Receive the absolute assurance of God’s promise of restoration for Israel and Judah as renewal and restoration for your own soul. As you read Zechariah’s list of the enemies of Israel that shall be overcome, become sensitive to your own list of all that would place itself as enemy in your life—sickness, family challenges, antagonists, etc.

In the verse for the day, there is joy in the description of the Messianic King that will bring about these victories. You are familiar with this verse, used by all four evangelists as they discover its fulfillment in the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

The Alphabyte “Usher” for this week offers a personal image, as you usher Jesus into the inner recesses of your own heart, there to take dominion of it, winning victory over all your enemies.

Zechariah 9—10

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the season of Kingdomtide we read Habakkuk to Malachi.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: You reigning from sea to sea. 9:10

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.

Here is a parable with contrasts of energy—the lazy judge and the relentless widow, the care of God and the weak faith of God’s children. The widow has the persistence of a battering ram against the hard heart of the judge. Lack of faith blocks God’s people from receiving the current of God’s healing grace. Jesus said previously that the faith of a tiny mustard seed would be sufficient to hurl a mountain into the sea—certainly enough to move the heart of God already filled with love and tender care for God’s children.

What are the obstacles to your faith that prevent God’s grace from gushing into your soul? Recall the root meaning of the word, “usher.” It is about opening a way for God to move. Let the parable literally usher in a week of flowing communion between you and God.

Luke 18:1–8

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Praying and not losing heart v. 1

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
In year C, we generally read from the Gospel of St. Luke.

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.

Jewish people have three special celebrations in the course of the year.  Passover usually takes place when Christians celebration the Resurrection of Jesus; Pentecost, which Christians celebrate as the coming of the Holy Spirit, and an autumn festival called Tabernacles.   While there is no Christian celebration that is linked to this festival, we all recall our ancestors who made their way in the desert living in tents in that great journey from slavery to freedom called the Exodus.  Jewish children have lots of fun making little tents around the house to recall the Exodus, and the tents that they made along the way.

In John’s Gospel, 1:14, he tells his that the Word (Jesus) pitched his tent among us!  God is with us at every moment in his tent in our hearts.

Leviticus 23:33-36

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.

These Firestarters are from a new edition of The Bible Through the Seasons being developed for families with children. For the Firestarters in the original edition, I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or table! Check the menu options at the site for more information.