Keep a card near your Bible, inside your journal or somewhere you will see it during the day. Each one pairs Scripture with a surrounding passage to read and a short prayer prompt. These are seven fixed readings about God’s love, selected from passages represented in Joy’s God’s-love collection—not a changing daily feed.
How to use it
Choose one passage for today
Begin with the surrounding passage printed on the card. Ask who is speaking, to whom and in what situation. God’s compassion in Exodus comes in the setting of covenant failure and renewal; the hope in Lamentations is spoken amid grief, not after every loss is repaired.
Read, write and remember
Read the card aloud. If writing helps you pay attention, copy the verse into your own notebook. Notice a phrase about God’s character and try recalling it later. Missing a day does not mean starting again; this is an invitation, not a streak.
Turn attention into prayer
The smaller “Pray” line is an original Joy prompt, not part of the Bible verse. Use it or pray in your own words. You do not have to feel cheerful to bring these words to God.
Let received love become given love
At the end of the week, return to 1 John 3:16–18. How might love become concrete care for someone? Use the reflection sheet to name one response, then keep whichever card you need to revisit.
These passages do not promise an easy week or immediate relief from suffering. Read hope alongside lament and mercy alongside God’s holiness. For a larger reading, use the linked chapters below.
Your seven readings
Exodus 34:6 BSB
Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,
Read Exodus 34:1–9. God declares his character after Israel’s covenant failure. Read on for mercy and justice together.
Pray Help me know your character, not merely my assumptions about you.
Psalm 103:8 BSB
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.
Read Psalm 103:1–18. The psalm calls God’s people to remember his mercy and their own frailty.
Pray Teach me to remember your compassion today.
Psalm 136:1 BSB
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. His loving devotion endures forever.
Read Psalm 136. Israel remembers God’s care in creation and deliverance through a repeated refrain.
Pray Open my eyes to something specific I can thank you for.
Lamentations 3:22–23 BSB
Because of the LORD’s loving devotion we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
Read Lamentations 3:19–33. Hope is spoken in the middle of grief, not because the grief has disappeared.
Pray Meet me in what is still painful. Help me hold on to your mercy.
Romans 5:8 BSB
But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Read Romans 5:1–11. Paul points to Christ’s death as the demonstration of God’s love for sinners.
Pray Thank you for loving before I could earn anything from you.
1 John 3:1 BSB
Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
Read 1 John 2:28–3:3. John addresses believers with the gift of belonging and the hope of becoming like Christ.
Pray Help me receive your love and grow in the likeness of Jesus.
1 John 3:16 BSB
By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
Read 1 John 3:16–18. Christ’s self-giving love leads into concrete care for people in need.
Pray Show me one way to love with action, not only words.
A simple example
A fictional learning example, not a member’s journal or a historical quotation.
- Reading
- Romans 5:1–11, with Romans 5:8 on the card.
- What I notice about God
- God’s love is demonstrated in Christ’s death for sinners. It is not presented as a reward for people who already have everything together.
- My response
- I can stop pretending I have earned God’s welcome. I will pray honestly about where I need forgiveness and give thanks for Christ.
The practice behind the page
Scripture is quoted from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain. Verse wording is kept separate from our context notes and prayer prompts. Berean Bible terms and public-domain dedication.
The practice of attentive Scripture reading connects with Moody and Torrey; these modern cut-out cards are Joy’s own design, not a historical artifact. Moody, Pleasure & Profit in Bible Study.
These sheets are Joy’s modern adaptations. Historical inspiration is not endorsement, and practical prompts are not additional Scripture.