Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and the Psalm.

Tap here for a video meditation on Psalm 5.

If last week’s psalm can become your night prayer, this Psalm is perfect for mornings. The first attention of David upon awakening is God. Learn from David. Direct your words and your eyes straight into the Lord’s presence as soon as you awaken.

We are creatures who need the rhythms of daily cycles. Just as children love the security of routine, so we need that sense of comfort that comes through the repetition and return of regular practices of prayer. These can deepen our entry into God’s presence.

What are the habits of daily devotion that the Lord urges upon your heart? Though my own life has been through so many changes, I find continuity and peace to gently whisper into the morning what we used to pray as novices in religious life: “Laudetur Jesus Christus – in saecula saeculorum” Praised be Jesus Christ – forever and ever.

Go straight into the presence of your God and from there only, live out your day.

Psalm 5

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More
Example: Make Your way straight before me. v. 8

We read 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

Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Joshua 11:6-8.

The summary list in chapter 12 bears witness to one clear truth: God longs for a people wholly dedicated to God. The Lord does not want us to make deals with the Enemy, as the Israelites did with Canaanite neighbors with whom they mingled.

Christmas contrasts with the conquests of Joshua. The wood of the manger is at the center of the space of God-with-us, won for us, not with the edge of the sword, but with the laser-beam of Jesus’s love. From the manger outward, to the cross upward, Jesus’s love is the weapon that has given us a “holy land” where we can live right now and forever.

Feel the contrasts in the silence—lists of conquered kings in Joshua … your list of spiritual enemies overcome … Joshua’s sword … Jesus’s manger … Come to the stable!

Joshua 11—12

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More…
Example: Your power at work in me

Tuesdays are dedicated to the Old Testament books of history
and the Hebrew “Writings.”
In the seasons of Advent to Epiphany this year we read Joshua and Proverbs 1—3

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 Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Isaiah 5:20-24.

Hebrew poetry is at its best here, as Isaiah unfolds an image familiar to his listeners. There is tenderness in the poetry, especially in those verses where God’s hurt, pain and frustration about his withered vineyard are most expressed.

What kind of fruit has your life been giving? Wait … Ask God to tell you. Perhaps you do not discover much fruit, but only ornaments as on your Christmas tree. No matter; God can transform all in the coming year.

When we are hurt and frustrated, our moods and feelings change rapidly. So too with God, in whose image we are made. Feel the shifts and changes in the movement of God’s heart. Worship. Take hold of God’s hand stretched out to heal.

Isaiah 5

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the seasons of Advent to Epiphany this year we read Isaiah 1-13.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Humble eyes reflecting joy v. 15

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.