Breath of God
In my prayer time, I said these words “Thank You for your breath, Lord!” What? Where did that come from? Who do we ever say “Thank you for your breath” because breath can be stinky? But not so with the breath of Jesus. In asking for His breath, I knew that I was asking for the very essence of everything He represents – His love, His peace, His hope, His gentleness, His meekness, His comfort, His joy. I wanted His breath to impart new life to me like He imparted life to Adam in the beginning. Genesis 2:7 says: “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
We all know breathing is the most fundamental need for sustaining our physical life. But continually breathing in the life of God is essential for maintaining our spiritual lives. I know that is what I meant as I prayed “Thank you for your breath, Lord.” His breath represents abundant life. I turned that “ask” into a challenge to understand those words. One of the first acts as we emerged from our mama’s birth canal was to respond to the prayers of our parents to “Breathe, baby, breathe.” The breath of life. Those cries were music to our parents’ ears. Like that newborn baby, when we first believed in Christ, we started breathing spiritually. As we grow in our faith and commitment to Him, we grow in His likeness daily. Breathing in His life-giving Spirit is our greatest need in living a positive, overcoming life in this world.
Just as we have to use our lungs to take in oxygen, we breathe in the Spirit by using our human spirit when we pray to breathe in God as life. Physical breathing involves both inhalation and exhalation. In the same way, as we breathe in all the positive things of the Lord Himself, we also exhale all the negative things in our being. We’re revived and strengthened by the fresh supply of the Spirit, and most importantly of all, we gain God Himself.
Honestly, during this pandemic and pandemonium, it’s easy to find ourselves “holding our breath.” No wonder we’re spiritually weak, negative things built up in our heart, and even being susceptible to sin. It’s time to breathe! We need to absorb the life and breath of God to survive these times. We pray and ask God for things and answers to problems, but our primary need is to breathe in God.
Praying is spiritual breathing. Much like working out, if we don’t schedule time to pray, we won’t do it. We can exhale all of the things that are bothering us and focus on enjoying Christ. Matthew 14:23 tells us Jesus “went up to the mountain privately to pray.” He left the crowds, even His disciples, to be alone and spend uninterrupted time with the Father. I know the enemy’s trickery and distractors by now. I have to literally put my phone out of sight and hearing during my “mountain-time” when I spend dedicated time with the Lord and breathing Him in.
My final “breath of God” tip is meditating on the Word. Psalm 119:15 says, “I will mediate upon Your precepts and regard Your ways.” Scripture is God-breathed.” By using our spirit to pray with the words in the Bible, we can meditate on and take in every God-breathed word, so we can be infused with God and nourished by Him. So breathe, Baby, breathe! Breathe on us, Breath of Life, breathe on us, we pray!