Good Morning, Afternoon or Evening!
We have been talking the last few times about success and just wanted to share with you some more on what the Lord has been teaching me in regards to this subject and different things to think about through scripture and what it presents on this topic. I will really be focusing on a neat research that I have been doing with the breath of the Lord and Scripture and success in this life.
So! Lets dive right in.
Joshua 1:7-8
7 “Above all, be strong and very courageous to carefully observe the whole instruction My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go. This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to recite it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.”
-> According to this passage, success is carefully observing the whole instruction of the word! All of the instruction form the Lord. Not just the parts that are easy to do. And not just the parts that you feel like doing. But all of them! To think about them. To recite them and memorize them. And to do them! Morning, afternoon, evening, middle of the night… Weekdays, weekends, holidays. During peaceful times, wartime, plagues, disease, pandemics, natural disasters, hardships… anything and everything in all seasons to carefully observe the whole instruction!
->Just a reminder again on a passage I have talked about many times in regards to what scripture is in our life.
Deuteronomy 32:47
“For they are not meaningless words to you but they are your life, and by them you will love long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
->So the Bible is not just the book on how to live, or stories about people that lived a long time ago that we can learn lessons from. This book IS your life. This book IS life. It is really kinda crazy to think about. I have been thinking about this through some study in how often the Bible talks about… um… God’s nostrils… seriously! It does it quite a bit actually. And how out of His nostrils comes His breath. And His breath is what gives our entire person and all life on earth and in the heavens life! Here is scripture to back up what I am saying…
2 Timothy 3:16-17
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
*Other translations for inspired state: God-breathed, breathed out by God.
So! The Bible is the breath of God! And then, check this out!
Genesis 2:7
“Then the LORD God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils and the man became a living being.”
->God literally breathed on dirt and boom! We have life! Scripture is God’s breath. God’s words that He breathed out. We have God’s breath in our bodies which is what keeps us alive. Job was actually written even before Genesis was by Moses and check out what Elihu said in Job!
Job 33:4
“The Spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty
gives me life.”
And then this! Check this out!
John 20:22
“After saying this, He [Jesus] breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
->Jesus right before He left to prepare a place for us in Heaven… Breathed on his disciples and gave them the Holy Spirit, which is the full, complete, 100% presence, life blood of the Lord Himself!
Nehemiah 9:6
“You alone are the LORD
and you created the heavens,
the highest heavens with all
their host,
the earth and all that is on it,
the seas and all that is in them.
You give life to all of them
and the heavenly host worships
You.”
It is The Lord that gives life to all things and He did that simply by speaking out and extending His breath in words and gave us breath just by His own breath! Its pretty crazy! Here is an amazing story that illustrates, just another instance where the Lords breath and The Lords words do incredible things.
Mark 5:35-43
“While He [Jesus] was still speaking, people came from the synagogue leader’s house and said, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher anymore?”
But when Jesus heard overheard what was said, He told the synagogue leader, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe.” He did not let anyone accompany Him except Peter, James, and John, James’s brother. They came to the leader’s house, and He saw a commotion-people weeping and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.”
They started
laughing at Him, but He put them all outside. He took the child’s father, mother, and those who were with Him, and entered the place where the child was. Then He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”) Immediately the girl got up and began to walk. (She was 12 years old.) At this they were utterly astounded. Then He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this and said that she should be given something to eat.”
->Jesus breathed out and spoke and… brought the girl back to life! And that is exactly what Scripture does to us when we read it and meet in the presence of the Lord of all creation. He is breathing on you and your life is sustained. He is living water. He is our bread of life. He is our life breath! And when the word is in our life and when we pledge our allegiance to the Lord and when we are saved by believing in Jesus, and His word is in our heart, we are fully alive!
->What is truly amazing about this story is that it is in fact… our story for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ! We were dead, and Jesus came to us and he spoke to us and gave us His hand and breathed on us and we have a new life forever in Him! His breath will never run out! The Lord’s Spirit is life!
Romans 8:10-11
“Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you.”
->So, we do not have to be afraid of what happens next, because we have the very breath of the Most High and Righteous God who made all things!
A further and last example that I like to think about and find intently interesting is that when we breathe out… we breathe out Carbon Dioxide. which… if you think about it, is only actually good for plants. If you were left alone in a room that was sealed tight, eventually you would die… Our breath literally brings about death on our own. But when The Lords breathes, it always creates and brings about life! Its absolutely fascinating to think on. And He has breathed on you, and you will forever have life with Him
Psalm 150
“Let everything that breathes
praise the LORD.
Hallelujah!”
->Coincidentally, this is the last verse of the last chapter of Psalms!
So! Lets wrap it up!
- The Bible begins with the Lord speaking and breathing out!
- The prayers and songs to the Lord ends with breathing out songs and prayers to the Lord!
- Jesus ends his ministry on earth by breathing out on His Disciples and giving them the Holy Spirit and you have that now in you when you believe in Jesus!
I also find this verse in Revelation 7:1 particularly fascinating:
“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, restraining the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.”
- It is as if God commands his breath to be taken from the earth in the end days! The Bible even ends with passages about wind and God’s breath and life and his taking of it!
-> So, one can only be truly prosperous in the Lord’s eyes when you have His breath in you and around you and you are in turn, speaking out His words and when your breath is like His breath. Pretty crazy right?
And so, I will end with this which we will take a deeper look at next time we meet:
And Jesus at the end of Revelation 22:12 says:
“Look! I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me to repay each person according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
Jesus talks about what we have… done. This is a pretty interesting albeit, scary thought if you really think about it… Jesus knows what we do, and He will repay it. Is this a good thing? A bad thing? What should I be doing? I thought that success was simply just reading and having faith and believing?
We will talk about this more! Until then, I leave you with this…
-> We are setting a date for next week for Joy to get induced so that she can give birth to our daughter and I will be there with her as we experience Kinley’s first breath on this earth! Be praying for us and for Joy and Kinley’s safety during all of this. Even with all the medicine we have, giving birth is still really hard and scary! May the Lord continually breathe on all of us during this time and may you grow closer to Him and closer to one another in all things that are good, perfect and pleasing in His will.
Love you guys and miss you!
Mr. Matt