Thursday 11 March 2021

The Breath of God

 Scripture: Genesis 2 v 7 - 8: "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 

8  And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed."

John 20 v 20 - 23: "And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
22  And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
23  Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained."

Let us consider that the breath God blew into Adam's nostrils to make him a living soul, is continued to this day and is the first breath we take when we are born.  When our breath stops it means our life has ended and our soul has returned to God.

In the beginning God said, Let us make man in our image.  He spoke the Word, and His Son created and made visible that which the Father desired to see.

Colossians 1 v 13 - 18: "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 
14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence."

Jesus is the image of the invisible God.  He told His disciples, If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.  In another place He said that He is only doing what He has seen the Father do.  Jesus is the ultimate breath of fresh air ever to come upon the world.

When we sing songs of worship, pray to our Father, preach the gospel or minister words of comfort to the afflicted, it is the breath of God going forth from us to glorify Him.

James 3 v 6 - 10: "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. 
7  For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: 
8  But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9  Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
10  Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be."

Let us drink of the Living Water of Jesus to put out the fire on our tongues that poisons our lives and our worship of God.  Let us cool the tainted breath that gossips, criticises, judges, condemns, lies, argues, fights, confuses, curses and rejects truth.  Let us use the breath God gave us to change ourselves and those around us for the better.  

His breath is our spirit, which was dead in sin before we were conceived.  He gave us life in human form by breathing His very life into us.  He breathed life into the body of Jesus in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea bringing about the resurrection miracle.  We were in Jesus on the Cross, in the Tomb, in His resurrection, in His ascension and we are seated with Him in heavenly places.  Let us begin to believe it and act upon it in a meaningful way.

Our God-given breath must be used to forgive, repent, encourage, love, comfort, thank and praise those around us and to worship God in Spirit and truth.  We need to control our temperament, angry words, harsh responses and false accusations.  We must think before we speak, and rid our minds of flash judgments before we voice them and cause damage.  We must be responsible and accountable for our words and actions.  Blaming others to attempt damage control is unacceptable.

Exodus 20 v 5: "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;"

If there is a history of generational problems, diseases, miscarriages, untimely deaths in our families, we should seek the Lord to break these unknown spiritual problems and set our families free.

He is faithful because Jesus made provision for our release on the Cross.  He said we must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.  We must believe He has broken the chains, and we must overcome our own mindset that cannot easily grasp that freedom.

He breathed the Holy Spirit upon His disciples yet they still had to be baptized in the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room  ten days after His ascension.  These are two very different experiences.  When Jesus breathed on them it gave them spiritual authority to forgive sins, and must have been what He was given by His Father.  When a Pharisee accused Him of blasphemy when He healed the lame man let down through the roof, He responded, Is it easier to say your sins are forgiven than to say get up and walk?  And the lame man was healed and walked!

We receive the Holy Spirit when we are born again of water and the Spirit in John 3 v 3 - 7: "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 
4  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."

Then in Acts 2 v 1 - 4: "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."

The first encounter with the Holy Spirit was the breath of Jesus upon them so that they could be born again because He was now resurrected.  The second was a total infilling of the Holy Spirit to empower them to speak in tongues, do miracles, heal the sick, preach the gospel, cast out demons and raise the dead.  This came in another breath from God that sounded like a mighty rushing wind!  

The Holy Spirit is with us today and His presence and gifts are as needful today as they were on the Feast of Pentecost.  The disciples of Jesus must be empowered by the Holy Ghost to achieve the goals and do the acts that glorify the Lord.  There are some Christians who reject the gifts as unnecessary and they are wrong.  They even call speaking or praying in tongues, devilish!  They must realise that Jesus said when people called His ministry of deliverance the work of demons they were guilty of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.  This is a sin, the only sin, that can never be forgiven.

As long as we have God's breath in us we have enough faith to believe in Him for salvation.  We hear of many famous people who were not long ago very far from God, yet suddenly they are proclaiming from the rooftops the mighty name of Jesus Christ.  Some are singers using His breath to glorify Him in songs.

Do you know that stars and planets throughout the Universe have a sound.  When it is captured and put together it sounds like a symphony of praise.  The sound coming from our Earth in this universal chorus is of trumpets.  God's breath is blowing trumpets as the King is coming soon.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father we are as close to You as the breath we breathe for a lifetime.  Even our planet trumpets in Your honour. Let us use every breath to praise, worship, share, sing to make You known to those who are wasting their breath on vanities.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.