Daily Bible Verses

Heavenly father
give us grace today to make sure that we use power to serve rather than lord is over others. 

²⁴ When the ten heard it, they were indignant with the two brothers.
²⁵ But Jesus summoned them, and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ²⁶ It shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. ²⁷ Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your…

The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” Matthew 20:28

I’m not called to die on a cross. But I am called to do last night’s washing up without expecting a medal.
Simon Martin from London Institute for Contemporary Christianity writes:  

The latest season of one of my favourite shows, Couples Therapy,…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to be honest before you about our needs

²⁹ As they went out from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. 
³⁰ Behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out,
“Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!” 
³¹ The multitude rebuked them, telling them that they should be quiet, but they cried out even more, “Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!”

Heavenly father
give us grace today to be moved with compassion to others

³² Jesus stood still and called them, and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”
³³ They told him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.”
³⁴ Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes; and immediately their eyes received their sight, and they followed him.

Heavenly father
give us grace today to bring to you the resources we have for your use. 

¹ As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, 
‘Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her.
Untie them and bring them to me. 
³ If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.’

Heavenly father
give us grace today to use any power that we have with gentleness

⁴ This took place to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet:
⁵ ‘Say to Daughter Zion, “See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”’

“Tell the daughter of Zion,
    behold, your King comes to you,
    humble, and riding on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey

Heavenly father
give us grace today to be attentive to what you ask us to do and to do it. 

⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 
⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 
⁸ A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 

Heavenly father
give us grace today to follow in the steps of Jesus, doing everything in the name of the Lord

⁹ The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’
‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!’
¹⁰ When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’
¹¹ The crowds answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.’

 …

Heavenly father
give us grace today to pray constantly

¹² Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves. ¹³ ‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘“My house will be called a house of prayer,” but you are making it “a den of robbers.”’

Heavenly father
give us grace today to talk about the hope we have, particularly when we sense that we are childlike in our understanding.  

¹⁴ The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. ¹⁵ But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they were indignant.
¹⁶ ‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’ they asked him.
‘Yes,’ replied Jesus, ‘have you…

Heavenly father
give us grace to bear fruit for the benefit of others today

¹⁸ Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹ Seeing a fig-tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, ‘May you never bear fruit again!’ Immediately the tree withered.

Heavenly father
give us grace today to seek first your kingdom and ask for kingdom things 

²⁰ When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. ‘How did the fig-tree wither so quickly?’ they asked.

²¹ Jesus replied, ‘Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig-tree, but also you can say to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and it will be done. ²² If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.’

Heavenly father
give us grace today to be wise when we are confronted by people whose heart is not for the kingdom of Heaven

²³ Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. ‘By what authority are you doing these things?’ they asked. ‘And who gave you this authority?’

²⁴ Jesus replied, ‘I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ²⁵ John’s baptism – where did it come from?…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to faithfully do what acts of righteousness that you call us to do.

²⁸ ‘What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, “Son, go and work today in the vineyard.”
²⁹ ‘“I will not,” he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
³⁰ ‘Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, “I will, sir,” but he did not go.
³¹ ‘Which of the two did what his father wanted?’
‘The first,’ they answered.
Jesus said…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to be content where you have placed us and see around us all your provision for us, even when you seem absent. 

³³ ‘Listen to another parable: there was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall round it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. ³⁴ When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

Heavenly father
give us grace today to listen, particularly when we need to hear difficult messages. 

³⁵ ‘The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 
³⁶ Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them in the same way. 
 

Heavenly father
give us grace today to respect Jesus

³⁷ Last of all, he sent his son to them. “They will respect my son,” he said.
³⁸ ‘But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, “This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.” 
³⁹ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
⁴⁰ ‘Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’
⁴¹ ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,’ they replied,…

Heavenly father
give us grace to seek first your kingdom and bear its fruit today 

⁴² Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes”?
⁴³ ‘Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 
⁴⁴ Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to celebrate the kingdom of heaven

¹ Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying, 
² “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who made a wedding feast for his son, 
³ …

In the New Testament, and particularly for Jesus, the most common image for what God is offering us is a banquet. It’s not a trophy, not a prize, not a reward reserved for later, but a participative and joyous party now. A banquet has everything to do with invitation and acceptance; it is never a command performance.  

Matthew’s Gospel contains the parable of the wedding banquet (Matthew 22:1–14). A king sends out his servants to let the guests know that the banquet has been prepared. “But they were not interested: one went off to his farm, another to his business” (22:5).…

Heavenly father
give us grace to  accept your invitation to heaven today

⁴ Again he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner. 
My cattle and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding feast!”’ 
⁵ …

Heavenly father
give us grace today to look out for those who are socially excluded

⁸ “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited weren’t worthy. 
⁹ Go therefore to the intersections of the highways, and as many as you may find, invite to the wedding feast.’…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to full participate in the kingdom of heaven

¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who didn’t have on wedding clothing, 
¹² and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?’ He was…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to seek after truth, rather than scoring points  or making points

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk. 
¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, 
“Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach; for you aren’t…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to have are priorities in the right order 

¹⁷ Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
¹⁸ But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites? 
¹⁹ …

Heavenly father
give us grace today to know the power of the resurrection 

²³ On that day Sadducees (those who say that there is no resurrection) came to him. They asked him, ²⁴ saying, “Teacher, 
Moses said, ‘If a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 
…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to love you with all our heart, soul and mind

³³ When the multitudes heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
³⁴ But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together. 
³⁵ One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him. 
…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to live under the Lordship of Christ 

⁴¹ Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 
⁴² saying, “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?”
They said to him, “Of David.”
⁴³ He said to them, …

Heavenly father
give us grace today to be faithful

¹ “Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, ² saying, 
“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. 
³ All…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to help others  

⁴ For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; 
but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them. 
 

Heavenly father
give us grace today to avoid running after status and being thought well of 

⁵ But they do all their works to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the fringes of their garments,…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to be humble 

⁸ But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi’, for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers. 
⁹ Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven. …

Heavenly father
give us grace today to care for those who we need to care for in word and deed.  

¹³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretence you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

Heavenly father
give us grace today to truly seek first the Kingdom of God.

¹⁴ “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don’t enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter.  ¹⁵ Woe to you…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to be truthful in our speaking 

¹⁶ “Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’ ¹⁷ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to be merciful and faithful and pursue justice. 

²³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin,^[g]…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to pay attention to our inner thoughts and seek after righteousness in our hearts 

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! 
For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness. 
…

Heavenly father
give us grace today to listen to what others say with discernment to that we may hear you speaking through those who are wise and those who are prophets. 

29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the tombs of the righteous, 30 …

Heavenly father
give us grace today to be compassionate, particularly to those who have lost their way

37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not! 38…