Daily Bible Verses

In the beginning

Genesis 1: Creation summary:
* God speaks words of permission: “Let there be ….”
* What God permits then occurs “And there was …”  “And it was so”
* God separates - and makes things different and distinct
* God gives names to what is created so that they can be part of our lives
* God sees that creation is good
* Creation follows a rhythm :”there was evening and there was…

So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

James Finley says:  

This is a paraphrase of Meister Eckhart: Imagine you’re standing before a full-length mirror, and imagine the image…

Heavenly Father, give me grace to finish the work that I have been doing and rest for one day.

¹ Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
² By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 
³ Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had…

Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of life-giving water in all its forms: mist, rain and rivers. 
* Thank you too that “back in the day” you gave us the breath of life - that which makes us humans conscious living beings.

⁴ This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

⁵ Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth^[…

Prayer: Heavenly Father,
* give grace to those we know who are married to be at one with each other.
* give grace to those we know who seek to be married to discern who it is right for them to marry
* give grace and comfort to those we know whose marriages ended in separation, divorce or death
* today and everyday

¹⁸ The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

¹⁹ Now the Lord God had…

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, 
       …

When Genesis says that God created the heavens (what is unseen) and the earth (what is seen) it means that God created absolutely everything
When Genesis says that there was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it is talking about the knowledge of absolutely everything.

Why is it that the knowledge of absolutely everything leads to death?

• is it that knowledge is power, and that “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”?
• is it that the beauty of life is that we don’t know everything? If we knew what others are thinking, we…

Prayer: Heavenly Father, when I make foolish decisions give me grace to hear your voice calling me;
and when others act foolishly and are afraid give me grace to call out to them in your name.

⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day…

Heavenly father, give me grace today to be responsible for my own actions (rather than playing the blame game)

¹¹ And the Lord God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you…

Heavenly Father Thank you for your many kindnesses to us
* for giving us clothes to help us feel less vulnerable
* for making temporary our lives which have so much difficulty and pain and suffering arising from our misuse of free will,

²⁰ Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
²¹ The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

^22 …

Heavenly father give me grace to turn to you when I am disappointed at life and at myself.
I repent of the unkindness which arises from my jealousy of others.
Give me grace to rejoice with my brothers and sisters when they succeed, particularly when I don’t.

4 Adam^[a] made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.^[…

Heavenly Father, pour out your grace on me so that I may be attentive to the needs of others
* so that I may look after their interests
* and so that I may hear cries of injustice.
* What I ask for myself I ask for those who fail to see the humanity in those affected by their actions.

⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰ …

Heavenly Father
Make me a channel of your grace to those whose self inflicted misery is more than they can bear.

¹⁰ The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. ¹¹ Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its…

Heavenly Father
* When things go well in my life and I have the benefits of food, leisure activities and technology,
* may I call out to you for the grace to see what is not good,
* particularly in any disproportionate, oppressive or ungracious response to those who have hurt me.

¹⁷ Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch.
Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 
¹⁸ …

Heavenly Father
* Give me grace to all people as being in your image
* and give me grace not just to live, but to walk with you, as Enoch did.

¹ In the day that God created people, he made them God’s likeness, both ²  male and female, and blessed them.
 ³ Adam then became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth

The first humans lived a long time.  The male…

Heavenly Father, when I see the wickedness, corruption and violence of human kind, and am grieved in my heart, and wish that such wickedness should not exist; I thank you that you feel the same way.
Thank you that you are able to see what is good in human kind and that you desire to live in covenant relationship with us.
Give me grace to walk with you today.

⁵ Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, & that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart…

Heavenly Father
            in amongst all the destruction that takes place in this world,
            give me grace to do what is right
            and give me grace to allow you and others do what I cannot do (e.g. “close the door of the ark”)

Genesis chapter 7

¹ Yahweh said to Noah (⁶ who was 600 years old) , “Come with all of your…

Heavenly Father
            in amongst all the destruction that takes place in this world,
            give me grace to do what is right
            and give me grace to allow you and others do what I cannot do (e.g. “close the door of the ark”)

¹ Yahweh said to Noah (⁶ who was 600 years old) , “Come with all of your household into…

Heavenly Father
In the storms of life, give me grace to know that you remember me and grace to be patient as I wait for the flood waters to subside.
In the face of evil, give me grace to smell the sweet aroma of the love that is also in humankind.

¹ God remembered Noah and all the animals that were with him in the ship; and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided.    ³ The waters continually receded from the earth.  ⁴ 5…

Heavenly Father
* Give me grace to be thankful for all the resources in the world, particularly those that have life within them;
* give me grace to respect all life; and
* give me grace to respect all those who are made in your image.

¹ God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 

² The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky.
…

Heavenly Father give me grace to turn away from what is indiscriminately destructive
* Give me grace to value interdependence with all of your creatures

⁸ God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 
⁹ “I establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature of the earth. 
¹¹  …

Heavenly Father
* give me grace to turn away from what is indiscriminately destructive
* give me grace to value interdependence with all of your creatures

⁸ God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 
⁹ “I establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature of the earth. 
¹¹  There…

Heavenly father
* give us grace to seek first the Kingdom of God, rather than to seek to make a name for ourselves.

¹ The whole earth was of one language and of one speech.  ⁴ They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”

⁵ Yahweh came…

Heavenly Father give us hope when we face tragedy and new circumstances.

²¹ Noah was the father of Shem, father of^:10 Arpachshad, father of ¹² Shelah, father of ¹⁴ Eber, father of ¹⁶ Peleg, father of ²⁰ Reu, father of ²² Serug, father of…

Heavenly Father,
give us grace to look forward to the next part of our lives, to know what we must leave behind, so that we can be a blessing to others.

¹ Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. ² I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. ^3 …

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…

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…