Do you ever have those days when you feel like you’ve been holding your breath all day? You get to the evening, dinner and bedtimes have been done, you slump into your favourite chair and breathe out like you’ve been waiting to do it all day. Sometimes you can reach the end of the week feeling like you’ve been holding one breath in for 5 days and finally the weekend is here and you can exhale at last.
Have you ever watched a film when the actor goes underwater and swims however inhumanly far on one breath but you hold your breath with them to see if it’s possible? I know I have and so has Phil, you gasp that breath in filling your lungs with air ready and then report ‘no way a normal person could do that normally, although I was close that time!’
When God formed mankind, He used dirt from the earth, sculpted His design and then breathed into its nostrils giving His new creation life. Man walked with God in the gardens exchanging thoughts, feelings and breath. The constant breathing in and out of each other sharing that life giving breath.
Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
Genesis 2:7 NLT
I think our spiritual self is often holding its breath, waiting to exhale before breathing in God’s presence. We skip Sunday to Sunday on minimal air, word, interaction with our Father, forgetting that we need to breathe Him in consistently, habitually, instinctively. We are in danger of starving our spiritual self of the very thing it needs the most, the breath of God.
Breathe on me breath of God,
Love and life that makes me free
Breathe on breath of God
Fan the flame within me
Teach my heart, Heal my soul
Speak the mind, That in Christ we know
take me to your sanctuary
Breathe on me
Speak to me voice of God
Soft and still inside my heart
Speak to me Word of God
Comfort, heal, restore with light
There are so many legitimate distractions holding us back from what God has called each of us to do. We busy ourselves with being busy. Yes you can argue validity for every thing you have filled your time with but ask yourself whether any of these things causes you to breathe deeply or hold your breath? When we walk the path God has called us to He renews our strength, He fills our lungs with the kinetic energy to achieve what He desires us to accomplish. If we are holding our breath, are we really operating in His anointing or are we in our own strength? If the latter is the case then it is time to be still, to listen for His voice, soft and still inside our heart, to fill our spiritual self with His word and take refuge in His sanctuary.
Stop holding your breath between services. Surrender your heart to Him. Allow Him to speak His truth into your heart, to guide you, comfort and heal you. Drop some of the busy-ness of your week and set aside time to dwell in His sanctuary, to breathe Him deeply within your soul, to wash over you and fan the flames of passion with in your very being.
Stop.
Be still.
Breathe.
Sophie x
<a href=”https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/18798063/?claim=9ehufz9v76e”>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>
