Saturday, January 30, 2016

The Breath of God

I was recently reading a book and came across an idea (at least the wording of an idea) I hadn't ever really thought about before.

The Spirit of God is closer even than our breath. (my paraphrase)

In order to understand this idea, we have to remember that in the Old Testament the word for Spirit is the same word that also gets translated wind and breath - ruach.  And in the New Testament the word that gets translated Spirit is also the same word that gets translated into wind and breath - pneuma.

Ruach = wind, breath, Spirit

Pneuma = wind, breath, Spirit

So it leads us to consider that even as we breath in and out, the Spirt is also constantly moving within us.

And if you think about what happens physiologically when we breath - every inhale brings in oxygen which gets exchanged with carbon dioxide in our blood through our lungs - our breath doesn't just stay in our lungs, it gets transported to every single corner of our bodies!    Most of the time I just think about my breath coming in and out of my lungs, but this idea of the Spirit of God being even closer than our breath made me realize it actually works its way into every nook and cranny of my whole being!

Which leads me to also realize that this happens all the time without me even having to think about it! I don't ever have to think about breathing.  It's not as if it's a conscious reality on my part.  Even as I have been wring these ideas and thinking about breathing, I haven't been aware that I am just sitting here breathing (until right now while I am actually thinking about it, but I'm not saying, "breath...breath...breath...").

I want to be a person who is allowing the very Breath of God to flow into every nook and cranny of my life without me ever having to think about it!  It's as natural as breathing and it doesn't just go part of the way in - it permeates all the way to the very core of my being.

May the Spirit of God be closer than my breath!

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