Job 33:4New International Version (NIV)
4 The Spirit of God has made me;
the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
I wear an I-watch that reminds me to take a moment to breath. At first it was annoying, but since then the reminder to do that is useful. It is useful especially in my busy, rollercoaster days.
It says we breath in and out physically 12-14 times a minute without even having to think about it. When we are at rest, our lungs take in six liters of air per minute. When we are working hard, we an take in more than 100 liters.
When I think about physically breathing, it is life dependent, so is ‘Spiritual Breathing’. Our spiritual life is dependent on it. I like this thought from Bill Bright in which he says, ‘Spiritual Breathing’, like physical breathing is a process of exhaling the impure and inhaling the pure. It is an exercise in faith that enables you to experience God’s love and forgiveness and walk in the spirit as a way of life.
Here lies the problem. The average Christian man does not understand the concept of ‘Spiritual Breathing’ as an exercise of faith and as a result, we live a life on a spiritual rollercoaster. We go from one emotional experience to another which lends itself to living as worldly Christians with little to no faith.
We need to make these choices of ‘Spiritual Breathing’ in order to allow the Holy Spirit to breath into our spiritual lives. Here are two suggestions that I am using that I believe can help us to understand how to breath in spiritual good air.
- Exhale – By confessing our sins immediately to God and asking His forgiveness is the exhale to spiritual breathing.
- Inhale – By asking the Holy Spirit to control and empower us and keeping us from returning to sin is the inhale of spiritual breathing.
The results, men, will give us a Christian life that is no longer about our own self help and defeats. It will allow the Holy Spirit to permeate every area of our lives. ‘Spirit Breathing’ is a conscious effort and the more we do it, the more the Holy Spirit breathes into our lives.
Strength and Courage
Michael
