All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for us so that we may be equipped and perfected for every good work; we need to inhale God as we read the Bible to receive life, and we need to exhale God as we speak to others to impart life to them. Amen!
This is the only way that God’s purpose can be accomplished. What God is after is not a bunch of good men or even a group of good Christians; He wants to gain a group of God-men who are filled with God.
God wants to gain many men of God who are filled with the breath of God, that is, filled with God as life.
For this, He created us in a particular way; we are not created like any other creature – we’re in God’s image, according to His likeness, and we have a spirit.
The animals are all created according to their kind, but we are created according to God’s kind.
And God put in us a spirit; there is a spirit in man, and there is a deeper, inner seeking in each person to know God and enjoy God. This is on our side.
On His side, God did everything that was necessary for Him to come into us and be joined with us, even to be one with us.
Though men fell and became one with Satan, even having Satan, sin, and death in his flesh as the unwanted permanent dwellers, God Himself became man.
God became man, coming in the likeness of the flesh of sin but without sin, and He died on the cross for us both to redeem us and to destroy the devil, annul death, and condemn sin in the flesh.
Furthermore, in His resurrection Christ became “another Comforter“, of which He spoke in John 14-16; He became the Spirit.
The last Adam – Christ in the flesh – became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).
Hallelujah! Now He comes to us to be received by us.
Whoever hears the gospel and opens to the Lord receives the Spirit. On the evening of the day of His resurrection, the Lord Jesus came among His disciples and breathed into them, asking them to receive the Holy Spirit (the holy breath).
Wow, Christ now is not only the glorified God-man who is enthroned in the heavens, being everywhere and over everything, but He is also as available as our breath!
As long as we are on the earth, we breathe, for air is everywhere; Christ is the real spiritual air that we breathe.
And we breathe Him in by calling on His name and by praying over His word.
Today we want to see how the Lord Jesus as the living Word of God is embodied in the written word of God, and we can come to God’s word to inhale God so that we may exhale God as we speak to others to minister life to them. Wow, Hallelujah!
Being a Fully Equipped Man of God with the Breath of God by Exercising our Spirit to Receive the Spirit by Breathing in God’s Word
![But you, continue in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from which ones you have learned [them] And that from a babe you have known the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 2 Tim. 3:14-16](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/But-you-continue-in-the-things-which-you-have-learned-and-have-been-assured-of-knowing-from-which-ones-you-have-learned-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "But you, continue in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from which ones you have learned [them] And that from a babe you have known the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 2 Tim. 3:14-16")
2 Tim. 3:16 says that all Scripture is God-breathed; the Scripture is not just the word of God but the breathing out of God.
This indicates that the entire word of God is the breathing out of God.
If we want to know God, we need to come to His word. Even more, if we want to be infused with God and receive Him into us, we need to come to His word.
The Lord said to His disciples that it is the Spirit who gives life, and His words, the words that He speaks to us, are spirit and are life (John 6:63).
The word for spirit is the same as for breath. He has become our breath.
He breathed Himself out in the Scriptures, and we need to be the men of God fully equipped by breathing in God’s word through the exercise of our spirit.
God’s speaking is God’s breathing out; hence, His word is spirit, or breath.
Especially in this age of the degradation of the church, as the churches and the saints turn away from God’s original intention and His eternal purpose, we need to not only know and lay hold of the eternal life (2 Tim. 1) and the truth (ch. 2) but even more, partake of the breathed-out word of God.
Because of all the confusion around us and all the uncertainty going on, we need to come to the Word of God knowing that it is the breathing out of God.
All Scripture is God-breathed. In the midst of all the disorder, confusion, and degradation we need to know that the divine Scriptures, the holy Word of God, is the breathing out of God.
This dispels the confusion, for we have not just a set of teachings and doctrines in God’s word but even more, we have the breathing out of God.
We need to exercise our spirit to come to God’s word not only to read it so that we understand it or appreciate it but even more, to breathe in the breathed-out God. Amen!
A fully equipped man of God with the breath of God requires the exercise of our spirit, the continual receiving of the Spirit, and the breathing in of God’s word (1 Tim. 4:7; Gal. 3:2; Eph. 6:17- 18a).
We want to be the man of God with the breath of God to stand against the degradation of the church and be taken by the Lord at His return.
For this, we need to be filled with the breath of God by exercising our spirit to receive the Spirit continually and breathe in the word of God. Amen!
Praise the Lord, we have a human spirit, and whenever we come to God’s word, we need to come to breathe in the Lord.
We should never stop exercising our spirit. We should not rush our time of reading the Bible, just trying to get through the portion at hand and finish our Bible reading according to the schedule.
We need to never grow weary of receiving and enjoying the pneumatic Christ in His word.
Day by day we need to exercise our spirit and learn to breathe the Lord in through His word.
The Lord has breathed Himself out in His word, and we come to His word with the exercise of our spirit to breathe Him in.
As the embodiment of God the Spirit, the Word of God is the embodiment of Christ.
Just as phosphorus is the essential substance in matches, so the Spirit is the essence, the substance of the Scripture.
We must “strike the Spirit” of the Scripture with our spirit to kindle and catch the divine fire.
Christ is the living word of God (Rev. 19:13), and the Scripture is God’s written word (Matt. 4:4).
When we come to God’s written word, we need to exercise our spirit to have the continual receiving of the Spirit and the breathing in of God’s word.
May we learn how to do this in our personal life, day by day, with the Lord.
And may we continue breathing the Lord with the saints in the meetings of the church.
Lord Jesus, cause us to see that all Scripture is God-breathed. May we realize that the Bible is not just God’s word to us and His love letter to humanity but even more, it is the breathing out of God! Hallelujah, God has breathed Himself out in His word! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to breathe You in as we come to Your word. We want to be a man of God with the breath of God today. We breathe ourselves out, we open to You, and we exercise our spirit as we come to Your word. Amen, Lord, we want to continually receive the Spirit! We exercise to breathe in the word of God by means of all prayer and petition! Amen, Lord, we do not want to stop exercising our spirit! We want to learn day by day to breathe God in through His word. Speak to us in Your word. May Your word become spirit and life to us. Make Your word living and operative to us and in us. Yes, Lord, we want to “strike the word” with our spirit to catch the divine fire in God’s word!
Inhale God as we Read the Bible and Exhale Him as we Speak to others to Minister Life
We need to be revolutionized in our reading of the Bible.
The Bible is not a newspaper or a doctorate paper; the Bible is the word of God, even the breathing out of God.
When we come to the Bible, we need to come in a particular way. We can read books from cover to cover in a routine way, but the Word of God is different.
Eph. 6:17-18 says that we need to receive the word of God by means of all prayer and petition.
Because the word of God is God-breathed, even the breathing out of God, we need to exercise our spirit to breathe God in as we come to the Word.
![This only I wish to learn from you, Did you receive the Spirit out of the works of law or out of the hearing of faith? Gal. 3:2 But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word. Acts 6:4 Who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, [ministers] not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Cor. 3:6](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/This-only-I-wish-to-learn-from-you-Did-you-receive-the-Spirit-out-of-the-works-of-law-or-out-of-the-hearing-of-faith-Gal-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "This only I wish to learn from you, Did you receive the Spirit out of the works of law or out of the hearing of faith? Gal. 3:2 But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word. Acts 6:4 Who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, [ministers] not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Cor. 3:6")
God has breathed Himself out in the Scriptures, and our reading of the Bible should be to receive and breathe in the breath of God. Amen!
God breathed out – He exhaled Himself in His word. What is embodied and hidden in the Word is Spirit, the very Spirit of God.
When we come to the Word of God, we need to not only read it with our eyes and understand it with our mind but even more, exercise our spirit to inhale God.
We need to inhale God as we read the Bible and then exhale Him as we speak to others to minister life to them. Amen!
Our reading of the Bible should be our inhaling of God to receive life; our teaching or speaking of the Bible should be our exhaling of God to impart life (Acts 6:4). Amen!
We need to practice this in our daily life and in our church life. We may not be teachers of the Word of God but we all have a spirit and we have the Bible in our hands.
We need to come to the Lord’s word with the exercise of our spirit to inhale God as we read the Bible, and then we need to exhale God as we meet others and speak something of God to them.
How can we inhale God in the Bible? How can we inhale God as we come to the word of God?
We need to find the way to inhale God as we come to His word day by day.
There’s no set form or practice, nor is there a routine or ordinance.
We simply need to exercise our spirit and pray over God’s word. Much prayer needs to be mixed with God’s word; we need to exercise our spirit to inhale God in His word.
All Scripture is God-breathed; we may not understand every word or even agree with some of the things in it, but if we exercise our spirit to inhale God as we read the Bible, we will be filled with the breath of God.
We will be men of God with the breath of God.
There should be a great difference between the way we read the Bible today and the way the world reads it.
Even more, there should be a great difference between the way we read the Bible in the church life and the way Christians read the Bible.
We do not just read the Bible to get teachings, doctrines, and inspiration; we constantly humble ourselves before the Lord, open to Him, and look to Him for light, wisdom, vision, and revelation.
We do not assume we know and understand; we freshly exercise our spirit to contact the Lord in His word, and we want to inhale God.
Our primary objective in coming to God’s word is to inhale God. We want to be filled with God.
![And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which [Spirit] is the word of God, By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints. Eph. 6:17-18](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/And-receive-the-helmet-of-salvation-and-the-sword-of-the-Spirit-which-Spirit-is-the-word-of-God-2-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which [Spirit] is the word of God, By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints. Eph. 6:17-18")
Therefore, we come to the Word of God in the way of life, light, and the Spirit.
We exercise our spirit. We open to the Lord’s shining.
And we want to receive more life in the Word. We do not routinely read the Bible nor do we merely read the verses we like.
We simply exercise our spirit to breathe in the breathed-out word of God. We pray over the word.
We mix the word with our prayer, consideration, inner speaking, musing, and praising and singing.
We want to inhale God in His word.
Then, when we speak to others, we don’t merely impart some doctrines or sound teachings into them; we exhale the God whom we have enjoyed and inhaled by our reading of the Word.
The way we read the Bible is by breathing in the Lord through His word.
We want to touch Him as life. And when we speak, we exhale the Lord as the living word into others.
A fully equipped man of God reads the Bible by means of all prayer and petition in the spirit to inhale God and ministers the word as the Spirit to exhale God into others (Eph. 6:17-18; Acts 6:10; 2 Cor. 3:6).
May we open to the Lord concerning this so that we may practice this in our daily life. This will revolutionize our reading of the Bible and our speaking of God’s word.
Lord Jesus, we come to You in Your word to enjoy You and be filled with You. Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to inhale God in our prayerful reading of the word of God! Fill us with Yourself. We don’t want to merely gain more knowledge or obtain more doctrines as we read the Bible. We want to be filled with God! Hallelujah, it is the Spirit who gives life, and the Spirit is embodied in the Word of God. Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit as we come to Your word to breathe You in. We want to touch the word of God in the way of life. May we be the men of God who are fully equipped by reading the Bible by means of all prayer and petition in the spirit to inhale God! Amen, Lord, may we be those who inhale God in the Word of God and minister the Word as the Spirit to exhale God into others! Hallelujah, we can breathe God in and we can also minister Him as the breath of life to others in our speaking! May there be much inhaling and exhaling as we read the Bible! Amen, Lord, uplift and even revolutionize our reading of the Bible!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1984, vol. 1, “Teachers’ Training,” ch. 1, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Being a Vessel unto Honor, a Fully Equipped Man of God, by being Empowered in the Grace which is in Christ Jesus to Fully Accomplish our Ministry in the Unique Ministry of God’s Economy (2024 April ITERO), week 5, Being a Fully Equipped Man of God by Inhaling and Exhaling the Word of God as the Breath of God.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– Touching the Divine Concept in the Bible by Exercising Our Spirit When Coming to the Bible, via, Living to Him.
– The Scripture – All God-breathed, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon, Chapter 18, by Witness Lee.
– Does the Ministry Replace the Bible? More via, Shepherding Words.
– Death, Resurrection, Newness, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– Knowing the essence of God’s word, a portion from, The Full Knowledge of the Word of God, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
– Practical Pointers on Enjoying God in Prayer, via, Living to Him.
– Pray-reading the Word, a portion from, The Speciality, Generality, and Practicality of the Church Life, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee.
– Learning to Taste God in His Word, via, Bibles for America blog.
– Breathing, a portion from, Life Messages, Vol. 2 (#42-75), Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
– Daily Bible Reading: Why It’s So Important and How to Build Up the Habit, via, Holding to Truth in love. - Hymns on this topic:
– 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 as light to man, / With rays divine man to illuminate; / It shines in darkness and to man reveals / What is his truest need and actual state. (Hymns #799 stanzas 1-2)
– God’s own Word must not be taken / Just as knowledge but as life, / Not alone God’s thought conveying, / But Himself to us as life; / Not alone God’s mind revealing, / But His Christ as life within, / Not alone the teaching giving, / But experience of Him. / It is only knowledge to us / If we in the letter read, / But when reading in the spirit / It is truly life indeed. / All the knowledge in the letter / Only brings us into death, / But the Word in spirit taken / Gives to us the quickening breath. (Hymns #816 stanzas 1-2)
– “Man shall not live by bread alone, / But by each word which doth proceed / From God’s own mouth”; these we must eat / And let them be our life indeed… / ’Tis only when our spirit acts / To take Thy Word and contact Thee, / We truly feed upon Thy Word / And touch Thyself most inwardly. / Lord, teach us how to exercise / Our spirit when Thy Word we read; / Then will our spirit nourished be / As thus upon Thyself we feed. (Hymns #814 stanzas 1, 8-9)
About aGodMan
![For if we have grown together with [Him] in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be [in][ the] [likeness] of His resurrection. Rom. 6:5](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/For-if-we-have-grown-together-with-Him-in-the-likeness-of-His-death-indeed-we-will-also.jpg?fit=178%2C100&ssl=1)
Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1984, vol. 1, “Teachers’ Training,” p. 428
The word of God is the exhale and embodiment of God as the spirit which we receive as the Gods breath. We breathe the spirit in and exhale it as teachings.
Christ’s word and God’s word become living & operative in us when we exercise our spirit to inhale and exhale the word.
To be properly filled with the Spirit of life requires both the breathing in and the breathing out.
If we have no one nearby to exhale God’s word into we can exhale the word into ourselves, into the other living creatures and even into the creation. Hallelujah for God’s holy breath.
Listen to the audio version of this article via,
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Praise the Lord! 😃🙌🙋🏼
08/20/24 Being Fully Equipped Man of God by Inhaling and Exhaling the Word of God as the Breath of God (Week 5, Day 2)
“The God-breathed Scripture is Profitable for Teaching, Conviction, Correction, and Instruction in Righteousness, that the Man of God May Be Complete, Fully Equipped for Every Good Work: (Part 1) The Bible is God’s Breath, This Breath is the Spirit, and the Spirit Gives Life”
According to 2 Timothy 3:16a, all Scripture, which is the Bible, is God-breathed. The term God-breathed indicates that the Bible, which is the Word of God, is the breathing out of God. The Word of God, which is the breathing out of God, is God’s speaking. God’s words are also Spirit or Breath ~ Pneuma (John 6:63). Thus, the Scripture, as the Breath of God, is the embodiment of God as the Spirit, the living Air. The Spirit is, therefore, the very essence, the substance, of the Scripture.
We need to use our proper organ in order to touch the Word of God, which is the embodiment of the Spirit. Just as we need to use the phosphorus (typifying our mingled spirit) of the match stick (typifying the believer) to strike (pray-read) the rough side (Spirit) of the match box (the Bible), we too need to use our mingled spirit in order to touch the Spirit in the Word.
Since the Bible, as the Word of God or the words spoken by God, is the breathing out of God, in order for us to receive the Word, we need to breathe in the Word. We need to inhale the Word, which is exhaled by God. We need to inhale what God has exhaled.
To breathe in or to inhale the Word of God is to read and pray-read the Word with our mingled spirit in order for us to receive Spirit and life (John 6:63; Eph 6:17-18). The more we read and pray-read the Word, the more we inhale the Word, which shall cause us to receive more Spirit and more life into our inner being.
We do not just keep on breathing in or inhaling the Word, but we also need to breathe it out or exhale it. The way to breathe out the Word of God is to speak out the Word through our teaching and our prophesying. To be a proper God-man is to have a proper normal breathing in and breathing out of the Word of God. We need to constantly read and pray-read the Word of God and also to continually teach and prophesy the Word of God.
Therefore, we need to inhale what God has exhaled, and we need to exhale what we have inhaled. When we inhale the word of God and it enters into our being, this becomes the Spirit and life (John 6:63). When we exhale what we have inhaled of the Bible by speaking it to others, it is the Word. When others inhale this Word, it becomes the Spirit and life to them also.
Physically, a normal person continually inhales and exhales oxygen in and out of his body in order for him to live. In the same manner, in order for us to live a proper spiritual life, we need to inhale and exhale continually the Word of God. When all the members in the Body of Christ practice the proper normal breathing of the Word of God, all the Body will be supplied with proper spiritual oxygen, the Pneuma Air, (the Spirit that gives life) and eventually become healthy and strong and would grow together to become the corporate expression of God.