Listen to Nick read the Firestarter and the reading.

A forty-day journey to Easter began this past week with Ash Wednesday. We started our life’s journey from dust; we will return to dust. The Holy Spirit has breathed over our dust so that we can live now as we will live forever.

Let us begin this journey with nothing but the ashes of our “stuff.” Allow the things of our creation alone— what is outside God’s will—to be brought to naught. Ashes are the leftovers when everything is gone. Burn all your “bridges over troubled waters,” your escape from pain, and decide to go down into those turbulent waters with Jesus who carries you. He is with you on this journey. He goes into the desert of nothingness and temptation.

The journey is vertical as well as horizontal. The heavens are your goal and mine. The path is open now, for you are with Jesus in whom the Father is well pleased.

Mark 1:9–15

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: With You in the wilderness v. 12

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.

Listen to Nick read the Firestarter and Exodus 26:1-6.

A cubit is the distance from the elbow of a man to the tip of his middle finger, about eighteen inches, or half a yard. This will help you to picture the dimensions of the tabernacle and the curtains described.

The Lord gave Moses precise details about the construction of the tabernacle. Every aspect had a symbolic quality. The tabernacle was the place that the presence of the Lord was to be especially found. While it may be difficult to picture all the details, each aspect is to be a reminder of the presence of God.

If you have any love in you at all, it is because God, who is Love, is present to you through the Holy Spirit.

God does not indwell in us as a reward for our loving; rather does God’s presence make it possible to love. Love is super-natural—it is beyond our nature and us. It is God’s way of loving granted to us.

Exodus 26:1–30

This is the second of three parts of the Torah Portion Terumah (Portion) 
Conservative and Reform Jewish congregations read only this part this year,
as also in this Bible plan.
Here is the entire portion in all three parts.

Exodus 25:1—27:19

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: My heart, Lord, Your dwelling place

The Saturday passages follow the reading list that Jewish people use in their synagogue worship
throughout the world. They are taken from
“The Torah,” the first five books of the Bible from Genesis to Deuteronomy
that are read each year beginning with autumn.

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 Mark 2:18-22.

One of the signs that a person is in a critical, negative, “victim” type space is the expression: “I don’t need this!” When the scribes and Pharisees encountered Jesus, they saw themselves as victims of someone who was potentially going to take away their power. They in effect remarked as they observed Jesus: “We don’t need this!”

It is only with those who were sick and needed the divine physician that Jesus loved to stay. It is only when you look at Jesus and say to Him: “I need this!” that you are ready to receive all the healing that Jesus desires to give you—much more than you want to ask.

Mingle with the needy crowd about Jesus. Sense in your spirit your need of him. Believe in faith that your imagination in this prayer is the connecting point to the reality that Jesus is within you. Ask for your healing and claim it in faith.

Mark 2:13–28

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: My illness needing Your touch v. 17

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.