Click on the image for a video meditation on Psalm 23.

This favorite psalm of countless persons over the ages is yours today. Millions know it from memory. If you need to refresh your memory, the task will be as sweet as the psalm itself if you link the images together. Be as the sheep in the first four verses. Sense the sequence of resting and movement. The word for comfort in verse 4 is nacham, making a sound, just as it does—the deep sighs of those receiving comfort, as well as those giving it.

Verse 5 shifts to the image of an army arrayed for battle. Victory is so assured by the Lord that the troops sit down to a banquet as the enemy looks on. The anointing for spiritual warfare takes place. The sixth and last verse combines the image of movement with rest again. Notice how right living causes goodness and mercy to pursue David.

Move through this prayer and you will be dwelling in the house of the Lord today, looking forward to forever.

Psalm 23

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More
Example: You lead beside still waters v. 2

We continue to follow 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

Each proverb contrasts the positive and negative examples of the first two days of this week. The opening verse is a rare proverb about the feminine. As you pray through each of the thirty-five proverbs, weigh each of their sides in the hands of your heart, as though tossing a beach ball back and forth from one hand to another. Read the proverbs slowly, pausing where you find yourself released upward by the wisdom that sets you free.

Can you put your own names to the classes and categories listed in the proverbs? Do not judge, but rather discern the people, places, and things in your life that are concrete examples of the types in the proverbs.

Write out your favorites. Place them nearby where you bump into them throughout the day for refreshing pauses. What can you do to be creative with these wise sayings that have come down to us from almost three millennia?

Proverbs 14

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More…
Example: Walking upright before You v. 2

Tuesdays are dedicated to the Old Testament books of history
and the Hebrew “Writings.”
In the season of Pentecost this year we read Proverbs 13 and 14 and 1 Samuel.

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

The three examples of salvation in yesterday’s reading are contrasted with three doomed to destruction. Babylon, Assyria, and Philistia are singled out for their unique arrogance toward God that results in their downfall.

The outcome of these three countries is the result of what Mary sings in the Magnificat: “He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly” (Luke 1:52). Again with the image of the beach ball pressed down for later release, the pride that seeks to puff itself up before others, actually results in their being pressed down to death.

In this context, the fall of Lucifer is described. Tradition has linked him to Satan. Ponder the five arrogant assertions in verses 13 and 14 that begin with the words “I will.” The one whose name means “light-bearer” is plummeted into darkness.

Which is it for you—your will or God’s?

Isaiah 14

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the season of Pentecost this year we read Isaiah 13 – 27; Lamentations 1 and 2 on the Ninth Week.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: What You design, You will do. v. 24

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.