Listen to Pastor Nick read the “Firestarter” from the version for young people
and Proverbs 22:1-12.

[From the version for young people]

Have you ever been in front of someone whose name you think you ought to know, but you just can’t remember?  All of a sudden, maybe just before you greet the person, you remember the name.  It’s a very nice feeling; something clicks inside you that was stuck before making the connection.  It feels like a gentle shock way inside.
The sayings from the Book of Proverbs are something like that.  When you think about them in a quiet way, some of them will give you that feeling like suddenly remembering someone’s name.  There is a sense of the truth in them that may strike you inside and make sense in your heart as well as in your mind.  That gentle shock will flow through you as the Holy Spirit makes the truth alive for you.
Take the twelve proverbs in each one of these verses and meditate on them one by one.  That’s the way to really grasp their meaning.  Take verse 6, for example.  If you learn the ways of God at an early age, you’ll want to teach them to your children when you become a parent!

Released by Wisdom – from the Original Version

Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. v. 6 Memorize this verse if you are a parent—or will be one day. Meditate carefully on it and let the Holy Spirit teach your soul and sober you with the awesome responsibility that is yours.

Pause often as you prayerfully read these proverbs. Repeat them until they touch that place in your soul where they will rest secure. Look for that gentle shock to your spirit that is the sign from the Lord that the Word is hitting home.

What happens when you finally remember someone’s name that you were forgetting, or you recall something that you need to do and finally remember it? There is a release in your whole body that takes place. This is the way Proverbs can touch and release your spirit.

Proverbs 22

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More…
Example: Humility brings honor. v.4

Tuesdays are dedicated to the Old Testament books of history
and the Hebrew “Writings.”
In this season, Proverbs 22—23; 2 Kings; Ecclesiastes 5—8.

For all the Firestarters in the original version, I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information

[From the version for young people]

A wonderful hero and saintly person is going to be our model for Mondays during the season of autumn.  His name is Daniel, probably a teenager.  He is one of the great prophets of God’s people, someone whose whole life, in all he says and does, reflects God’s life. He’s a hero we can love.

Daniel was one of many thousands of Jewish people about six hundred years before Jesus’ birth who were captives living in the land of Babylon.  This ancient land was part of the modern country of Iraq.  Though there were no places or buildings that reminded him of God, his memories of God’s actions on behalf of God’s people were alive by faith inside Daniel.  He knew that God was with him.

In the first episode we find Daniel and three other Hebrew friends selected to become advisors at the royal court of King Nebuchadnezzar. (My goodness, a name with five syllables!)  With all the familiar reminders of God taken away, the four friends firmly decided to do be aware of God’s presence by refusing to do what God had forbidden. So when it came time to eat food that was not allowed by God’s people, they just said: “No: we won’t do it!”

Look how the fidelity of Daniel and his friends to God’s ways brought them wisdom and favor with the King!  You too: the closer you live to the ways that God wants in humility and love, the more God’s grace and wisdom will be given to you.  

Here’s an idea. Picture yourself as a fifth person quietly living alongside these four wonderful young men.  They are part of what we call the Communion of Saints.  In Jesus you are one of those saints too!    

Daniel 1

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In this season we read Hosea; in the 9th week, we read Lamentations 3.

For all the Firestarters in the original version, II recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information.

Verse 18 of chapter 26 of our reading has a word in Hebrew that describes God’s people as “special” to Him: segullah. Used only eight times in the Old Testament, the underlying meaning of this word is “treasure.” God’s people are God’s prized possessions. The final reference in Malachi 3:17 refers to God’s people as his “jewels.”

In Matthew 6:10–22 Jesus urges us not to lay up treasures on earth, but in heaven. “Where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.” You are God’s treasure, held in God’s heart. The heart of Jesus opened on the cross for you, remains open right now to love you. Jesus has already laid you up as a treasure in heaven.

Paul expresses it this way in Colossians 3:1–4, where we are encouraged to “seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Deuteronomy 26:12—28:6

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…

The Saturday passages follow the reading list that Jewish people use in their synagogue worship
throughout the world. They are taken from
“The Torah,” the first five books of the Bible from Genesis to Deuteronomy
that are read each year beginning with autumn.

For all the Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information