Just Breathe

There is nothing more important than the air we breathe to us surface dwellers on Earth. Most cannot hold their breath for longer than 30 seconds to 2 minutes. There are exceptions of course and at this writing, Budimir Šobat (Croatia), a 56-year-old free diver, has proven he’s unrivaled at the skill. On March 27, 2021, he broke the record for the longest time breath held voluntarily (male) with a staggering time of 24 minutes 37.36 seconds. Wow!

We cannot see the air or the wind blowing but we can certainly see its effects. Think about the wonderfully designed symbiotic system of plants and humans. The plants breathe in carbon dioxide that humans exhale. Plants breathe out oxygen which humans inhale. As we talked about in previous articles,  it was the Creator/God himself who first breathed into our lungs making us living breathing beings, formed from the earth itself. It is the Creator himself who is connected to us from the very start and is still a part of us in the very breath that we breathe.

“But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.” Job 32:8

“In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.” Job 12:10

“The Spirit of God has made me; and the breath of the Almighty has given me life.” Job 33:4

“How can I teach you how to recognize this Creator? Shall I tell you how to recognize the breath that you breathe? Shall I teach you how to recognize your own heart’s beat? He is the essence of all created things. If you look with spirit eyes you will see the Creator in all things. From the howl of the wolf to the child’s whisper he speaks “I am that I am.”—Benjamin Raven Pressley

Imagine that every breath you breathe in you are breathing in God, the Creator, the Holy Spirit! I love John 20:22 where it says that Jesus breathed on his followers and said ‘receive the Holy Spirit’.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”  2 Timothy 3:16-17

    There is a connection for us to be made in the very breath we breathe. We are to walk in constant awareness of God’s omnipresence.

“Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”Genesis 2:7

“As long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils.” Job 27:3

    He is with us as close as our next breath, as close as our next heartbeat. We are not abandoned. We are not orphans. We are never alone.

    I love this story from Ezekiel 37:1-14:

“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

Can you picture the scene?! I am a very visual person and I can see it like a movie in my mind! More importantly, can you see that very often we are those dry bones and it is we who can declare God’s truth over our situation and place our trust in him and he can make sense of it all. He can breathe life into the dry bones of life and circumstances.

There is nothing like rising up from camping by some mountain stream and there still are hot coals smoking from the night before and adding tinder to the coals and stirring them about until it bursts into flames and fire is resurrected from the burned-out fire of the night before. What a metaphor for life! How often in our lives do life’s circumstances weigh us down and burn us out? How often life’s troubles have weighed me down so much that all I could do was to muster my next breath…but that is all it takes is just to breathe. Breathe in his Holy Spirit and hope. Then it is just a matter of breathing out his life-giving breath into the seemingly hopeless situation I am in the midst of. I then add a little tinder of faith of scripture promises to kindle it and soon he arises and produces the flame of his presence once again. A breath on a dry bed of coals rises into light and warmth and I know that he never left me or forsook me but was there all the time waiting for my faith to arise, waiting for me to speak to the dead bones of my life, to release his Holy Spirit and watch him live again in me and through me. And let us not forget those around us who are going through challenges in life. It just may be our word of encouragement is what they need. Maybe someone you know seemingly has no breath to release in their seemingly lifeless, hopeless situation. You can breathe and say ‘receive the Holy Spirit’, you can prophesy over their dry bones that they might live, and you can be the breath they need to rekindle the fire within them that they thought was gone forever.

Life can be confusing sometimes and often there seems to be no hope but as Jesus said:

“The wind blows wherever it wants to. You hear it, but you don’t know where it is coming from or where it is going. It is the same with everyone who is born from the Spirit.” John 3:8
“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.” Ecclesiastes 11:5

    We tend to view life’s uncertainty and circumstances as something bewildering, destructive, and maybe even wonder where God is like he has forsaken us. In reality, though he wants us to know how powerful we really are in Him. He wants us to know that he is always present and always powerful and strong and abiding in us and that it is up to us to blow that breath ever how weak it may seem across that situation that seems hopeless and watch him rekindle the fire we need. His strength, his spirit, and his might are all waiting to manifest their power in something as simple as our breath.

“Let the weak say, I am strong.” Joel 3:10

“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” 1 John 4:4

But what about those winds in life that breathe destruction? What about hurricanes and tornadoes? Jesus is with us even in the midst of every storm. Sometimes he calms the storm and sometimes he calms the child. In Matthew 14:22-33 we have an account of this in real life.

These scriptures start with Jesus telling the disciples to cross over the lake their boats are in, probably the Sea of Galilee. It then goes on to describe a terrible storm rising up. It must have been a pretty bad one. Some of those in the boat were seasoned fishermen who had driven their ships many times in storms and it was pretty scary even for them. They all thought they would surely perish until one of them looked out over the dark sea and the occasional flash of lightning illuminated what appeared to be one walking on the water. Indeed, someone was walking on the water, it was Jesus himself.

When the disciples first saw him they thought it was a ghost. Then through the crashing storm, they heard a voice they knew all too well as he said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” When Peter realized it was him, still doubting somewhat he said, “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” Jesus said, “Come on!” And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water to Jesus and was doing pretty well until he got his eyes off of Jesus and focused more on the storm and he began to sink. He cried out to Jesus and Jesus rescued him and got into the boat with him and the wind died down immediately.

There is also another account of another time in Mark 4:35-41 where Jesus was already in the boat asleep and a storm arose and the disciples woke him afraid they would perish, even accused Jesus of not caring if they perished that he stood up and said “Peace be still” and the wind and the waves calmed. Both of these accounts in Scripture teach us that even when the winds and storms of life come against us we need not be afraid. He lives within us and all around us as believers and he is more than able to calm whatever storms and situations come against us. Sometimes he rebukes the storm and sometimes he bids us to walk it out just to show us how powerful we really are in him. For we need only trust in his power and strength

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6

Be aware always and do not draw back in surprise at the breeze that suddenly travels through the great hall of your mind and soul or the whisper of the wind in the trees wondering what it is but know it is only his presence for it is not possible for him to be present and not cause some effect and he is present always and in every place.

   JUST BREATHE!

I hope you enjoyed this series. If you did I invite you to read my book FIRE WATER EARTH AIR.