Listen to Nick read the Firestarter and Judges 9:1-6.

 Abimelech was a son of Gideon by a concubine. He had seventy half brothers. Today you will read what Abimelech did to them. Yes, there are persons and situations in the Old Testament who perform evils so great, that it would challenge the movie industry to portray them. Abimilech is one of these persons; he had an atrocious lust for power.

While you may read his story in amazement, just know that there is a potential Abimelech inside of each one of us. The same temptation to power, control, self-centeredness, unconcern for the things of the Lord, can be at work in our own hearts. But for the grace of the Lord Jesus, there go you and I!

The Lord sends persons to liberate God’s people who, in turn, lapse immediately into idolatry. God feels. Pray with a desire to experience God’s hurt.

Is there anything you are doing to avoid placing God as the center of your life?

Judges 9—10

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More…
Example: There go I, but for Jesus.

Tuesdays are dedicated to the Old Testament books of history
and the Hebrew “Writings.”
In the Winter Season of Advent to Epiphany this year we read Judges, Proverbs 4 6.

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 Isaiah 44:1-8.

The theme of blessing continues strongly in this chapter filled with God’s loving move upon God’s people. The blessing is the stronger as we celebrate Christmas. Look at the extent to which the Lord goes to redeem us and to have divine life present in us.

The cry of the Lord rises in verses 21 ff. after God has described the emptiness of idolatry in detail. Your Creator is also your most loving parent who wants to share everything with you, the beloved. God will forget all your sins; just return to the Lord with all your heart. Nothing less than the whole heart of God is focused upon you; God wants nothing less in return.

We have anything but a boring, distant God! Let the fresh loving joy of the Lord in this chapter quicken the fullness of life and joy in your own heart.

Isaiah 44

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the Winder Season of Advent to Epiphany this year we read Isaiah 40 – 55.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Your divine life is in me.

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.

Themes of old and new weave themselves through the infancy stories of Jesus in Luke. The aged Zechariah and Elizabeth are types of the ancient longing, seen next to the young Mary and Joseph. Now it is Simeon and Anna contrasted with Mary and Joseph who arrive to present Jesus in the Temple. Faithful Simeon is there and Anna, who spent eighty-four years of her widowhood praying constantly in the Temple for the coming of the Messiah. The Holy Spirit tells them that the quiet, gentle couple arriving this day is the answer to their deepest prayer.

Old and new meet; patience and joy embrace. The song of Simeon sweetly lifts itself every night as those in monasteries bid farewell to a day of grace and fall asleep. May you rest assured that the Lord has indeed come, a fact that the Holy Spirit gives to you right now. Receive the child in the temple of your heart and rest.

Luke 2:22–40

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: I let go and rest in peace.

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
During the Winter Season of Advent to Epiphany this year, we read the Gospel of Mark, chapters 1-2.

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.