Deep Breathing: Opening the Doors to the Presence of God
When I was little, we used to spend our family vacations camping. And I remember one summer, a bunch of us kids were swimming and playing in the lake at the campground. There was a cable that created a boundary for the swim area. And we would all climb up on that cable and bounce up and down and dive from it. But I remember one time that I slipped off the cable and my long hair got tangled all around the cable, and underwater I went. The worst part was I got trapped in that cable in that tangle of hair, and I could not get air. My friends were totally unaware that I was drowning, and they kept right on bouncing. Finally, I caught enough air to scream and they stopped. There’s so many life lessons in that experience.
Do you ever feel, friend, like your life is so tangled up and that you’re basically drowning, but nobody seems to know it?
Nobody sees you struggling for breath?
This week on Permission to Pause I am sharing my most popular podcast episode–it’s about BREATHING!!
We read in Genesis that God breathes life into the nostrils of the very first man, Adam. And we’ve just read in the book of Job affirming that we’ve all been created by God’s spirit and that the breath of the Almighty gives us life. Job 33:4 reminds us, there is power in the breath.
The root meaning of the word breath is Ruak, and the translation is moving air. The word breath occurs in the Old Testament about 400 times, and in Hebrew, Ruak hokadesh means the Holy Spirit, the breath of God. The holy breath.
Before Jesus ascended into heaven after his resurrection, he appeared to his disciples and breathed on them and said, “receive the Holy Spirit”.
Breathing has had life giving and rejuvenating effects on mankind since the beginning. We are made in God’s image. We’re made to speak and breathe life just like He does. The Lord designed our bodies to respond favorably to positive words and purposeful breaths.
When we pause and pay attention to our breath, we begin to feel them. We get free of worry. We’re filled with peace, and we’re restored with hope.
The Lord designed our bodies to respond favorably to positive words and purposeful breaths. When we pause and pay attention to our breath, we begin to feel them. We get free of worry. We’re filled with peace, and we’re restored with hope.
