Halal is the word for “praise” in Hebrew. Hallelujah means “Praise Yah,” the shortened name for Yahweh, the Covenant name for God.

Take the incentive this psalm gives to see the entire day as being in the Lord’s presence—the essence of the joy in this psalm. Each hour of the day are as so many “courts” in the house of the Lord, places in time where you can encounter God. As you enter the doorway of each hour, let praise and thanks ring out along with the countless number of clocks chiming or watches beeping all across the land.

The Lord loves you very much, longs for closeness with you, and desires that you place all your cares on God. Allow whatever activity you are doing be done as a response in service to the Lord whom you love.

Psalm 100

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“Were the statistics known, Psalm 100 would probably prove to be the song most often chanted from within the history that runs from the Israelite temple on Mount Zion to the synagogues and churches spread across the Earth.                     

  James May

Instead of offering my usual video meditation on Psalm 100, I’m linking you to a presentation of a metrical version written by William Kethe in 1561 in the hymn, “All People That on Earth do dwell.”  It came to be known as “Old Hundredth.”  You will love this video of a 200 voice mass choir from India.The beauty in their faces and the strong faith in their voices will move you.  We’ll pray for those Christians in sections of India who are ruthlessly persecuted by a Hindu extreme group that seeks to impose Hinduism on Christians and Moslems.

“Obviously our world is at the edge of insanity and we with it. Inhumanness is developed as a scientific enterprise. Greed is celebrated as economic advance. Power runs unbridled to destructiveness. In a world like this, our psalm is an act of sanity whereby we may be “reclothed in our rightful minds” Mark 5:15… Life is no longer self-grounded without thanks, but rooted in thanks.”    Walter Brueggman

“No amount of regret changes the past. No amount of anxiety changes the future. Any amount of gratitude changes the present.”        Ann Voskamp. Visit gratefulness.org

Blessings and love,

Nick

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More
Example: You made us and we are Yours. v. 3

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

Though God’s name is never mentioned in the Book of Esther, the consuming energy of Esther and Mordecai is to protect and save God’s people in the midst of a hostile and unbelieving world.

It is fitting to read the Book of Esther in the context of the story of wicked King Herod. Her name, Esther, fits the Epiphany season, for her name means “star” in Persian. Just as the Lord made smooth the way of Jesus in the midst of wicked plans, so did God do the same with the intrigues and conspiracies in the Book of Esther.

Consider your personal history. Trace the hand of God’s saving grace in your life that has brought you to this day of salvation which the Lord has made for you. You have found favor in the sight of King Jesus!

Esther 2

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More…
Example: The beauty of holiness v. 2 (Ps 96:9)

Tuesdays are dedicated to the Old Testament books of history
and the Hebrew “Writings.”
In the season of Advent to Epiphany this year, we read Ruth, Esther and Proverbs 7 to 9.

 

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 Advent candle has yielded to the intensity of the Star in the East—shining, moving, leading, drawing the entire world to the place of the glory of the Lord visited in Christ Jesus.

The trade centers of the ancient world are listed in a kind of procession of glory, all converging with their wealth upon the feet of Jesus, center of the universe. Isaiah’s poetry does its work upon you as this new calendar year explodes with so much more than the passing fancy and fanfare of a New Year’s Eve party.

May the joy of the season be sustained in you, growing within you as you receive the Christ whom the world is summoned to adore.

Isaiah 60

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Arise, shine: your light has come! v. 1

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the seasons of Advent through Epiphany this year we read Isaiah 56 to 66..

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.