Daily Bible Verses

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…

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty (“El Shaddai”); walk before me faithfully and be blameless.  (Genesis 17:1)

In the book of Exodus and elsewhere, God is El Shaddai, God of the mountain or God Almighty [Genesis 17:1; Exodus 6:3; Job 8:5]…. In the original Hebrew, the phrase simply reads “God of the mountain.” In Hebrew, the word shaddai has more than one meaning. It is also the word…

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…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to act graciously to others (as Jacob did), and faithfully to you (which Jacob didn’t) 

8 Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?”
Jacob said, “To find favour in the sight of my lord.”
9 Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; let that which you have be yours.”
10 Jacob said, “Please, no, if I have now found favour in your sight,
then receive my present at my hand, because I have seen your face,
as one sees the face…

Heavenly Father
fill us with your grace, even after we have done what is wrong (like Shechem) 
fill us with your grace when others have done wrong (like Jacob and Hamor)

34 Dinah, the daughter of Leah, went out to see the daughters of the land. 
² Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her. 
³ His soul joined to Dinah, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady. 
⁴ Shechem spoke to…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to speak peace to others today without deceit
give us wisdom to discern the difference between truth and deceit in others. 

¹¹ Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favour in your eyes, and whatever you will tell me I will give. 
¹² Ask me a great amount for a dowry, and I will give whatever you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife.”

¹³ The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit when they spoke,
…

Heavenly Father
give us grace not to repay evil for evil (like Simeon and Levi), but to be peacemakers (like Jesus)

²⁴ All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor, and to Shechem his son;
and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. 
²⁵ On the third day, when they were sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers,
each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males. 
²⁶ They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to be obedient to what you call us to do, and put nothing in your way 

35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there.
Make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”

² Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him,
“Put away the foreign gods that are among you,
purify yourselves, change your garments. 
³ Let’s arise, and go up to Bethel.
I…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to dwell with you today, particularly in our struggles, so that we may be blessed

⁹ God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan Aram, and blessed him. 
¹⁰ God said to him, “Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be Jacob any more, but your name will be Israel (Wrestles-with-God). 
He named him Israel. 
¹¹ God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply.
A nation and a company…

Heavenly Father
give us grace when faced with sorrow to be nourished by thankfulness

¹⁶ They travelled from Bethel. [House of God]
There was still some distance to come to Ephrath [Fruitful],
and Rachel travailed. She had hard labour. 
¹⁷ When she was in hard labour, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for now you will have another son.”

¹⁸ As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Benoni [Son of my sorrow], 
but his…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to do what is right (unlike Reuben in this story and Simeon and Levi in the the previous chapter), and thank you for the peace and harmony which results from our desire to be at peace with our brother (like Esau and Jacob)

²¹ Israel [other name of Jacob] travelled, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 
²² While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it.

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. ^23…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to be at peace with those who are outside our family, race and nation.

¹ Now this is the history of the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). 
² Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan:
⁶ Esau took all the members of his household, his livestock, and all his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of Canaan, and went into a land away from his brother Jacob. ⁷ For their substance was too great for them to dwell together, and the land of their travels…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to avoid hurting others when we are motivated by love (like Jacob)
give us grace to avoid being negative to others whatever the cause (unlike Joseph’s brothers) 

¹ Jacob lived in the land of his father’s travels, in the land of Canaan. 
² This is the history of the generations of Jacob.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers.
He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives.
Joseph brought an evil report of them t…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to hear what you are saying to us, even in our dreams
give us grace to be careful how we communicate this to others.

⁵ Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. 
⁶ He said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 
⁷ for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold,
my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold,
your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf.”
⁸ His…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to do what is good particularly when others are not (like Reuben)

¹² His brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 
¹³ Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.”
He said to him, “Here I am.”
¹⁴ He said to him, “Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again.”
So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 
^15…

Heavenly father
give us grace not to lose hope, giving thanks for your provision through people going about their business (ishmaelites)

 ²³ When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his tunic of many colours ; 
²⁴ and they took him, and threw him into the pit which was empty.
²⁵ They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites
bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 
²⁶ Judah said to his…

Heavenly father
give us grace not to lose hope in grief and mourning, thanking you that you are working your purposes out. 

²⁹ Reuben returned to the pit, and saw that Joseph wasn’t in the pit; and he tore his clothes. 
³⁰ He returned to his brothers, and said, “The child is no more; and I, where will I go?” 
³¹ They took Joseph’s tunic, and killed a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 
³² They took the tunic of many colours, and they brought it to their father, and said,…

Heavenly father
give us grace to live life in all its fullness, and not be led into temptation of doing anything which is the opposite of life.

²  Judah took a Canaanite woman as his wife, . ³ who bore him sons named Er, ⁴  Onan. ⁵  and Shelah. ⁶ Judah took a wife for Er, and her name was Tamar. 
⁷ Er was wicked in Yahweh’s sight. So Yahweh killed him. 
⁸ Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and raise up offspring for…

Heavenly father
give us grace to do the right thing, particularly when we may be embarrassed to do so.

¹² After Judah’s wife died, Judah went up to his sheep shearers to Timnah. 
¹³ Tamar was told this. ¹⁴ She took off the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and sat on the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she wasn’t given to him as a wife. 
¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.…

Heavenly father
give us grace to see you at work, particularly in bad circumstances (such as slavery)

¹Joseph was brought down to Egypt by the Ishmaelites and sold as a slave to an officer of Pharaoh called Potiphar. 
² Yahweh was with Joseph, who then prospered in the house of the Egyptian. 
³ His master saw that Yahweh was with him, and that Yahweh made all that he did prosper in his hand. 
⁴ Joseph found favour in his sight. He…