Look at the list as you would the names enshrined on Ellis Island.

Nehemiah demonstrates the power of symbolic gesture in expressing outrage at the usury Jews exacted against one another. Sense the movement of the great qualities of this leader—humility, solidarity, and shrewdness in discerning plots of evil against him. At each moment of a crisis, Nehemiah turns to the Lord in prayer, shaking out his soul in the Lord’s presence, loosening any angers or fears, freeing the energies of devotion to the Lord in fulfilling the mission that “God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem” (2:12).

What are the emotions that lurk inside of you that tend to make you spiritually paralyzed? Shake out your soul before the Lord in prayer. Face opposition from within and without that would have you give up on the work that the Lord has put into your hands.

Nehemiah 5—7

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More…
Example: Shaking out my soul in prayer 5:13

Tuesdays are dedicated to the Old Testament books of history
and the Hebrew “Writings.”
In the Easter Season this year we read Easter: Prov 24 -26; Nehemiah.

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

The word orientation comes from the Latin root meaning to rise—the place of the rising sun. The east is a symbol of hope, of resurrection. Ancient Christian churches were oriented with the altar facing east.

In Ezekiel’s vision of the mystical temple, the doorway faces east, the glory of the Lord entering from the place of the new day. Feel the glory of the resurrection bathing you as you enter into the vision of the temple. Sense the presence of the altar in the depths of your soul as the very center of the temple-body of Jesus within whom you dwell.

All the details of these chapters have one purpose—immersion in the Holy. We become spiritually disoriented in life when we lose that deep, inner spiritual sense of God’s presence and holiness. The Lord offers it to you once again. Surrender to glory in these final weeks of the Easter Season.

Ezekiel 43—44

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the Easter Season this year we read Ezekiel 33—48.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Earth shining with Your glory 43:2

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.

Love is freed from fickle ties to affection only. Now it is living out the ongoing presence of Jesus in the world through the way that he loved—unto death. The new commandment is not a stern, military-type order, but rather a charge, a mission, a commitment.

The setting for the reading is the Last Supper before Jesus’death. It is also appropriate on this Sunday as we enter into the final three of the seven weeks in the Easter season. Jesus approaches his last suppers during the time of glory when he was with the disciples after the resurrection until Ascension Thursday, forty days after Easter.

Let there arise in the depths of your soul that sense of AS Jesus has loved you—to the death … the death of self. Let the Spirit give you the gift of giving your life for others.

John 13:31–35

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Loving as Jesus has loved v. 34

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
In year C, during the Easter Season, we read from John’s Gospel, with Luke on the Seventh Week.

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.