“These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Revelation 7:14

[From the version for families with children]

Let your imagination go and slowly look at the wonderful picture that the sacred writer is painting for you. Notice how symmetrical are the images; they are mirrored in units of four, like a kaleidoscope—one of those tubes you look through that has mirrors reflecting the colored stones in all kinds of star-like shapes.

Imagine: clothing becoming white when it is drenched in blood!  What’s amazing is that blood-stains are very hard to get out of clothing. In this case, the blood of Jesus poured out upon us inside and out makes us white.  Jesus’s blood flowed so that we could become pure white; how’s that for a miracle!    Verses 10 and 12 contain refrains that must have been really sung in the first years of the church, right after Jesus’s death and Resurrection.  Sing them to yourself—even out loud!  You are singing verses that have been sung down through the ages—right up to do today, if you’re singing them!  

[Final paragraph from the original version]

The chapter begins with an awesome stillness as the winds of strife and evil are held in check. The tribulation for God’s servants comes only after they have been sealed. Nothing can harm them; nothing can harm you, if you are sealed by the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation 7

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Thursdays are dedicated to the letters of Paul, other letters,
the Book of Acts, and the Book of Revelation.
In season of Kingdomtide this year,
we read 1 and 2 Thessalonians; Revelation 4—11.

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.

Tap for a video of Psalm 92.

[From the original version]

Allow praise and thanksgiving to be the beginning of your prayer, just as they are at the opening of this psalm. More basic than all the troubles that push and shove to get priority in your heart, is the loving-kindness of the Lord that is present to you. It is as the first light of everyday.

Rejoice with the psalmist in the glory and the power of God. The Lord sees you and your world from the perspective of the whole. God wants to share this perspective with you, along with the power of God’s love. You will see your enemies scattered before your feet as thousands of ants flee your coming.

Who have made themselves enemy to you? Pray for them that the full power of God will come upon them through you—scattering from them, the evils that beset them.

[From the version for families with children]

Here is a wonderful prayer with lots of upbeat energies and feelings.  The first four verses set the energy and direction of the psalm.  They are like “Firestarters” for the rest of the prayer.

      Let these verses do the same for you.  Read them slowly till you totally agree with their energy.  Then you can do in your own life what the psalmist does in his: reflect on all the good things that God is doing for you—the blessings that you can even call miracles that are taking place in your life.  Just think of your waking each day with your senses working so that you can be fully alive.  Is that not a miracle all by itself?

Psalm 92

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More

We follow a reading of the Psalms in numerical order.

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

[From the original version]

Connect with last Monday and King Hezekiah spreading his case before the Lord. The experience of counting on the Lord gives him the confidence in today’s reading to pour out his soul at this point of facing death. The Lord hears him.

While the good thief next to Jesus turned his life around at the hour of his death, don’t you do the same. A bumper sticker reads, “Those who wait for salvation until the 11^th hour may find themselves dead at 10:30!” Familiarity with God throughout life will be a powerful energy sending those extra-needed prayers as arrows from the bow of your heart to the heart of God.

Finally, good King Josiah arrives. Imagine: the People of God discovering the Word of God as buried treasure. It was hidden for generations. Get in touch with the treasure of God’s Word as though for the first time.

[Excerpt from the version for families with children]

While our modern world has not lost God’s Word, for their are Bibles all over the place, still countless numbers of people ignore these sacred words and find other words to live by. We might call these “gods” that distract from knowledge and love of the one true God.  Your daily reading of God’s Word is one way of saying that by God’s grace this is not going to happen to you!

2 Kings 20—22

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More…

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

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