Daily Bible Verses

‘But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
‘I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who hum ble themselves will be exalted.’  LUKE 18:13-14

‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ (Repeat this slowly, several times, matching it to your breathing.)

One way that…

5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 ‘As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.’

https://www.thefuelcast.com…

39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you will not fall into temptation.’ 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, …

Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives & is arrested

39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed…

“Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.” —Luke 23:34 

Author Megan McKenna considers Jesus’ ability to forgive and how we are called to the same:  

We were created to be the friends of Jesus, the friends of God, friends with one another…. And so, we begin this journey of becoming, this way of being in the world guided by Jesus’s own words and actions that we will repeat over and over again in all our relationships and in so many moments of our lives.  

And the journey of becoming—of liberation—is the journey…

Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing. 

Many of us pray similar words of Jesus when we say, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

When we pray this when we meet for Gathered Worship and in our personal prayers, sometimes we are not challenged by these words, but at other times we are struck how hard it is to forgive someone who has deeply offended and hurt us…. It is difficult to let go of the past and be present now to the other person and to all that it triggered in us…. 

It is hard for us to let go of…

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…

Heavenly father
give us grace to be immersed in you today and the strength to face up to the ways in which we turn from you

⁴ Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 
⁵ Then people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him. 
⁶ They were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

Heavenly father
give us grace to live today as those who turn to you, so that we bear the fruit of love, joy and peace 

⁷ But when John the Baptiser saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them,
“You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 
⁸ Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! 
⁹ Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these…

Heavenly father
give us grace to be immersed in your Holy Spirit today

¹¹ John the Baptiser said “I indeed baptise you in water for repentance,
but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.
He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. 
¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor.
He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”

Heavenly father
give us grace to walk the way of righteousness and humility as Jesus and John did.  

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 
¹⁴ But John would have hindered him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?”
¹⁵ But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him.
¹⁶ Jesus, when he was…

Heavenly father
give us grace to listen to your voice today and feed on your word.

¹ Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 
² When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward. 
³ The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
⁴ But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of God’s mouth…