-----Original Message----- From: Andrew Edgcumbe
Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2011 9:16 AM To: Christians_Today Cc: SeasonsChat Subject: [Christians_Today] breathe in breathe out Breathe In, Breathe Out By Brenda Gittens This week's topic: Examine Yourself What is the one thing we do every day without thinking about it hardly at all? Breathe. And what’s the one thing that we need to breathe with? That one thing is air. There are so many different types of air that we are confronted with on a daily basis. In the natural atmosphere, the air in some places is filled with so many pollutants, toxins, germs and odors. But on the other hand, there are places where we can find fresh, beautiful and clean air too. On a spiritual level, what type of air are you breathing in? Is it the fresh, clean, holy presence of the Lord? Are you breathing in the aroma of His word? Or is it filled with the things that Paul mentioned to the church of Corinth? “For I am afraid that when I come to visit you I won’t like what I find, and then you won’t like my response. I am afraid that I will find quarreling, jealously, outbursts of anger, selfishness, backstabbing, gossip, conceit, and disorderly behavior.” (2 Corinthians 12:20, NLT). When we go for a physical check-up, most of the time the doctor will tell us to “take a deep long breath and then let it out!” They check to see if our breathing and everything associated with it, is operating the way it should be. This is also what the Holy Spirit does for us. The Holy Spirit lives in us so that we can demonstrate all of the fruits of the spirit and become more like Christ, have a consistent prayer life and study of God’s word, have the power to witness to folks, be ready for any spiritual battle, and have the power to say no to all kinds of sin. Spiritual breathing is just like physical breathing. We need it to live and survive our Christian walk. We inhale and we exhale. If we inhale long, deep breaths of the Lord’s presence, his word, his will, his way, his plan, his promises, his love, his joy, his peace, and a long deep prayer life, we will breathe out all of that other stuff that’s causing the air in our spiritual body (temple) to be dirty! We’ll exhale it! The only way that we can keep the air that we breathe from being polluted, is by continuing to ask the Holy Spirit to live in us, and us living by the Spirit’s power. “For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.” (Ephesians 5:8-9, NLT) Breathe in, breathe out. In the natural, we do it because that’s how God made us. In the spiritual, we have to do the same for survival and growth. One thing to remember is that spiritual breathing is voluntary; it’s your choice and all it is, is the process of inhaling what’s pure and clean and exhaling what’s not pure and clean. Scripture Of The Day: “For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.” - Ephesians 5:8-9 (NLT) ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Christians_Today/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Christians_Today/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: christians_today-dig...@yahoogroups.com christians_today-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: christians_today-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/
