How do you spiritually breathe?

Breathe In:

In the Kingdom, we breathe in when we hear from God through:

HIS WORD - the Bible
PRAYER - our conversations with him
HIS BODY - the church, other followers of Jesus
HIS WORKS - the events, experiences and sometimes even the persecutions and sufferings He allows His children to go through

The good news for every follower of Jesus is that when we breathe IN and HEAR from God and when we breathe OUT and OBEY what we hear and SHARE with others what we’ve heard - God will speak even more clearly.

Breathe Out

In the Kingdom, we breathe OUT when we ACT on what we hear from God. We breathe OUT when we OBEY.

Sometimes breathing out to OBEY means changing our thoughts, our words or our actions to bring them into alignment with Jesus and His will. Sometimes breathing out to OBEY means sharing what Jesus has shared with us - giving away what He gave us - so that others can be blessed just as God is blessing us.

For a follower of Jesus - this breathing IN and breathing OUT is critical. It’s our very life.

Breathing is a miracle we don’t stop to think about very much. In the same amazing way, God has given us as Christians a way to “breathe spiritually” for our spiritual well-being.

But the average Christian does not understand this concept and as a result lives on a spiritual roller coaster, controlling his or her own, life, resulting in frustration. On our own we may at times have a fresh start in life only to lose it again – negative thoughts, angry words, slammed doors…… How could this change?

It could change by learning and applying the concept of spiritual breathing, which is like physical breathing in that:

You “exhale” by confessing your sins as soon as you become aware of it, and claim God’s forgiveness…. And then……
You “inhale” by asking the Holy Spirit to once again control and empower you to help you from returning to that sin.

Usually we don’t give much thought to our physical breathing. But spiritual breathing is something that requires conscious action – a readiness to “exhale”, or confess our sin, and to “inhale”, or trust God to fill us with his Holy Spirit.

Don’t wait to exhale. “Spiritual exhaling” is agreeing with God about our sin, whether in thought or deed, thanking Him for his forgiveness, and expressing a willingness to change our attitudes and actions. The Practice of breathing spiritually aids in developing a God-consciousness, which in turn serves to keep the revived heart spiritually focused and less susceptible to continual sinning.

To inhale spiritually is to claim and receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit by faith. How do you do that? When you first received Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit immediately enters your life, and he never leaves – John 1:12; Colossians 2:9-10; John 14:16-17. We should, “Keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit” – Ephesians 5:18.

Betty says, “It is a continuous, conscious choice I make to walk in the Holy Spirit’s power. Repentance isn’t a one-time thing; it’s giving my life over to God and asking Him to direct my decisions on a moment-by-moment basis” by Stacy W.