The Holy Spirit Prays and Listens Within Us

When we have received the Spirit of Jesus as the breath of God breathing within us - that Spirit creates in us a sacred space where the other can be received and listened to.  The Spirit of Jesus prays in us and listens in us to all who come to us with their sufferings and pains.
-- Henri Nouwen

Lord, don't let me forget that Your Holy Spirit prays and listens within me.
Grateful

The Breath of God Breathing in Us

When we speak about the Holy Spirit, we speak about the breath of God, breathing in us. The Greek word for "spirit" is pneuma, which means "breath." We are seldom aware of our breathing. It is so essential for life that we only think about it when something is wrong with it.The Spirit of God is like our breath. God's Spirit is more intimate to us than we are to ourselves. We might not often be aware of it, but without it we cannot live a "spiritual life." It is the Holy Spirit of God who prays in us, who offers us the gifts of love, forgiveness, kindness, goodness, gentleness, peace, and joy. It is the Holy Spirit who offers us the life that death cannot destroy. Let us always pray: "Come, Holy Spirit, come."
-- Henri Nouwen

Inhale and exhale His Presence and be...
... Grateful

Even Demons Believe There Is Only One God!

(18) Suppose someone disagrees and says, "It is possible to have faith without doing kind deeds."I would answer, "Prove that you have faith without doing kind deeds, and I will prove that I have faith by doing them." (19) You surely believe there is only one God. That's fine. Even demons believe this, and it makes them shake with fear. (20) Does some stupid person want proof that faith without deeds is useless? (21) Well, our ancestor Abraham pleased God by putting his son Isaac on the altar to sacrifice him. (22) Now you see how Abraham's faith and deeds worked together. He proved that his faith was real by what he did. (23) This is what the Scriptures mean by saying, "Abraham had faith in God, and God was pleased with him." That's how Abraham became God's friend. (24) You can now see that we please God by what we do and not only by what we believe. (25) For example, Rahab had been a prostitute. But she pleased God when she welcomed the spies and sent them home by another way. (26) Anyone who doesn't breathe is dead, and faith that doesn't do anything is just as dead! "

-- James 2:18- 26 (CEV)

By Faith! In Faith! (Hebrews 11)

Grateful

God Is Near. Breathe.

(6) Turn to the LORD! He can still be found. Call out to God! He is near. (7) Give up your crooked ways and your evil thoughts. Return to the LORD our God. He will be merciful and forgive your sins.
-- Isaiah 55:6-7 (CEV)

Click here: Michael W Smith - Breathe w/lyrics - YouTube

Holiness Unto The LORD!
Grateful

When God Lives And Breathes In You...

At Pentecost and ever since, the outside God has been all about moving inside every fully devoted believer who will turn from acts of sinning, be cleansed from the attitude of Sin, and will wholeheartedly welcome Him in as Lord. What an inheritance He has offered to those who will belong exclusively to Him -- God's Holy Spirit abiding within!

This powerful passage from Romans 8, is an exclamation point behind the reality of Pentecost. Powerful, indeed:

(9-11) But if God Himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of Him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome Him, in whom He dwells — even though you still experience all the limitations of sin — you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, He'll do the same thing in you that He did in Jesus, bringing you alive to Himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and He does, as surely as He did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With His Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!

(12-14) So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

(15-17) This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who He is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us — an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with Him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with Him!

(18-21) That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
-- Romans 8:9-21 (The Message)

Holiness Unto The LORD!
Grateful

Can We Live Without Revival?

If we can Iive without Revival?
Then we're not where God wants us to be!
-- Leonard Ravenhill

Let's humble ourselves before the Lord, praying and seeking, that is, desperately gasping for Revival with every breath we take. Let's turn from all other deceptive imitations of life-support, and only inhale and exhale God's holy invitation found in 2 Chronicles 7:14 -- yes, indeed, His invitation to breathe, to really live in the realm of Revival for forever and today.

If My People... Will? I Will! -- God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14
Grateful

Breathe Holiness

My conscious, desperate prayer to the Lord for a few days now and my unconscious, desperate prayer for all of my days is seven words from King David's prayer in Psalm 51:11 from The Message Paraphrase of the Holy Bible:

Don't... fail to breathe holiness in me!

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

I Fall To My Knees And Pray...

Today, as "I Fall To My Knees And Pray" I invite you to do the same. Seriously, go ahead right where you are, yes, if you're able and you want to, right now, just physically get on your knees.

Take a few moments just to allow your heart, mind, and soul to spiritually breathe.

Now, let's pray together the Apostle Paul's prayer from Ephesians 3:14-19 (NLT). I will pray the prayer for you and you pray it for me. It is really a prayer of blessing:

(14) When I think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, (15) the Creator of everything in Heaven and on earth. (16) I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will give you mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit. (17) And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in Him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. (18) And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is. (19) May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Every Moment of Your Life is Sacred

These precious thoughts came to my mind yesterday during a quiet time -- true gifts of inspiration from God's Holy perspective to my human thinking. I bless you with the same precious thoughts today:

Your life is a sacrament -- a sacred moment before your Eternal God. Yes, every moment of your entire life is sacred to Him! Every breath you breathe is beautiful before your Holy God.

Don't compartmentalize your life between what's sacred and what you might consider to be something other than sacred -- your whole life is sacred. -- a James Spruill paraphrase

Psalm 139:3, 16-18 (NLT) -- (3) You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am. (16) You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. (17) How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable! (18) I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up in the morning, you are still with me!

Nehemiah 8:10b (NLT) -- This is a sacred day before our LORD. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the LORD is your strength!

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Just Breathe

For me, the most wonderful 24 hours of each year's calendar happens between midnight Christmas Eve, December 24, and midnight Christmas Day, December 25. It's true. For as long as I can remember, the most holy, predictable moments in my life have miraculously transpired like clockwork each and every year on that one Divine Day of the year that we officially celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus. It's a holy high-water mark on planet earth for my eternal soul.

And that's why I was still awake in our living room at 1:30 a.m. on December 26, not wanting Christmas Day 2009 to slip away (even though in reality it already had). Sitting in the glow of our Christmas tree with Christmas music still playing softly in the atmosphere, I finally decided to just breathe this prayer: Lord, please keep Christmas alive in me for these next 364 days.. and beyond.

ALL... JOY TO YOUR WORLD!
Grateful

The Name of Jesus

From a prison cell the Apostle Paul penned these words in his "Book of Joy" -- Phillipians 2:10-11 (NIV): ...that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

And in Romans 14:11, these words are given to us from the same Apostles pen: "'As I live and breathe,’ God says, every knee will bow before me; Every tongue will tell the honest truth that I and only I am God.’" (The Message)

Yes, one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. I choose to kneel and confess this day and everyday day-after-day until That Day.

The Name of Jesus has taken on a whole new power in my life this week. The lyrics of this old hymn make great poetry to pray. I invite you to join me in praying in Jesus' name:

Take the Name of Jesus with you, Child of sorrow and of woe,
It will joy and comfort give you; Take it then, wherever you go.

Precious Name, O how sweet! Hope of earth and joy of heaven.
Precious Name, O how sweet! Hope of earth and joy of heaven.

Take the Name of Jesus ever, As a shield from every snare;
If temptations round you gather, Breathe that Holy Name in prayer.

O the precious Name of Jesus! How it thrills our souls with joy,
When His loving arms receive us, And His songs our tongues employ!

At the Name of Jesus bowing, Falling prostrate at His feet,
King of kings in Heaven we'll crown Him, When our journey is complete.

ALL... JOY TO YOUR WORLD!
Grateful

Breathe Proverbs 3:5-6

Proverbs 3:5-6 has been an especially inviting passage for my seeking soul over the years and over these past few days it's really been calling my name aloud. So here's a prescription if you need some good medicine from God's Word for your soul:

Read Proverbs 3:5-6.
Pray Proverbs 3:5-6.
Obey Proverbs 3:5-6.
Inhale Proverbs 3:5-6.
Exhale Proverbs 3:5-6.

Proverbs 3:5-6 -- Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

ALL JOY!
Grateful