Daily Bible Verses

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

Rev. James Lawson (1928–2024), an influential teacher of nonviolence in the civil rights movement, insists on the effective power of nonviolence: 

There is impracticality to violence. It’s ineffective and has been ineffective throughout the world for too many years. We must not let people who romanticize or mythologize violence persuade us that it has proven to be efficacious…. It has proven to be the most ineffective weapon. It drains emotional, psychological, moral,…

Jesus taught them, “But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” —Matthew 5:44 

Richard Rohr describes how loving our enemies is a practice of “integrating the negative,” accepting what we find unacceptable within ourselves: 

Our enemies always carry our own shadow side, the things we don’t like about ourselves. We will never face our own shadow until we embrace those who threaten us (as Francis of Assisi embraced the leper in his conversion experience). The people who turn us off…

Heavenly father
give us grace to be like you in not just loving those who love us today

⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 
⁴⁷ If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 
⁴⁸ Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

6 “Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving^[a] before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no…

Heavenly father
give us grace to give today without drawing attention to ourselves. 

¹ “Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them,
or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 
² Therefore, when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself,
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men.
Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. 
³ But when you do…

Heavenly father
give us grace to pray today, heart to heart

⁵ “When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets,
that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward. 
⁶ But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door,
pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 
⁷ In praying, don’t use…

‘But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.’   MATTHEW 6:6

Father God, you invite me to spend time with you. I accept!

‘The Christian spiritual journey is responding to God’s invitation to personal encounter in love. Prayer is our response. Prayer is the place of encounter. Growth in prayer is growth in loving intimacy with God.’ (David Benner, Opening to God…

Heavenly father
give us grace to …

⁹ Pray like this:

“‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
¹⁰ Let your Kingdom come.
    Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² Forgive us our debts,
    as we also forgive our debtors.
¹³ Bring us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.
For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the…

“forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”  

Brian McLaren identifies how prayers of petition help us to experience forgiveness:   

Since being wounded or sinned against is a terribly common experience, I suspect we need to pay more attention to it. In fact, being wronged is directly linked in the Lord’s Prayer to the reality of doing wrong; we pray, “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”  

Father Richard Rohr…

Heavenly father
give us grace to be forgiving today

¹⁴ “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 
¹⁵ But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Heavenly father
give us grace to focus on you when no one is looking (and when they are!)

¹⁶ “Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces.
For they disfigure their faces that they may be seen by men to be fasting.
Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. 
¹⁷ But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 
¹⁸ so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret;
and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you…

Heavenly father
give us grace to treasure the things of heaven in our hearts today.  

¹⁹ “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; 
²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; 
²¹ for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Heavenly father
give us grace to see the light today

²² “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. 
²³ But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Heavenly father
give us grace to use money today in the context of serving you, rather than using you to serve money.

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other.
You can’t serve both God and Mammon. 
²⁵ Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink;
nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 
²⁶ See…

‘No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. Matthew 6:24

Richard Rohr challenges the ways we allow personal possessions and national boundaries to define us: 

Jesus primarily talked about the kingdom of God as his defining worldview. Yet, the vast majority of Christians in history have identified with their own much smaller kingdoms for which they were willing to fight, kill, surrender, and grant pledges of…

Do Not Worry

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life)  28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour…

Heavenly father
give us grace to allow you to clothe us today.

²⁷ “Which of you by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan? 
²⁸ Why are you anxious about clothing?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin, 
²⁹ yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. 
³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,
won’t he much more…

Heavenly father
give us grace to seek first your kingdom today.

³¹ “Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’ 
³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 
³³ But seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. 
³⁴ Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious…

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”

Authors Adam Bucko and Rory McEntee envision what a “new monasticism” could mean today:  

Monastic [life], then, represents for us a complete commitment to the transformative journey, … which takes us into the fullness of our humanity, allowing divinity to flower within us in increasing degrees of love, compassion, joy, sorrow, and wisdom. The monastic is the one who devotes his or her life to this ideal, and allows all life decisions to flow out…

Heavenly father
give us grace to be generous in the measure we use for those around us today

¹ “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. 
² For with whatever judgement you judge, you will be judged;
and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you. 

3 ‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?…

Heavenly father
give us grace to see our own imperfections today and deal with them

³ Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye,
but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye? 
⁴ Or how will you tell your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’
and behold, the beam is in your own eye? 
⁵ You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye,
and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Heavenly father
give us grace to be careful today and to be able to discern when to hold back in relationships

⁶ “Don’t give that which is holy to the dogs,
neither throw your pearls before the pigs,
lest perhaps they trample them under their feet,
and turn and tear you to pieces.

Heavenly father
give us grace to ask, seek and knock today. 

⁷ “Ask, and it will be given you.
Seek, and you will find.
Knock, and it will be opened for you. 
⁸ For everyone who asks receives.
He who seeks finds.
To him who knocks it will be opened. 

Heavenly father
give us grace to desire good today, for ourselves and for others

⁹ Or who is there among you who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 
¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? 
¹¹ If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! 
¹² Therefore, whatever you desire for men to do to you,…

Heavenly father
give us grace to seek today the way that leads to life, particularly when others do not.

¹³ “Enter in by the narrow gate;
for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction,
and there are many who enter in by it. 
¹⁴ How the gate is narrow and the way is restricted that leads to life!
There are few who find it.

15 ‘Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thorn-bushes, or figs from thistles? …

Heavenly father
give us grace to be attentive to the actions of others, particularly when it is at odds with their words. 

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. 
¹⁶ By their fruits you will know them. Do you gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles? 
¹⁷ Even so, every good tree produces good fruit, but the corrupt tree produces evil fruit. 
¹⁸ A good tree can’t produce evil fruit, neither can a…

Heavenly father
give us grace to do your will today 

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven,
but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 
²² Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name,
in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’ 
²³ Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.’

Heavenly father
give us grace to be obedient to what we know you are calling us to do today 

²⁴ “Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine and does them,
I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock. 
²⁵ The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house;
and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock. 
²⁶ Everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t do them
will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 
^27…