Heavenly father
give us grace today to pay attention to the one who died and rose again, so that we may repent of everything that draws us away from him38 Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
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39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign,
but no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish,
so will the Son of Man…Heavenly father
give us grace today to open our hearts to you spirit today, so that there is no room for evil within us.43 “When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through water less places seeking rest, and doesn’t find it.
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44 Then he says, ‘I will return into my house from which I came;’ and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.
45 Then he goes and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there.
The last…Heavenly father
give us grace today to do your will.46 While he was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him.
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47 One said to him, “Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you.”
48 But he answered him who spoke to him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”
49 He stretched out his hand toward his disciples, and said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers!
50 …Heavenly father
give us grace today to discard what is of ultimate importance1 On that day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the seaside.
2 Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat and sat; and all the multitude stood on the beach.
3 He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a farmer went out to sow.
4 As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them.Heavenly father
give us grace today to allow your words to affect our lives at a deep level5 Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth.
6 When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away.Heavenly father
give us grace today to root out all those things which get in the way of eternally important things.7 Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them.
8 Others fell on good soil and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”Heavenly father
give us grace today to look for the deeper mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven10 The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
11 He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.
12 For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance;
but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.(Sorry for wrong version sent out earlier)
Heavenly father
give us grace to live today with our eyes open and ears attentive, so that we may understand and find healing for when our hearts are callous, our ears dull of hearing and our eyes wide shut.13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see,
and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand.
14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says,‘By hearing you will…
moreHeavenly father
give us grace today to be thankful for everything we have have been given.16 “But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.
17 For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men
desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them;
and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.(Ignore previous email)
Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to understand what you say to us in our hearts18 “Hear, then, the parable of the farmer. 19 When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.
Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to allow your words to us take root in the way in which we live today.20 What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word and immediately with joy receives it; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to avoid the deceitfulness of riches22 What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to hear and understand the word of the Kingdom of God, so that we may bear fruit abundantly23 What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”
Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to trust you when bad things happen24 He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away. 26 But when the blade sprang up and produced grain, then the darnel weeds appeared also. 27 The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did…
moreHeavenly Father
Give us grace today tol live at peace alongside all that is good and all that is not good in the world.28 “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’
29 “But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them.
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30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers,
“First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into…Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to allow the seed of the Kingdom grow in us31 He set another parable before them, saying,
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took, and sowed in his field,
32 which indeed is smaller than all seeds.
But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree,
so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”33 He told them still another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about thirty kilograms of flour until it worked all through the dough.’
Richard Rohr describes why role models and personal examples often inspire change more effectively than right ideas and beliefs:
Correct ideas and church mandates cannot cause the kind of change that the soul needs. The soul needs living models to grow, exemplars with the expansive energies of love. People…
moreHeavenly Father
Give us grace today to allow the leaven of the Kingdom of Heaven to do your work in us33 He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.”
Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to be attentive to the hidden things of the Kingdom of Heaven34 Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them,
35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,“I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”
Jesus said, “I will speak to you in parables and reveal to you things hidden since the foundation of the world.” —Matthew 13:35, quoting Psalm 78:2
Richard Rohr describes how Jesus uses parables to challenge our ways of thinking:
A parable is a unique form of literature that’s always trying to subvert business as usual, much like a Zen koan or a Confucian riddle, which both use paradox to undo our reliance on what we think is logic. Yet we typically do not let parables do that for us. Our dominant consciousness is so in control that…
moreHeavenly Father
Give us grace today to do what is right36 Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying,
“Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”37 He answered them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 the field is the world, the good seeds are the children of the Kingdom, and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age,…
moreHeavenly Father
Give us grace to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven today44 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid.
In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to seek for what is finest and best today and deal with everything else appropriately.45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls,
46 who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to be of use in the Kingdom of Heaven.47 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some fish of every kind,
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48 which, when it was filled, fishermen drew up on the beach.
They sat down and gathered the good [useful] into containers, but the bad they threw away.
49 So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous,
50 and will cast…Heavenly Father
Give us grace today to discover new things about the kingdom of God51 Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?”
They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”
52 He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”
Heavenly father
give us grace today to listen to wisdom whoever is speaking.53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there.
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54 Coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said,
“Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?
55 Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?
56 Aren’t all of his sisters with us? Where then…Heavenly father
give us grace today to discern if and when we need to speak about truth and justice1 At that time, Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus,
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2 and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptizer. He is risen from the dead. That is why these powers work in him.”
3 For Herod had arrested John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.
4 For John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her…Heavenly father
give us grace today to stop us being foolish, particularly around pleasure and beauty6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced among them and pleased Herod.
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7 Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask.
8 She, being prompted by her mother, said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptizer.”
9 The king was grieved, but for the sake of his oaths and of those who sat at the table with him, he…Heavenly father
give us grace today to seek you when we feel down (as Jesus did on the death of his cousin)11 His head was brought on a platter and given to the young lady; and she brought it to her mother. 12 His disciples came, took the body, and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus. 13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place apart. When the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities.
Heavenly father
give us grace today12 His disciples came, took the body, and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place apart.
When the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities.14 Jesus went out, and he saw a great multitude. He had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 When evening had come, his disciples came to him, saying, “This place is deserted, and the hour is…
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Daily Bible Verses
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