Daily Bible Verses

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?...

Alexia Salvatierra and Peter Heltzel explore how we can live out the biblical virtue of solidarity: 

While recognising the value of every vantage point, faith-rooted community organising also understands that a fair hearing of differing perspectives is necessary for truth to emerge. Fair hearings for those with low social status are hard to come by, however. In contrast to a society that gives inordinate weight to the perspective of those with more social status, we read...

But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  (2 Corinthians 12:9)

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-02-19-control-freak-r25 

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    ...

‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
...

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. (Luke 10:21) 

As its Greek root form mu (closed eyes or lips) implies, mysticism is pointing to something that is somehow hidden and cannot be easily seen or talked about

As children of God, we...

May you be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God

 https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-02-10-pauls-prayer-for-the-ephesians-part-3-live-full-lives-r25 

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’  (John 20:19)

Richard Rohr says: “For the great mystics, God is always experienced as abiding in their own soul and, in seeming contradiction, as totally transcendent and mysterious at the same time! God is both intimate and ultimate, no...

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-02-5-psalm-29-r25 

1 Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings,
    ascribe to the...

[They[ Do not cry out or shout aloud,  or make their voice heard in the streets; 
But faithfully they bring true justice  refusing to be wavered or crushed, 
until true justice is established on earth.  —Isaiah 42:2–4 

Richard Rohr identifies the elusive nature of prophetic leadership:  

The normal power systems of our world worship themselves and not God. For that reason, prophets almost never hold official positions, like...

The king gave a banquet lasting seven days. […] The garden had hangings of linen, fastened to silver rings on marble pillars. […] There were couches of gold and silver. Served in goblets of gold, the royal wine was abundant. […] On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in high spirits, he commanded that Queen Vashti be brought before him, in order to display her beauty. But Queen Vashti refused to come.  ESTHER 1:5, 6a, 7, 11–12

Margaret ...

There appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.  Luke 13:11–13 

Nadia Bolz-Weber considers how healing can be a painful process:  

I found myself wondering if it hurt …...

17 One day while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem were sitting nearby, and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. 18 Just then some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, ...

I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-18)

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/...

“Lord, I believe,”  (John 9:38)

Disability rights activist and author Amy Kenny challenges the implications of Jesus’ healing of “the blind man” in John 9, whom she refers to as Zach or Zechariah, which means “God remembers.” 

Zach is so much more than his blindness…. Structurally, the focus [of John 9] is not on the physical but on something deeper and richer that Jesus offers to Zach. It is true that Jesus cured people’s bodies as part of his ministry, but...

“Your faith has saved you” (Luke 7:50)

Richard Rohr offers one way we might understand the exorcisms Jesus performed:  

When a person has a constantly changing reference point, they have a very insecure life. They will take on any persona, negative or positive, and become incapable of much personal integrity. This is the celebrity-obsessed world in which we are living today. The biblical tradition uses the language of “having a demon” to describe such...

Awake, my soul!     Awake, harp and lyre!      I will awaken the dawn. (Psalm 57:8)

https://www.thefuelcast....

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...

And the king will answer them, “Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.” —Matthew 25:40

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis reflects on how we are called to love imperfect people imperfectly:

This is the kind of love Rabbi Jesus was talking about. If they’re in prison, if they’re hungry, if they’re naked, if they’re lonely, if they’re a stranger, a widow, a child, if they’re an outsider, if they’re last, they...

But who can discern their own errors?       Forgive my hidden faults. 
Keep your servant also from wilful sins      may they not rule over me. 
Then I will be blameless,      innocent of great transgression. 
May these words of my mouth       and this meditation of my heart 
be pleasing in your sight,   ...

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...

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Cor 13:12)

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-01-22-what-we-dont-understand-r25 

Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was. (Job 2:13)

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-01-20-bridge-r25