SPIRITUAL BREATHING

In this third post in the discipleship series, we will talk about hearing from God and obeying what we hear.
Breathing is life. We breathe in. We breathe out. Life.
Breathing is just as important in God’s Kingdom.
In fact, God calls His Spirit - “breath”.

In the Kingdom, we breathe IN when we HEAR from God.

• We breathe in when we HEAR from God through HIS WORD - the Bible.
• We breathe in when we HEAR from God through PRAYER - our conversations with Him.
• We breathe in when we HEAR from God through HIS BODY - the church, other followers of Jesus.
• We breathe in when we HEAR from God through HIS WORKS - the events, experiences and sometimes even the persecutions and sufferings He allows His children to go through.

In the Kingdom, we breathe OUT when we ACT on what we hear from God. We breathe OUT when we OBEY.

Sometimes breathing out to OBEY means changing our thoughts, our words or our actions to align them with Jesus and His will.

Sometimes breathing out to OBEY means sharing what Jesus has shared with us - giving away what He gave us - so that others can be blessed just as God is blessing us.

For a follower of Jesus - this breathing IN and breathing OUT is critical. It’s our very life. And it is the way to move from being hearers of the Word only to being doers of the Word (Matthew 7:24-27).

Jesus said - the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does (John 5:19).

Jesus said - I don't speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it.

Jesus said that every word He spoke and every work He accomplished was based on HEARING from God and OBEYING what He heard.

Breathe IN - Hear from God.

Breathe OUT - Obey what you hear and share it with others.

Jesus said that His followers would also hear from God because of His Holy Spirit - His Breath - that would be breathed into every one of us who follows Him.

Jesus said - the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything that I have told you.

Breathe IN - Hear from God.

Breathe OUT - Obey what you hear and share it with others.

Jesus was showing us how to live.

So how do we hear God’s voice? How do we know what to obey?
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Jesus called Himself “The Good Shepherd”. Jesus called His followers His “sheep”.

Jesus said - My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

Jesus said - Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.

As followers of Jesus, we have to be committed to hearing His voice.

• We HEAR His voice by being still.
• We HEAR His voice by focusing on Jesus.
• We HEAR His voice in our thoughts, our visions, our feelings and impressions.
• We HEAR His voice when we write down and test what we hear.

Not every voice, not every thought, not every vision, feeling or impression is God’s voice. Sometimes it is the voice of the enemy. Jesus said our enemy is a liar and the father of lies. Jesus said our enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy.

But God says that we WILL hear from Him and we will know it is Him when He speaks.
With practice and prayer, we can know God’s voice better. We can learn to know whether what we hear is from God or another voice.

Here are some ways to test what we hear:

• When Jesus speaks - His voice will always be consistent with what His Written Word – The Bible - has already told us. His spoken voice will never contradict His written voice.
• When Jesus speaks - His voice will give our hearts a sense of hope and peace. His voice will not leave us condemned or discouraged. Jesus does not condemn. Jesus corrects in love.
• Jesus’s voice will not express the works of the flesh - sexual immorality and impurity, debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred and discord, jealousy and fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness and orgies. These things are not from God’s voice.
• When Jesus speaks - His voice will express the fruit of God’s Spirit - love and joy, peace and patience, kindness and goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
• When Jesus speaks - His voice gives us a sense of confidence instead of doubt. We experience inside ourselves a knowledge and peace that what we’re hearing is from God. We may not hear everything at once. We may hear only part of what we eventually will need to know. But what we hear will be solid - not shifting or changing.

​The good news for every follower of Jesus is that when we breathe IN and HEAR from God and when we breathe OUT and OBEY what we hear and SHARE with others what we’ve heard – God will speak even more clearly.

His breath will breathe through us even more.
We will HEAR His voice more clearly.
We will KNOW His voice and not another’s.
We will SEE His work in the world and be able to join in and work with Him.
We breathe in. We breathe out. Life.

Consider these questions…

1. Why is it essential to learn to hear and recognize God's voice?
2. Is hearing and responding to the Lord really like breathing? Why or why not?

​Drop your answers and thoughts into the comments below. We would love to hear your thoughts on spiritual breathing.