To Breathe Again

Breathe….. breathe again…..and now ….. breathe again. Be honest, how has your breathing been lately? This is not about the health focused component of your lung’s wellness or gulping in air in the footrace for the day.

No, consider the calm, settling, steadying action of slow and careful breathing. Why the big hype? Consider the physical components. Oxygenation coursing through human systems, allowing the intake of ‘new’ air and discarding the toxins of depleted air. The miracle of such a simple action always keeping the body afloat. Simple could be argued by the tremendous mechanisms in God’s structure of the human body. But it seems simple enough to breathe as long as you are not suffering the myriad of conditions that hinder a good breath in and out.

Our daily, moment by moment spiritual breathing mimics this physical mechanism. How would you rate yourself? More importantly, how would God ‘rate’ your spiritual breathing?

We need to break this down to the needed components:

In the Body of Christ, our body is temporal with an everlasting regenerated soul to the Lord.
Within this spiritual body, some way is needed to bring ‘oxygen’ to every aspect of our being (mind, soul, body, and emotions).
The fuel, the steady intake of fresh air to each of the aspects of our regenerated state can only be achieved by the most basic elements – worship, prayer, and Bible intake.
And lastly, we need some way to discard the toxic thoughts, feelings, and actions that have weakened our spiritual condition.

We may want to take an intensive look at each of these needed components. I have found if my heart is at all sensitive to the Lord by the Holy Spirit’s prompting, He reveals my current spiritual condition.

Consider these ‘life-giving’ verses:

Genesis 2:7 tells us; “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”. *
The Hebrew word for breath for this verse is nesamah, meaning – that such breath originates with God, and He can withhold it, thereby withholding life from humanity.
Job 33:4 shares; “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life”. *
Isaiah 42:5; “Thus, says God, the Lord, who creates the heaven and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in I”. *

Considering the origin of our breath, reflect on these questions:

In evaluating my Bible intake, what thoughts are my mind dwelling on during worship?

Philippians 4:8 (ESV) points the direction,

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things”. *

We could interpret this to mean to have better or more true or pure thoughts. No, this verse points to the only One – our Lord God Almighty who has these characteristics. It’s a posture, an attitude before the Lord.

Is my focus on the items of my need or on our great God and His character during prayer? Dwell on Matthew 6:10,

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven”. *

What are my thoughts telling me each day? What has priority in my calendar scheduling? What truths am I believing? How do these truths line up with the truths of the scripture?

Philippians 2: 2-11 guides in each of these areas,

“if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”. *

Knowing there is nothing new under the sun, this content is not new nor the repetition of repeating it. I can get weary of the truth I have known, but without hearing it again, I forget the truth. What a vicious cycle!! How fatigued I get dealing with my memory loss on God’s spoken truths in His Word. This is directly related to my spiritual oxygen intake or depletion.

Within our physical body the autonomic nervous system (ANS) takes over the involuntary physiological commands to breathe (respirations), heart rate, blood pressure, and digestion. We can intentionally take a breath, but for the everyday run of the mill operating system, the ANS stays on the job without supervision or commands from me. I am grateful God designed us with an ANS mechanism which keeps us alive. Talk about life-giving breath!

In our current events with COVID-19, social and political unrest, I have struggled with the basics of my spiritual breathing. I have had feelings like an alien in my own life. Or it has been like trying to hold sand in my hands, with it constantly slipping through my fingers. Common and uncommon. At times, it could seem like the famous opening line in Tale of Two Cities, “It’s the best of times and the worst of time”. What an apt description of this new decade – 2020. None of us saw this coming.

Usually the most challenging times has brought the greatest growth in my life in the physical, mental, emotional or spiritual realm. I am so grateful for the ever-dwelling presence of God who saved me to Himself. I have needed to return to the basics and fairly evaluate how I am seeking the Lord in my daily life and whether I am dwelling on truths and not falsehoods. I want to encourage you to go back to square one and evaluate your current practices to breathe in God’s truths and to draw into a deeper relationship with Him.

Recently, I was recertified in Basic Life Support (BLS). Remember these skills are used in unexpected events which are a crisis of a human heart beating or lungs taking in air. In training, it was a reminder of the basics. First, determine if the person is okay and if not, call for help. Then, listen for any breaths and any pulse which reveals if the lungs are taking in air or if the heart is beating. If none found, the very next steps are chest compression and breaths to the victim for life-giving air and blood circulating. Nowhere in my training do they say to figure out the ‘story’ of this person to determine their prior medical history. No, sudden collapse requires sudden action.

In our spiritual walk, we can have a ‘sudden’ event which requires an immediate response. Physical, mental or emotional symptoms awaken us. How do we deal with this in a healthy way and what does this look like? It depends on your emergency training in your daily walk with the Lord. Think of the correlations to physical collapse to our spiritual walk. Most of us know when we are NOT okay, do you cry out to God or to someone else? Do you have a storehouse of habits that has built strongholds in your biblical truths or do you try to self-soothe the feelings away? Do you dwell on God’s character? His knowledge of all things, His truth? Are you open/transparent/vulnerable to confess your weakened state?

I am reminded of numerous things:

Maintain a healthy body with healthy habits.
Maintain a healthy spiritual walk.
Be ready in season and out of season for knowing God’s truths.
We must first be in alignment with God before we will have the stamina or wisdom for our horizontal relationships.
Be slowed enough to recognize impending storm clouds in your spiritual walk.
Know the storms and crisis will come. Daily, we prepare for what’s ahead. Prepare the storerooms. Be sure to learn and dwell on God’s truths and not your own.

Father, we thank you for your life-giving breath to Adam. Thank you for our first breath after birth and the daily breaths given. We thank you for II Timothy 3:16 -17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God maybe thoroughly equipped for every good work”.* We know that our days are in your hands and all of our breaths are yours. We love you Lord and give all circumstances, emotions, and thoughts to your leading and for your glory. Amen.

-by Holly Brewton

* All verses from the ESV Bible