Breathe

Last summer it was put on my heart to read through the Bible. But not just read it, understand it. Follow the stories, make connections, and find hidden truths. This went great until I returned to my job and got ‘busy.’ As I addressed in the last post, I have lots of down time here in Haiti. Needless to say, I am not too busy to read anymore. God gave me way more time than I need to spend with Him each day, yet all the time in the world wouldn’t be enough. Long story short, I started really reading again. WOW! This book is ALIVE. We hear this alot but have you experienced it? Have you read a commonly taught story/lesson that has a general moral only to find a brand new moral that directly affects your heart? The Word didn’t change, God didn’t change, but we did and this book is breathing God’s guidance on our lives. We open this book, read and BREATHE in the Word. Breath of Life. Then God gives us the opportunity to share that breath or hold it in. Holding our breath might have been fun as a kid, but it’s not anymore. It hurts our chest and our head. But when we breathe freely, we relax, unwind, and release. But, when we speak, we are forcing the breath out creating the need for more air. Where am I going with this, right?

We have the Word, the very breath of God already in us. Genesis 2:7 “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.” Take that in. Think about that. The very breath of Life itself flows through our body. Incredible. But it doesn’t stop there, God went a step further, He gave us The Word, The Bible. He allowed us to have an unending supply of Himself to continually satisfy our body’s needs for breath and life. When we read the Word, we will hold it in, truly worship, or share it.

What does holding your breath look like, in this sense? For me, it’s when I read but don’t listen. I don’t take in a new supply of life, I simply hold what I already have and depend on it. If I continue this, I will lose consciousness. I will begin to lack passion and desire for Christ. Becoming unaware to the life and blessings around me. It causes pain and confusion. Holding in and relying on only what I have can cause me to lose friends, miss opportunities, and lose desire. That’s painful. When I am faced with a choice I won’t know right from wrong. I won’t seek Kingdom things, just ‘the right’ things. Dangerous place to be. Unfortunately, I believe this is the state many of us are in. We know the Word, the stories, the lessons and we rely on that to get us through, but in reality, if we don’t get a fresh breath of these lessons, we will not grow.

Okay, so what about breathing freely? I picture this as someone just sitting and breathing. Not meditating, not speaking, not involved currently, just breathing. For me, this is when I read and focus. I see the words and get the concept but I don’t share. I don’t let it change me. As I read, I breathe in and out. Breathing in the Words but then just breathing them out. Or at least breathing out the words I don’t feel I need. I’m not in need for more air, just breathing in what I ‘need’ then breathing out only what’s necessary. Where is the obedience in that? Being comfortable? I’m taking in what I ‘need’ of you God and only breathing out what I have to my comfort. I don’t to breathe more than I have to. What? Who am I to say what I need? It’s not my breath, it’s HIS. He is simply letting me borrow it. With this being the TRUTH, why am I only giving some? I need and want to give it all.

Sharing. Let me ask you a question, as I often do, have you ever been so excited about something that just the anticipation of knowing makes your heart rate speed up and you begin breathing heavier? Or you’re talking about something you are passionate about, whether with joy in agreement, or anger in disagreement, that you have to stop just to take another breath so you can continue talking about it? Wouldn’t it make sense to breathe in the Word and be so excited and moved by it that your left breathless. NEEDING more air. Needing a deep breath. God wants to fill us up with Him to the point we overflow. But He is so good to us, that we end up giving all our breath, until we need more, causing us to take another breath, read more of His Word, for us to do it all over again. He asks and allows us to empty our thoughts and desires so He can fill us up even more. Something I learned from choir many years ago, is that to be able to sing deeper, and hold longer notes, you have to train your diaphragm and lungs. You have to practice breathing to stretch it so you can hold more air. The more we read and take it in, the larger our capacity of understanding will get. We have to train ourselves to read and listen, and then we will begin to understand. Think about worship. If you truly worship, experience it, different things can happen. Maybe when this happens you’ll be amazed. Stop to simply take in His presence. At this point for me, I take a deep breath. Breathing Him in so I can worship Him more. Or maybe during true worship you get excited and begin giving so much energy that you gasp for breath. Gasping for more of Him. Many worship songs are written using the Word. I don’t believe that’s a coincidence. We are breathing out all we have in worship, to need to be filled again with the breath of life, The Word, which is in the music we use to worship. We are simultaneously giving everything we have and filling back up. WOW! It becomes a beautiful cycle. But if we are not reading The Word, we won’t have anything to give. Worship is also referred mostly to singing and music but it is so much more. It’s serving, loving, and giving. When I truly experience worship, it exhausts me. It empties me. That’s exactly where I need to be for God to show me I need more of Him to continue. A new breath, so I can do it all over again. Worship is sharing this breath.

When we share the breath of God through Worship, we are sharing life, hope, promise.

I also can’t help but think about the phrase we are all to familiar with, “I feel like I am drowning.” Sometimes ‘drowning’ is in sadness, anger, guilt, and other times it’s in blessings, joy, and awe. No matter seems to be drowning me though, I have to hold my breath until my head is brought above the waves. When that happens, when we break through the waves, we gasp, take a deep breath. If we go under without a proper supply of breath, we will suffer much more. When I am overwhelmed, if I don’t fill myself with God’s breath, it will be so much harder to fight for the surface. If I am not in the Word, filling myself, I will have nothing to cling to. But if I have been breathing it in, listening, I’ll be stronger when God lifts me above the waves. I will have more hope when I can’t breathe. I won’t fear the feeling of drowning, I will embrace it. Trusting that what I have breathed in to this point is exactly what I need to find the strength to reach out for Christ’s hand.

So what are doing? Holding your breath? Sharing it? Breathing comfortably? Or maybe you’re drowning? I don’t know what these look like to you but I do know that if we don’t get in the Word, breath Him in, we will die.

**Challenge**

Think about a story you’ve heard a million times from the Bible. Or even a story you know of but haven’t read it yourself or heard it in a while. Stories like David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17), Daniel and the Lion’s Den (Daniel 6), King David (2nd Samuel), Samson and Delilah (Judges 16), Creation (Genesis 1), The End (Revelations), The birth, death, burial and resurrection of Christ (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), Moses (Exodus), Saul/Paul (Acts 9), Jonah (Jonah), any of them. Read one. Pray for a fresh breath and read. Experience the story, The Word, don’t just read it. Share your stories that you read and what God revealed. Journal it, call your husband/wife, or best friend and share what it said to you. Tell me! I’d love to hear how God is moving in your life.

If you don't have access to a bible, click here or here youversion. Thess will take you to the desktop version of the Youversion Bible App :)