Listen to Nick read the Firestarter.

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you sift out the eternal truths that remain after some regulations are no longer in effect. The Lord has led us away from being a male-dominated society. Yet, the areas of God’s concern are ever the same. For example, God cares about sexual behavior, for sexuality says a great deal about who God is and how God is related to us. Marriage imagery is often used to describe the relation of God to us. Consider too the seriousness of an incorrigible child; read what happened to such a one! Modern society is filled with examples of enabling and spoiling children by their parents. Look for the eternal sense of justice that runs through the other examples given.

Paul in Galatians 3 quotes the sentence just prior to the one in the verse for today about the curse of the cross. Not only was Jesus nailed to the cross, but also so were the curses that went with it. The curse has become the blessing. Hold the cross near you as you hear God’s personal instruction to you in this passage.

Deuteronomy 21:10—23:8

This is the first of three parts of the Torah Portion Ki Tetze (When You Go Out) 
Conservative and Reform Jewish congregations read only this part this year,
as also in this Bible plan.
Here is the entire portion in all three parts.

Deut. 21:10—25:19

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Being helpful—happiness

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

Listen to Nick read the Firestarter.

Over the gates of the Kingdom is this sign: “Only Children May Enter.” Read this familiar passage expanding its meaning in your imagination.

First, remove some negative associations with children. They can be cruel. There are many times when peers pick on, ridicule, and shun innocent children. However, this generally happens as a reaction to some grave dysfunction in family and society. There are many adults who are candidates for that millstone to be hung around their necks and cast into the sea, because of scandal to children.

On the positive side, children are needy and dependent. When they are safe and loved, they naturally tend to radiate love in return, as well as spontaneity, trust, hope, and wonder.

Be as a child whose joy in life bursts as a response to divine love welling up from the center of your heart.

Matthew 18:1–20

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: No one stumbling due to me v. 7

Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels.
In the season of Pentecost this year we read Matthew 8 to 18.

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.

Listen to Nick read the Firestarter.

As happened in last Monday’s reading from Isaiah when we caught the spirit of the prophet, so also today, the essence of Paul shines forth. Extravagant in his travels to begin churches where no one else has ever been, he yet finds time to pause, to write, to share with the Romans a letter that would come to be in your hands across the millennia.

Let yourself be encouraged along with his first readers. He quotes verses from the Torah, the Psalms, and Isaiah that express the point he makes in verse 4, the verse for the day. Do with Paul’s letter what he does with the Hebrew Scriptures; find verses in this chapter that quicken you to all the joy of being called to intimacy with Christ in the Spirit.

Paul asks for prayers. We might forget that he, just as Jesus in his agony, needed the prayer of his disciples. Be open for the Spirit to bring to your mind those spiritual leaders who need your prayers.

Romans 15

Find out all about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: What You are doing through me v. 18

Thursdays are dedicated to the letters of Paul, other letters,
the Book of Acts, and the Book of Revelation.
In the season of Pentecost this year we read Paul’s Letter to the Romans.

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 Firestarters with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information.