Listen to Nick read the Firestarter and Matthew 2:1-12.

The three gifts of the King—let them be yours. Gold, symbol of the ultimate possession: you are the ultimate gift for the Christ Child. All of who you are is pure Gold to God.

Frankincense is a hard resin from Arabian trees. It looks like stone, until it falls on hot coals, becoming a sweet smelling smoke. Fall upon the fire of the Spirit and the same will become of you. Myrrh, from the Arabic word for bitter, is an ointment offered to Jesus on the cross to soothe his pain. He refused it.

Take your cue from Jesus. Do not anesthetize pain by habits that blunt the spirit. Give the bitterness of suffering to Jesus. Through prayer, pain is transformed and redeemed.

Matthew 2

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Gold and Frankincense and Myrrh

Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels.
In the Winter Season of Advent to Epiphany this year we read Luke 1-2; Mark 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 Nick read the Firestarter and the reading.

Just as Jesus was presented in the Temple as an infant, so you have been presented to the Temple of Christ’s risen body. Because you live in Christ and he lives in you, you are a child of God. John is wondrously in touch with this fact as he cries out the first verse of the reading, “We are children of God!”

Throughout this letter, themes of darkness and light, of sin and abiding in Christ, are set in stark contrast. For John there are no “gray” areas. There is either a life of sin or a life of grace going on inside of you and me. Yes, there may be occasional acts of sin, but the torque, the momentum, the full surrender of life is to be totally within God. If you are there, then a life of habitual sin is not possible. Experience what it is like to be a child—a very own child of God.

1 John 3:1–9

Find out all about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: We are called children of God.

Thursdays are dedicated to the letters of Paul, other letters,
the Book of Acts, and the Book of Revelation.
In the Winter Season of Advent to Epiphany this year we read the Letters of John and Jude.

For all the Firestarters 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.

Listen to Nick read the Firestarter and the Psalm.

For a video meditation on today’s Psalm created three years ago, Tap here.

This brief psalm creates a sharp distinction between the feverish, hostile plots of the wicked, and the quiet restfulness of the green olive tree planted in the house of God. Evil consumes itself, spent by Godless, self-propelled energy.

The green olive tree does nothing but enjoy its presence in the Temple of the Lord. There it is content to stay and play, trusting in the greenness of its life from being in God’s presence.

Feel the contrast between this psalm and the scheming world sated and spent by the shopping season just past. Inventory and hoarding profit are its post-Christmas agenda. However, you … Go to the stable. Adore with the shepherds, Mary and Joseph. Rejoice in the tender infant Jesus, the “green olive tree.” Will you allow Jesus to be engrafted onto your heart?

Psalm 52

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More
Example:  I am like an olive tree.

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