Worship

“Great Are You Lord” by All Sons & Daughters

Scripture

“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” -Genesis 2:7

“‘The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.’” -Job 33:4

“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” -Psalm 33:6

“This is what God the Lord says— the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: ‘I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles … .’” -Isaiah 42:5-6

“Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones and say to them, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”’ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them 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 it, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.”’ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.” -Ezekiel 37:4-10

“And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” -John 20:22

The Origin of Our Breath

I just returned from a weekend in Colorado with a dear friend and my oldest daughter with the purpose of hiking a fourteener. For those of you who are new to that term, it’s simply one of 55 mountains in the Colorado Rockies that are 14,000 feet in elevation. We have climbed several and were itching for a little adventure. Little did we know we would be climbing it in snowshoes in May! Before we got started on our adventure, we spent time praying together the night before and asked that the Lord speak to us as we set out. This whole devotional is revelation from this journey up the mountain (which we were unable to summit due to forces of nature outside of our control).

We originate from the moment God spoke us into existence and breathed His breath into our lungs. It was His ruwach, a Hebrew word meaning His very spirit entering us and giving us life. We are entirely dependent on the sustaining breath of God who brings forth life and enables us to walk out our days until breath exits us. He has numbered our days, and He is the One who sustains us to fulfill them and His purposes written over us before the world was formed. Physically we need breath; we would die without it. That doesn’t need any explanation. But what about the daily ruwach of God? Do we understand the depth to which we need that? What does that mean for us in our daily lives when the supernatural breath of God exists in the life of a believer? Are we utterly dependent on His breath to fill our spiritual lungs? That’s the deeper question on the table.

As we hiked up 2,000 feet in elevation to get to the base of the summit, two of us were really struggling to breathe for a number of reasons. My lungs were burning, which was new for me, and I was a bit discouraged, wondering if this was a post-COVID-19 nuance. Nonetheless, we pressed forward in our ascent, and I prayed as we climbed. You don’t realize the joy of breathing until it’s restricted or limited. Dependence on oxygen becomes an awareness we would otherwise not naturally realize.

Living in Divine Dependence

If you reread the Scriptures above, you will see the direct correlation between the inhale and exhale of God and man simultaneously. From creation to the army of bones arising, breath was the conduit to life. When Jesus breathed His Spirit on His disciples, a new form of life emerged in those disciples! It was a spiritual life of power to live out their days in the sustaining life of Christ now deposited deep in them. The breath of God and the Spirit are interchangeable in many of these passages of Scripture. We cannot live without the Spirit of God—His very breath and life in us. But we can learn to go on auto-pilot, independent of our need for Him, until we hit elevations we cannot climb. Then all of a sudden, we recognize our need for Him. But what if we learned to live in utter dependence, that unless God fills our spiritual lungs we can’t go on one moment? What if we learned that whether we are climbing or walking at lower elevations, our dependence on His Spirit (His very breath) doesn’t increase or decrease. We are living in the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way regardless of what is required of us. Our dependence on Him becomes constant regardless of life’s demands, Satan’s attacks, and our sanctifying flesh.

There was a time in my life when I was an avid runner, and there was nothing like the feeling of getting into an anaerobic state of breathing where running was effortless. Grace is like that; we run with the Lord, and He carries us. But what about the times we hit an uphill, and the ascent requires more oxygen? Spiritually, the ascent requires more breath of God to praise Him in the pain. Sisters, these are the days and times we reset and recognize that, without Him, we can’t take another step. Without Him, we have no capacity to even praise Him. In Job’s trial and suffering, his friend Elihu said, “‘The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life (Job 33:4).’”

It boils down to this one reality: without the life of Christ, we have nothing. And if we lose it all but have Christ, we have gained everything.

Our lungs are trained and expanded at higher elevations spiritually. He stretches us in the pain, but what happens is our lungs expand to carry even more of the breath of God. His Spirt takes up more residence in us as our spiritual lungs stretch out. We are transformed in the process, and we see and experience the Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit at new heights. Our dependence becomes worship. And the burning in our lungs invites us to an even greater encounter where we are changed forever.

Bringing Life to Others

Beloved, as we set out—full of the Spirit of God, co-missioning with Him to bring the gospel to a broken world—He gives us the ability to take the very breath and life of Jesus to those around us. We can speak and call forth the gold in people. We can prophesy breath to dry bones just like God told Ezekiel to do. Many have had the literal breath knocked out of them in this season. We can be positioned to be used by the Lord to bring people back to life and release the knowledge of the goodness of God even in the midst of their pain.

“Every human being has been marked with God’s breath- the image of God’s Spirit upon that person. We are each created uniquely, and we each reflect different aspects of God’s breath. We distinguish what the breath of God looks, feels, and sounds like in that person. Even when they have had the breath knocked out of them, we can discern the fingerprint of God’s image upon their lives. We can see the life and likeness of God in them even when they do not see it in themselves or act contradictory to it.” -Bob Hazlett, “The Roar”

Jesus blew on His disciples the very Spirit that that would be deposited inside of them. It was on them and in them for the sake of the world! It is true of us, sisters. We need our lungs expanded like never before to carry the very breath of God to a world dying for spiritual oxygen! We need our lungs filled with the atmosphere of Heaven to be released on the Earth. Our words must carry the conviction of worship that have been tried and tested in times of great pain, when we could hardly breathe. But it’s in these redefining moments where we are transformed to rejoice in our utter dependence on the One who gives us life. God invites us to the mountain, just like He did with Moses, Ezekiel, Peter, James, John, and many others. We see Him transfigured. We encounter His power and revelation, and our lungs expand. New songs burst forth in us from the heights of encounter. They become songs of great conviction, even in the tears.

As we descended the mountain, not able to summit because of the sheer cold, storms rolling in, and fierce winds, God was just as real and present and true in our need for Him at high elevations as He was when we were on flat ground. Our dependence on Him shifted because our physical bodies weren’t being stretched. But what came out of that in my spirit is the reality that indeed our spiritual dependence has to remain even if we physically, mentally, or emotionally are not in need. Our dependence on Him can’t shift from moment to moment, trial or rest, joy or pain. That has to be steadfast, and we have to learn to live in dependence and be good with it. The days of self-reliance and self-sufficiency must come to an end. Those days are gone. It’s His breath in our lungs, and we need Him!

A Prayer for Expanded Capacity

Lord, I pray that You would rest Your presence, Your very Spirit, on the women reading this, that they would be carriers of Your presence. As You live Your life in them and come and rest upon them, may the world see these glorious ones who live in dependence on You. I pray for the gift of living in complete reliance on Your Spirit, not in independence and self-sufficiency any longer. Take us to the place where our lungs are burning for Your breath! Expand our lung capacity to carry the very words and atmosphere of Heaven everywhere we exhale and to whomever we speak Your words of life. Lord, I pray for mountain top encounters with You for the women who have set their faces like flint toward You. Will You take them to higher heights and deeper depths, where they are transformed from glory to glory to understand secrets hidden in places You want them to search out? Call them and anoint them to new adventures of ascent so that they can experience new depths of the breath of God to fill their lungs. In the majestic name of Jesus, amen!

A Few Key Notes

• If you’ve ever wondered if God could be speaking through your dreams, join us for a workshop on dream interpretations through a biblical lens led by Kathy Gray, who has studied dream interpretation for 20 years. You can attend in-person or over Zoom. Online registration is now open!

Dates: June 1 and June 8

Time: 7 p.m.

Location: The Hope Center, 2001 W. Plano Parkway, Plano, TX 75075

Cost: $50

• Sign up for an Arise short-term mission team as we share the love of Jesus with the lost and the broken. Training will be available. Apply on East-West’s website.

North America (men and women): August 12-17

Europe (women only): October 2021

• Two new Arise studies will begin this summer! Join in-person or over Zoom as we dive deeper into our identities as children of God and learn to wield the weapons the Lord has given us. Sign up by emailing me at [email protected].

Forged for Battle: Battle Training to Stand Your Ground in a Turbulent World

Led by Patrice Vines

Dates: June 10-July 22

Time: 7 p.m.

Location: Lewisville, Texas

“The Supernatural Ways of Royalty” by Kris Vallotton and Bill Johnson

Led by Julie King

Dates: June 18-July 16

Time: 10-11:15 a.m.

Location: The Hope Center