The Breath of God
John 20:21-22 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace is unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so, send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
God chose to make Man in His image, and to follow this molding of self-imagery, He released breath into humanity. Molding made the Man. Breath gave him life. For only following Heaven’s exhale could Man inhale for the first time. It is fundamental then to not overlook an essential reality: the first man could not receive breath until God released it. The human race found life through the provision of God’s Spirit.
Thousands of years after this installation of mankind on earth, the Heavenly Father wrapped His Son, Jesus Christ, in the flesh of man and sent him to live among the human race. Amazingly, Jesus was rejected, reviled, and ultimately slaughtered by the original creation, Man. But after being placed in a tomb, dead in body, Jesus was resurrected by God’s Spirit; The Holy Spirit. And, post-resurrection, Jesus once again departed Earth for Heaven.
Interestingly, in the storyline of Jesus’ departure, we see an exciting event. Following Resurrection from death, Jesus called His disciples near -- and mimicking his Father’s encounter with a formed, but lifeless Adam -- God’s Son breathed on His closest followers.
In humanity’s original development, God made Man in his image to work the earth’s soil and care for it. Likewise, Jesus crafted disciples into his image to work the earth’s population and care for it. But, just like the temporal aspect of the first man, the spiritual side of the disciples could not live until they had also received the breath of God. It is then in the full context of Scriptures that we learn God’s breath, through Jesus, is released to each of us through the empowerment of God’s word and infilling of the Holy Spirit.
It is essential to consider this reality: if you are trying to live life or do ministry without God’s breath – the Spirit of God – then you will perpetually feel like a fish out of water. But, you do not have to live life from a state of spiritual suffocation. Surrender every aspect of your human existence to God and receive into your life the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead! Invite Heaven to exhale so that you might inhale: power, love, and a sound mind! Your ministry’s resuscitation is one prayerful act of surrender away.