Breathing air is something that we don’t even stop to think about how we
do but to expand your thought’s and apply breathing spiritual, that
might even sound like work.
Last night in our journey through 1 Peter, a copy was handed out to the
class from some footnotes with the title of “Spiritual Breathing“. I
found this to be a simple truth that you can apply in your walk every day!
We often find ourselves struggling with heated outburst and filthy
language-and that’s not just the drive to work! The rest of the day can
often reveal the worst in us but God, has not left us to wrestle with
our sins alone. He has given us the pattern of repenting and
believing… like inhaling and exhaling…to energize us to live the
Christian life.
One of the keys to experiencing the joy of effective repentance is spiritual breathing.
Just as physical breathing detoxifies our inner organs, spiritual breathing detoxifies
our spirits. It is God’s way of teaching us to live lives of repentance.
Physical breathing has two parts:
Exhaling impure air and inhaling pure air.
Spiritual breathing also has two parts. As the Holy Spirit uses God’s word to
make us aware of a thought, emotion, or behavior that displeases God, we
need to, “exhale”, to confess the impurity of our sin to God.
Confession means agreeing with God that we have sinned and that we need
to change. (Hosea 6:1, Luke 24:47). That’s the first part.
The second of spiritual breathing is “inhaling”, praying a prayer of
submission to God’s will as defined by the bible. Though this simple,
(but not easy) prayer,we willingly surrender to the Holy Spirit’s
cleansing work in our lives (Eph 4:29-30).
Spiritual breathing is as ordinary and necessary as physical breathing
and it’s God’s way for us to surrender to His will. Stay blessed and use some of that
air to to make more of Him in your life and less of you!
