Breath of Life

Not long ago, I was teaching the respiratory system of the human body in my AP Biology class. We discussed the difference between oxygen rich blood in our arteries and oxygen deficient blood in our veins. We talked about the process of blood picking up oxygen in the lungs and dumping off carbon dioxide for us to breathe out. One of my students asked the question about CPR. They questioned why do we breathe into their mouth, if what we breathe out has little oxygen. Why would that not do more damage than good. I explained that even when we breathe out, there is still oxygen, albeit a very small amount, but it is still there. And that is better than nothing at all. This got me to thinking about God's breathing. And I did a little research and this is what I found.

Genesis 2:7
"Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

God breathed life into Adam. God formed Adam from dust. He formed everything that would be needed to live, and then gave him the "breath of life." He caused air to move into his body, so that he could live. There are two main ways, I think, that you could teach this breath of life. One, you could talk about the physical. Without a good supply of oxygen, we would cease to exist. We would be nothing more than flesh and bone with no life. We can see this example in Ezekiel in the vision that was given to him from God.

Ezekiel 37:1-10
"The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.” Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.’ Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the LORD.’” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.”’” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army."

The second way we could view this is in a spiritual since. You see, God does not only breathe a physical life into us, but He can also send a spiritual one as well. This is best seen on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 2:1-4
"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance."

On that day, God fulfilled a promise that He would send a Helper to the disciples. That helper was the Holy Spirit. It gave them power and utterance to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It provides us with that same power. When we are born again, God sends the Holy Spirit to us as well. It helps us. It guides us. It gives us power, courage, and strength. Without it, we are like Adam before life was breathed into him. Like the valley of dry bones, we are nothing without this breath of life. We walk this earth condemned, guilty, and dead.

John 3:16-18
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Have you received the breath of life? Or are you walking this earth in spiritual death? If that is so, I pray that you seek to know Jesus as your Savior. If you would like, you can click the Plan of Salvation tab at the top of this blog, and it will explain the need we have of Salvation and how to obtain it.

Thanks for reading, and God bless you all this week.

Peace with God

I really love my church. I enjoy the people, the prayer time, and mostly the bible study. Our pastor does a wonderful job of going verse by verse in the scriptures on Sunday nights. We look at what the words means, where else is it used, the grammar of the verse, and so much more. I have learned so much over the years from this kind of study. One of the things that we have looked at lately is having peace with God. I have often heard of people saying that they were going to try to make peace with God before they die. Or they feel at peace with their lives. I want to share with you some of what I learned about how to be at peace with God.

Romans 5:1
"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,"

The only way that we can have peace with God is by justification by faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Another way to put it, unless you are born again, you cannot be at peace with God. Anyone who is not saved is considered to be of the world. Those people that are of the world are considered enemies of God.

James 4:4
"You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

Until we accept His free gift of salvation, we are considered His enemies. But that does not mean that He does not love us still. That does not mean that He will not give us a chance to change. A chance to be at peace with Him.

John 3:16-18
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Christ came into the world for anyone who would choose to accept Him. He saw us lost and hopeless. We were in our sins. We were apart of the world. We were enemies of God. Bust He still loved us enough to die to give us a chance.

Romans 5:6
"For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."

Romans 5:8
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

Romans 5:10
"For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."

But we as Christians accepted the call to not be apart of the world anymore. Thus we obtained peace. Jesus did not come to earth to judge us. He came to save us. The only way we receive judgement is by choosing not to accept Him as Lord and Savior. Thus we choose to be enemies with God.

God's love is truly amazing. It is sometimes hard to believe that He really loves me enough to forgive me of my sins. It is hard to believe that He loved me, even before I choose to submit my life to Him. And I know now that I am at peace with God. Now I still will fail. I will still fall into sin everyday, as is the nature of man. But, because of my submission to God, through my acceptance of His Son Jesus, because I am at peace with God, He is faithful to forgive me.

Are you at peace with God? If not, I pray that you will seek Him today.

Thanks for reading, and God bless you all this week!