[From the version for young people]

A wonderful hero and saintly person is going to be our model for Mondays during the season of autumn.  His name is Daniel, probably a teenager.  He is one of the great prophets of God’s people, someone whose whole life, in all he says and does, reflects God’s life. He’s a hero we can love.

Daniel was one of many thousands of Jewish people about six hundred years before Jesus’ birth who were captives living in the land of Babylon.  This ancient land was part of the modern country of Iraq.  Though there were no places or buildings that reminded him of God, his memories of God’s actions on behalf of God’s people were alive by faith inside Daniel.  He knew that God was with him.

In the first episode we find Daniel and three other Hebrew friends selected to become advisors at the royal court of King Nebuchadnezzar. (My goodness, a name with five syllables!)  With all the familiar reminders of God taken away, the four friends firmly decided to do be aware of God’s presence by refusing to do what God had forbidden. So when it came time to eat food that was not allowed by God’s people, they just said: “No: we won’t do it!”

Look how the fidelity of Daniel and his friends to God’s ways brought them wisdom and favor with the King!  You too: the closer you live to the ways that God wants in humility and love, the more God’s grace and wisdom will be given to you.  

Here’s an idea. Picture yourself as a fifth person quietly living alongside these four wonderful young men.  They are part of what we call the Communion of Saints.  In Jesus you are one of those saints too!    

Daniel 1

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Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In this season we read Hosea; in the 9th week, we read Lamentations 3.

For all the Firestarters in the original version, II 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.

Verse 18 of chapter 26 of our reading has a word in Hebrew that describes God’s people as “special” to Him: segullah. Used only eight times in the Old Testament, the underlying meaning of this word is “treasure.” God’s people are God’s prized possessions. The final reference in Malachi 3:17 refers to God’s people as his “jewels.”

In Matthew 6:10–22 Jesus urges us not to lay up treasures on earth, but in heaven. “Where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.” You are God’s treasure, held in God’s heart. The heart of Jesus opened on the cross for you, remains open right now to love you. Jesus has already laid you up as a treasure in heaven.

Paul expresses it this way in Colossians 3:1–4, where we are encouraged to “seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Deuteronomy 26:12—28:6

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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

What makes for true greatness?—a question pondered long and hard by sages from all cultures. Jesus’ disciples enter the dispute, arguing among themselves, forgetting that incarnate Wisdom walks with them. Jesus stops, takes a child, sets him in their midst, and shares the essence of greatness that is wrapped in a child’s heart. Listen as Jesus speaks to your heart.

There is a child inside of you. Would that the evil kings of Judah and Israel would have listened as this child to God’s voice! One wonders just where they “rested”, when they “rested with their fathers.” You will rest in the bosom of the Father forever in heaven, if you live as God’s beloved child now upon earth.

Mark 9:33–50

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…

Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels. This year, we generally read
from the Gospel of Mark, this season, chapters 4 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.