The Bible is not merely a book written in black and white for us to have some knowledge concerning God and His purpose; rather, the Bible is the word of God, the consolidation of God as light, and in the Bible we can find words that give life if we have a proper attitude and heart.
Many people read the Bible and received knowledge concerning the history of the people of Israel, the Lord Jesus, the prophecies, the beginning of the church, and some good teachings. But when we come to the Word of God with a pure heart and we exercise our spirit to pray over God’s word, mixing the words in the Bible with our prayer in faith, we absorb the riches of God in His word and we are filled with God.
The Bible is an “organic book”, that is, when we read the Bible we receive life, and the things in the Bible are related to life. We should not let ourselves get old by routinely coming to the Bible to merely read it, but we should be fresh and renewed day by day by consecrating ourselves to the Lord afresh and sending tender roots into God through much prayer over His word.
If our root system in Christ is solid and fresh, we will absorb the riches of Christ into our inner being, and we will assimilate God into us; this inward supply of God will nourish us within and enable us to experience God and grow in the divine life. What a blessing!
Today we want to go on and see another blessing we can receive as God’s loving seekers in coming to God’s word: the blessing of inhaling God! Wow, God breathed Himself out in His word (2 Tim. 3:16) and we can breathe Him in to be our constant moment-by-moment supply in our daily life!
Breathing in Christ as the Holy Breath to Live because of Christ
In the Gospel of John there are three wonderful words that describe what the Lord Jesus was: Word, Flesh, and Breath.
First, the Lord Jesus came as the Word of God, the definition, explanation, and expression of God (John 1:1). In Himself God is mysterious, too wonderful and great, and He dwells in unapproachable light; but in Christ God has been expressed, shown forth, and manifested as the Word of God.
In John 1:14 we see that the Word became flesh; flesh may not be a positive thing, but Christ as the Word, the definition and expression of God, has become flesh just like us. He didn’t come in His majesty, glory, and deity, but He came to be a man in the flesh so that He may express God and manifest God in His human living.
In John 20:22, after the Lord Jesus resurrected, He appeared to His disciples and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. Spirit in Greek is breath; the Lord said, Receive the holy breath. The first and foremost thing the Lord Jesus wanted to tell His disciples was that they would breathe in and receive the holy breath. The Word became flesh, and through His death and resurrection He became the holy breath, the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).
Now in this holy breath we have God, man, divinity, humanity, human living, crucifixion, death, and resurrection; everything of Christ with all He passed through is in this breath. And this holy breath is so available: we need to breathe all the time, and the air is everywhere; the Lord has become so available to us as the holy breath – He is like the air, everywhere around us.
We can simply open to the Lord, turn our heart to Him, and exercise our spirit to call on His name and pray-read His word to breathe Him in! When we breathe in Christ as the holy breath, we are supplied with all that God is, all that Christ has passed through, and all that Christ has attained to.
This holy breath is wonderful and all-inclusive, and when we breathe in this heavenly air, we are filled with life! When we breathe in the Lord as the holy breath, we depend on Him, we cling to Him, we take Him in, and we live because of Him (John 6:57).
When we go through difficulties what we really need is not merely a solution to our problem but the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, which supply is in the holy breath! When we have the supply, there are no more problems; rather, for us to live will be Christ, because He as the bountiful supply is inwardly strengthening us. We just need to breathe Him in!
Lord Jesus, thank You for becoming the life-giving Spirit, the holy breath, for us to breathe in and receive all that You are and all that You have accomplished. Lord, we open to You, we call on Your name, and we exercise our spirit to pray over Your word so that we may receive the blessing of inhaling God, breathing God in! Hallelujah, God today is in Christ as the Spirit to be the holy breath, so available, so breathable, and so all-inclusive! Praise the Lord, the bountiful supply of the Spirit is in the holy breath! Lord, we breathe You in right now!
Pray-Reading the Bible to Breathe in God and Inhale God in His Breathed-out Word
All Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16). Every word of the Bible is not merely inspired by God and written by men borne of the Holy Spirit, but it is the breathing out of God. To say that all Scripture is God-breathed is to say that the Bible is the breath, the breathing out of God, who is Spirit.
Because the Bible is the breathing out of God, the Bible has the element of God; we can’t go as far as saying that the Bible is God, but the Bible has the element of God (just as our breath has our own element in it).
Why did God breathe Himself out in His word? It is so that we may breathe Him in and inhale Him through His word. As God’s loving seekers, we need to come to the word of God not merely for knowledge but to breathe God in, inhale God, and absorb God into our being.
We need to prayerfully read the word of God in the Bible so that we may breathe Him in; no matter what verses we may choose to pray-read, if we have a heart turned to the Lord and an exercised spirit, we will inhale God in Christ as the Spirit into our spirit. When God breathes out, He exhales Himself, and when we contact God through the Word, we inhale God.
Wow, what a blessing we have as God’s loving seekers, to inhale God through His word! We should not just open the Bible to look at the letter but open the word of God to inhale God. In order for us to be a man of God with the breath of God, we need to inhale God’s word (John 1:1; 20:22; 2 Tim. 3:16).
The Bible is the breathing out of God. This means that the Bible is not only the words breathed out by God, but is God Himself breathed out in His word. Brothers and sisters, the Bible is the breathing out of God. God breathes Himself out so that we can breathe Him in….The greatest joy or blessing of being a Christian is to touch and taste God Himself through the God-breathed word. (Witness Lee, On Knowing the Bible, pp. 19-21)
We have the privilege to come to the Bible as the Word of God and inhale the breath of God so that we may receive God’s element and be convicted, taught, instructed, and equipped for every good work.
When we breathe in God by exercising our spirit to pray over God’s word, we partake of God’s life and nature (John 1:13; 2 Pet. 1:4) and thus become one with Him in His life and nature (1 Cor. 6:17) to express Him. This is the great mystery of godliness – God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16).
What a joy and what a privilege we have to touch God and taste Him and breathe Him in through the breathed-out word of God!
Oh Lord, thank You for Your breathed-out word which contains Your element. We open to You to breathe You in! Lord, it is our greatest joy and blessing to touch You, taste You, and breathe You in through Your breathed-out word! Amen, Lord, we may not understand how this happens, but we can breathe You in by exercising our spirit to pray-read the breathed-out word of God in the Bible! Lord, we come to Your word as Your loving seekers to enjoy the glorious blessing of breathing You in so that we may become men of God who express God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Dick Taylor’s sharing in the message for this week, and Teachers’ Training, pp. 7-19 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 4 / msg 4, The Blessing Received by God’s loving Seekers through the function of the Word of God.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# All Scripture is the very breath of God, / And by His Spirit into words was breathed; / By godly men the words were written down, / With all God’s fulness unto man bequeathed…. / It is the breath of God for us to breathe, / That as our portion God we may enjoy; / Receiving it by spirits exercised, / Our need is met, His wealth we may employ. (Hymns #799)
# Breathing in the Lord / Is how we live today. / Not by thinking do we live, / But breathing is the way. / We just call “O Lord!” / From very deep within, / And with joy we testify / We’re breathing in of Him. (Song on Breathing in God)
# Reading the Bible— / I love the Word of God! / Every verse reveals Yourself to me, / Every line conveys reality. / When I pray the words that You breathed out / You become so real to me. (Song on Pray-reading the Word)
Amen! The breath breathed out by God, the breathe breathed in by us, his loving seekers. O Lord Jesus, we turn our heart to You, exercising our spirit, setting our mind upon the spirit, which is life and peace, by breathing in, the breathing out of God, to inhale Your word through prayer. Lord, we want to be exercised in our spirit, to take Your word with all prayer, to breath in new life and oneness, that we may live and have life, because of You being the holy breath to us. Thank You Lord Jesus! We are breathing in of Christ, we are breathing in of life. We want to be Your loving seekers, who constantly breathe Your name in prayer and pray-read Your word of life, not nourishes us to live, no longer I but Christ. Hallelujah! Amen.