
^3…

1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

5 …

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.  (Ephesians 2:4-5)

3 Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again (John 3:3)

…

Heavenly father, please give me grace today to pay attention to the things of the spirit, as well as paying attention to the things of the flesh.  May the wind of the spirit blow in my life.

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, if anyone is not born from above they are not able to see the kingdom of God”
⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
^5 …

Heavenly Father give me the humility to admit that I don’t understand things, particularly if I ought to know them by now.

Jesus said  ^7 “”You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You^[c]must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of…

Heavenly Father, whenever I see the effects of humanity’s inhumanity and I seek to condemn, turn my eyes to your one and only Son, so that I believe that you are present in the very worst situations seeking to save people from destruction.

¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,^[f] 15 that everyone who…

Heavenly Father,
give me grace to see the truth about my dark deeds
give me grace to come to the light, rejoicing that dark deeds are exposed for what they are
deliver me from the love of darkness and the fear of exposure.

¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds…

Heavenly Father, give me grace so that I may be generous in my affirmation of the gifts of others, and know when others must become greater, and I must become less.

²² After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. ²³ Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. ²⁴ (This was before John was put in prison.) ²⁵ An argument developed…

Heavenly father
Give me grace to be open to the truths about what is not seen
Give me grace to be open to the Spirit who you give without limit
Give me grace to walk the way of the cross, as Jesus did, trusting that this is the path of eternal life.

³¹ The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. ³² He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. …

³¹ The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. ³² He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. ³³ Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. ³⁴ For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in…

Heavenly father,
give me the humility to receive from those who have very little, (just as Christ asked the woman for a drink)
and give me an understanding of, and a thirst for, the living water which wells up to eternal life

¹ Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— ² although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³ So he…

Heavenly Father, give me grace to be able to face up to what my real needs are, and to find the deep peace that comes from you.

(Note: only men could divorce women, and a prime reason was for not being able to bear children. 
To have been cast aside five times means that the woman was thirsting for: having children, having a husband, having economic stability and not being treated as a failure and outcast in society)

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty…

Heavenly Father
give me grace to respond to you primarily in ways that are of the spirit and invisible
and may the physical and visible actions to be true to what is in my spirit.

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
^21…

Heavenly Father
Give me grace to tell those around me about what you mean to us
and give them grace to hear you speaking to them

²⁷ Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman.
But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 
²⁹ “Come, see a man…

Heavenly Father give me grace:

• to not let familiarity with you stop me hearing what you have to say to me.
• to take you at your word, and to get on with life on the assumption that what I have heard is true.

⁴³ After the two days he left for Galilee. ⁴⁴ (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honour in his own country.) ⁴⁵ When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in…

Heavenly Father
give me grace to not loose the desire to be well, and the courage to do the things I fear that I cannot do; and
make me a channel of your grace to those who have lost hope and courage .

John 5

¹ After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, there is a pool, which is called in Hebrew, “Bethesda”, having five porches. ³ In these lay a great multitude of those who were…

Heavenly father,
give me grace to walk with you;
give me grace not to turn away from walking with you and thus miss the mark (which is sin)

⁹ Immediately, the man was made well, and took up his mat and walked.
Now it was the Sabbath on that day. ¹⁰ So the Jews said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry the mat.”
¹¹ He answered them…

Heavenly Father
Give us grace to be affectionate, as you are affectionate
Give us grace to be fully alive and not dead
Give us grace to honour the name of Jesus

¹⁹ Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you,
the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing.
For whatever things the Father does, these the Son also does likewise.
²⁰ For the Father has affection for the Son,
…

Heavenly Father
give us grace not only to hear the life giving words of Jesus , but also to put our trust in you, so that the way we live shows how much we value your grace and mercy.

²⁴ “Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life,
and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. 
²⁵ Most certainly, I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the…

Heavenly Father
Give us grace to trust in your son, so that his word would live in us, so that we would be saved from all that pulls us away from life in all its fullness.

³¹ “If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid. ³² It is another who testifies about me. I know that the testimony which he testifies about me is true. ³³ You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. ^…