Daily Bible Verses

Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. “He will wipe…

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s own life for one’s friends” 

Love is a firm commitment to act for the well-being of someone other than yourself. It can be personal or political, individual or communal, intimate or public. Love will not be segregated to the private, personal precincts of life. Love, as I read it in the Bible, is ubiquitous. It affects all aspects of life.…  

An oft-quoted passage in the New Testament says, “God…

Jesus woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased and there was a dead calm. He said to the disciples, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
—Mark 4:39–40 

In the midst of uncertainty and swift transition, in the midst of personal and institutional upheaval, and amid the “fightings within and fears without” that separate peoples, races, and nations, we desperately need to hear a little good news. And this passage from the…

43 ‘You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbour^[i] and hate your enemy.”…

“If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light” (Luke 11:34). 

We cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness. Little do we realize that God’s love is maintaining us in existence with every breath we take. As we take another breath, it means that God is choosing us now and now and now and now. We have nothing to attain or even learn. We do, however, need to unlearn some things.  

⁷ Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the ‘tent of meeting’. Anyone enquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp.  ¹¹ The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young assistant Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

…

1 He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for…

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God.

You don’t have to have anything to get started, really: just a will, which I believe is already within you, and a way. Do the work your way, with the intention of expanding the circle of human concern and creating radical belonging for others.…  

Get to work. Build. Bridge. Belong. This call for belonging is not about saving ourselves as individuals in terms of the resources that we have or the access…

“And the Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.” 

What I want to say about the wisdom that matters now is that this wisdom often comes from discernment of Divine Spirit in our midst. Hearing and heeding the voice of the…

Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be courageous! Be strong!

As we look at the world around us, it is clear that we need large-scale change. But it will not happen without risking something of ourselves, perhaps by seeing ourselves honestly, by stepping up to lead, by speaking out, by feeling discomfort as we move outside our usual patterns. We shape change in such moments and transform ourselves in the process. Courage changes things and courage…

17 As he was going out into the way, one ran to him, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God.…

‘Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2024-11-6-honour-r3

We ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord.
—Colossians 1:9–10 

Our goal consists in doing the will of God, but first we have to remove our attachment to our own will so that we can recognize the difference between the two. Throughout history, many people who did horrible things were convinced that they were doing God’s will. That’s why we…

Ever since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—God’s eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through the things God has made. —Romans 1:20 

This Scripture [from Paul] is consistent with an Indigenous worldview—that the nature of the Creator is evident in the creation. What does creation tell us about God’s divine nature?… 

Faithfulness. In the environment where I live, in the…

He asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ (Luke 10:29

My friend was walking into work when a builder crossed her path. As he did, his toolbox broke and there were screws, pliers, and raw plugs all over the pavement.

‘Should I walk on?’ – always a dilemma – but she stopped, helped gather the scattered tools, and after a short exchange felt prompted to ask, ‘Can I pray for you?’ She found a welcome response: ‘Thank you, it hasn’t been a good week.’ It’s…

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2024-11-1-of-good-courage-r3

1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of Yahweh,^[a] Yahweh spoke to…

¹⁸ Behold, Yahweh’s eye is on those who fear him,
    on those who hope in his loving kindness,
¹⁹     to deliver their soul from death,…

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Gerry Hughes (1924–2014) in  …

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2024-10-14-the-love-of-god-r3

1 I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. 2 I saw the holy…

https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2024-10-11-family-tp-r3

16 He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him…

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. 26 Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”

Jesus wept

I keep being more and more convinced that tears are an appropriate response to reality. I think they always will be, yet I don’t equate that with modern depression or cynicism. It’s the acceptance of what we cannot change that normally makes people cry: He’s dead forever; I’m never getting well; the church I love has never been perfect. The part of us that can surrender to that reality is somehow bright. Remember, God is always present in reality as it…

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a…