Foreword by Roberts Liardon, author of God’s Generals, for our new book God’s Firestarters, now available in Amazon in both eBook and print
“Each of us are alive at a specific time for a specific purpose — not born by accident or by mere physical choice. We are born when God decides that this is our time to live and do a specific work on the earth.
The range and variety of all our individual assignments is greater than our natural minds can comprehend. But this one common factor we can be assured of: God is always seeking for a man or woman to do His will and help change the heart of man.
That’s what makes Ed and Janice Hird’s book God’s Firestarters so compelling. Within these pages, you’ll find 20 unique journeys, spanning six centuries, of individuals who powerfully fit that description.
These men and women, along with their families, forged through a wide range of challenges and hardships together without giving up. Each in his or her own way helped bring the fire of God’s truth to hungry hearts and to places barren of a move of His Spirit. Each had a part to play according to his or her own giftings and assignment. And as a result of their strength of conviction to follow Jesus Christ and obey what He had asked them to do, each in some way advanced God’s Kingdom for generations to come.
Some of the men and women included in this book you will likely recognize; others may be unfamiliar to you. But in each chapter, the Hirds have succeeded in drawing out little-known details that bring color and depth to the journeys of these “firestarters.” You’ll see that, despite their many differences, they were all simply men and women who chose to do whatever God asked them to do, despite their own missteps at times and regardless the cost.

As you read, keep this question before the Lord in your heart: Why did You put me on the earth for such a time as this? You may already know part of that answer. Or perhaps you are only beginning to realize how critical it is that you seek the Lord for the answer. That’s the key — to ask Him for the answer. When we begin with God, every work we attempt is completed with the accuracy of Heaven. It’s a spiritual law you’ll see played out again and again in the pages of
this book.
We all have our place in the Body of Christ. Some are called to lead; others must hear from God that they are anointed to follow. Regardless, it requires more than desire to fulfill the will of God — it takes spiritual strength. And in the lives of the people represented in these twenty powerful stories, you’ll find evidence of that strength in a variety of forms.
Don’t read these stories lightly. Determine to allow the lessons learned by these godly men and women to become a “course” in your own school of the Spirit to help you stay on track. You have your own part to play; you have your own story to “write” for the annals of Heaven. So, through it all, just determine to keep on building your spiritual strength and walking out your own purpose in God. You’re going to make it — despite any past missteps and regardless the
cost!
Roberts Liardon, author of God’s Generals book and video series