Bible Verse for Today

Prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
— 1 Peter 1:13 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...When Jesus came the first time, he came to reveal God. (John 1:18) As wonderful, powerful, and gracious as he was in his earthly ministry, he did not fully reveal all who he is. Our hope is tied to his return. When he comes this time, he won't come to reveal God, but to reveal himself -- the conquering Lord...

 

Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
— Isaiah 1:16-17 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...Do you find it easy to replace service to those in need with religious rituals? I know I do! But God wants us to not get so caught up in talking about him and celebrating his deeds, that we forget we're suppose to care for others like he does. Whether it is Jesus defining his ministry in Luke...

 

[God] has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
— Micah 6:8 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...God's desires for us are not hard to discern. He wants to bless us with salvation. The incredible gift of his Son is powerful testimony to this truth. But salvation from sin and death is not something he wants to happen in our lives just once. He wants our lives to daily reflect his salvation and...

 

The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.
— Titus 2:11-12 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...In a world which has no absolutes, in a world in search of moral standards, salvation by the costly grace of God beckons us to change our lifestyles in response to God's grace. Anyone who receives grace and refuses to pursue righteousness...

 

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
— Psalms 90:12 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...So often we look up and time has passed us by. The things we promised ourselves we'd accomplish and the deeds we told others we'd do get left undone. Before we know it, days have become weeks, and weeks months, and months years. We find ourselves unable to do what we once assumed we could do any time we wanted. We must ask the Spirit of God to help us see and seize...

 

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
— 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...We all like "do-overs" or second chances. God does much better than that! He allows us to become new again. Being the "God of new things" he can even make us new. Beyond forgiveness, beyond cleansing, he makes us holy through Jesus. Let's use the opportunity of a New Year as a springboard for living a life fresh and new and alive for God!My Prayer...O...

 

In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
— John 3:3 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse..."Fast away the old year passes ..." But we can be new and fresh and clean (cf. 2 Cor. 4:17). Kingdom people are those who have been born fresh and new through the power of the Spirit and the grace of God (cf. John 3:3-7; Titus 3:3-7; John 1:11). So as we close out the old year, with its good things and bad, achievements and failures...

 

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God...
— John 1:12 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...Isn't it incredible that we are called children of God!? But that is exactly what we are! (cf. 1 John 3:1-3.) We are God's children. Our Father created the universe with its billions and billions of heavenly bodies. Our Father paints a new sunset every day and chases away the darkness every morning. Our Father not only loves us...

 

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
— John 1:11 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...Jesus came to his own things -- the world he had created and the land he had promised his people -- and his very own people didn't receive him. Sometimes we are blinded by our desires and dreams for Jesus and we really miss what he wants for us and from us. Let's not let the following be true in our lives. "Jesus came to me, but I wasn't ready to receive him. I had other...

 

No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.
— John 1:18 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...Jesus is God's greatest message. He not only proclaims and declares God's love, mercy, and grace; he has made it known. Only Jesus can display God to us fully, for he is one with the Father. Yet when we "see" Jesus ministering in the Gospels, we see God. If we want to know how God feels about us, all we have to do is look at how Jesus...