Daily Bible Verses

Heavenly father
give us grace today to discern the difference between thankful enjoyment of the life in the world that you created, and an unhealthy focus on gratifying our pleasures

¹ Where do wars and fightings among you come from?
Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members? 
² You lust, and don’t have.
You murder and covet, and can’t obtain.
You fight and…

Heavenly father
give us grace to keep our eyes fixed on you, particularly when we are dazzled by success and wealth. 

⁵ Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple, 
⁶ and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and,
‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    so…

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,…

⁴ Rescue me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
    from the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
⁵ For you are my hope, Lord Yahweh,
    my confidence from my youth.
⁶ I have relied on you from the womb.
    You are he who took me out of my mother’s womb.
    I will always praise you.
⁷ I am a marvel to many,
…

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, ‘…

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…

3 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.

3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our…

¹ In you, Yahweh, I take refuge.
    Never let me be disappointed.
² Deliver me in your righteousness, and rescue me.
    Turn your ear to me, and save me.
³ Be to me a rock of refuge to which I may always go.
    Give the command to save me,
    for you are my rock and my fortress.

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…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to trust that your purposes are being worked out in our world (just as they were when the Chaldeans in Babylon who had taken Israel into exile were defeated by Cyrus who then permitted Israel to return from exile)

¹⁴ “Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear!
    Who among them has declared these things?
He whom Yahweh loves will do what he likes to Babylon,
    and…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to bless other people, particularly in what we say. 

⁶ And the tongue is a fire.
The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue,
which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna. 
⁷ For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind; 
⁸ but nobody can tame…

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…

²⁰ who before were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ship was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. ²¹ This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you—not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and…

¹ Hurry, God, to deliver me.
    Come quickly to help me, Yahweh.
² Let them be disappointed and confounded who seek my soul.
    Let those who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace.
³ Let them be turned because of their shame
    who say, “Aha! Aha!”
⁴ Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.
  …

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…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to hear your eternal voice today.

¹² “Listen to me, O Jacob,
    and Israel my called:
I am he.
    I am the first.
    I am also the last.
¹³ Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth,
    and my right hand has spread out the heavens.
    when I call to them, they stand up together.…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to let our words be guided by your Spirit. 

³ Indeed, we put bits into the horses’ mouths
so that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body. 
⁴ Behold, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds,
are yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires. 
⁵ So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great…

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,…

¹⁶ We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. ¹⁷ In this, love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so we are in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. ^19…

²⁹ But I am in pain and distress.
    Let your salvation, God, protect me.
³⁰ I will praise the name of God with a song,
    and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
³² The humble have seen it, and are glad.
    You who seek after God, let your heart live.
³³ For Yahweh hears the needy,…

7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,“The stone the builders rejecte has become the cornerstone,” 8 and,“A stone that causes people to stumble    and a rock that makes them fall.”They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that…

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…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to be merciful today, particularly in difficult circumstances

⁹ For my name’s sake, I will defer my anger,
    and for my praise, I hold it back for you
    so that I don’t cut you off.
¹⁰ Behold, I have refined you,
    but not as silver.
    I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to have integrity today, putting into practice those things that we have said that we believe.  
 

¹ Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgement. 
² For we all stumble in many things.
Anyone who doesn’t stumble in word is a perfect person,
able to bridle the whole body also. 

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…

¹⁸ Draw near to my soul and redeem it.
    Ransom me because of my enemies.
²⁰ Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness.
    I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;
    for comforters, but I found none.
²¹ They also gave me poison for my food.
    In my thirst,…

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…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to be guided by you today, whether the guidance is from of old, or whether it is from today.

[God revealing things in advance]

⁴ Because I knew that you are obstinate;
⁵ therefore I have declared it to you from of old;
    before it came to pass I showed it to you;
    lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them.
    My engraved image…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to be alive in spirit and in faith and for this to flow out in good works. 

²⁴ You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith. 
²⁵ In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works,
in that she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 
²⁶ For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart…

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…

1 You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. 2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.

3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to…

¹⁴ Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink.
    Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.
¹⁵ Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me,
    neither let the deep swallow me up.
    Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me.
¹⁶ Answer me, Yahweh, for your loving kindness is good.
    According to the…

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…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to listen to your voice today, and grace to rely on you as citizens of the kingdom of heaven, in truth and righteousness

 ¹ “Hear this, house of Jacob,
    you who are called by the name of Israel,
    and have come out of the waters of Judah.
You swear by Yahweh’s name,
    and make mention of the God of Israel,
   …

Heavenly father
give us grace today to be your friend today in all that we do.

¹⁹ You believe that God is one. You do well.
The demons also believe, and shudder. 
²⁰ But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? 
²¹ Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 
²² You see that faith worked with…

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…

⁷ Because for your sake, I have borne reproach.
⁸ I have become a stranger to my brothers,
⁹ For the zeal of your house consumes me.
    The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
¹² Those who sit in the gate talk about me.
    I am the song of the drunkards.
¹³ But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh, in an acceptable…

⁵ God, you know my foolishness.
    My sins aren’t hidden from you.
⁶ Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord Yahweh of Armies.
    Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonour through me, God of Israel.

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…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to be careful and wise in what we trust today, particularly being wary of what makes us comfortable. 

⁸ ‘Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure, lounging in your security
and saying to yourself,  “I am, and there is none besides me.
¹⁰ You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, “No one sees me.”
Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you
¹¹ Disaster will come…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to respond to the needs of others in faith

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? 
¹⁵ And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, 
¹⁶ and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;”
yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? 
^…

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…

In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.
Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
Trust in the Lord for ever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.

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…

Heavenly Father
give us grace to consider what is taking place today and reflect on what might happen tomorrow.

¹ ‘Go down, sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter Babylon;
     ³ Your nakedness will be exposed - I will take vengeance;
⁴ Our Redeemer – the Lord Almighty is his name –
    is the Holy One of Israel.

⁶ I was angry…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to live under the law of freedom, showing mercy to all.

¹² So speak and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom. 
¹³ For judgement is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgement.

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…

1 Save me, God,
    for the waters have come up to my neck!
² I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold.
    I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
³ I am weary with my crying.
    My throat is dry.
    My eyes fail looking for my God.
⁴ Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head.
…

Heavenly father
give us grace to allow Jesus to live in us today, so that his story may continue

²³ This saying therefore went out among the brothers, that this disciple wouldn’t die.
Yet Jesus didn’t say to him that he wouldn’t die, but, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you?” 
²⁴ This is the disciple who testifies about these things, and wrote these things. We know that his witness is true. 
…