Since I was a child, a work of art has hung in my room by C. Bosseron Chambers entitled, “Christ at Five.” It depicts the boy Jesus seated on a little stool, playing with scraps of wood from Joseph’s shop. Two pieces fall together forming a cross. Jesus pauses in his play … gazes upward with a look of wonder with a touch of worry … hands quietly resting on his lap … the little cross at his feet—anticipation.

Gather your childhood into your lap. What do you recall then that was an anticipation, a glimpse, of what your future life would become? Is there something back then that was lost in the temple of your heart that you need to find again? Look heavenward to your Father who holds your future in his hands. Go to the inner temple where Christ teaches your soul, as he did in the Temple.

Luke 2:41–52

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Being in my Father’s house v. 49

Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels.
In Advent through Epiphany this year we read Luke chapters 1 to 8.

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.

From the death of the Innocents by King Herod, to the trials that you are enduring right now, all the resources for suffering with meaning are before you. In the very center of the passage, verse 18, lies the central truth that gives meaning to all unjust suffering.

Pray to move beyond self-defensiveness to intercession for your persecutors. Christ’s suffering brought us closer to God; will you not let your suffering do the same for those who need salvation? How you respond to suffering is a powerful wake-up-call in others to a desire for God. As verse 15 indicates, be ready to defend the hope that is in you and not to defend the self.

1 Peter 3:13–22

Find out all about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Death to flesh; life in Spirit v. 18

Thursdays are dedicated to the letters of Paul, other letters,
the Book of Acts, and the Book of Revelation.
In the seasons of Advent through Epiphany this year,
we read the letters of Peter.

For all the Firestarters in the original version, 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.

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