The Lord has very obviously put this Word (Breath or Breathe) into my heart. He very blatantly planted it there and I can’t escape it. Literally within the span of three weeks now, the word comes up daily, often multiple times a day. As I first received the word, I looked up and my coffee cup said Breathe. A few minutes later, I received a text with the song Great are You Lord (It’s your breath in our lungs). Just confirmation after confirmation that I was supposed to investigate this word.
It seemed random at first, the Lord taking me to different scripture and digging into what they really meant has taken a LOT of prayer and searching. It seemed sooo disjointed in the beginning and I had to go on a journey to find what the Lord was saying.
The word Breath or Breathe is very significant for this season. It is no coincidence that our world has been taken over by a virus that takes our breath away OR that our nation is in a state of unrest because of a man who couldn’t breathe.
Scripture is full of breath, of life and it starts in Genesis when he Breathes the stars (Psalm 33:6) and creates man from the dust and breathes the breath of life into his nostrils (Gen 2:7). By Genesis 3, sin enters, death and the end of that breath enters as well.
As I began to seek the Lord on what this word meant, He first took me to Ezekiel 37:9, past the point of the bones, as the bones have already been spoken to. They have already been shaken and taken form.
He said, “Prophesy to the breath.” Ezekiel 37:9: And He said to me Prophesy to the breath (hā-rū-ah- ruach- Breath, Wind, Spirit)
*It’s not a revival. It’s an awakening.
I looked in to the times in our nation, world, and in scripture when the Lord called us to an awakening. Most often it was during times when we sought social enlightenment and clung to knowledge over relationship. Times where we begged for man to lead us over God's direction. Sound familiar?
So with this, I prayed, “What next? What does this mean?” I was led to Revelation 3, to the letter to the church at Sardis. (Rev 3:1-6 If you are not alert (greek grégoreo- to be awake, to watch). God says that this church had the reputation of being alive, but was really dead. Then, he commands the ones who are just nursing the dead things to be alert and awake. He calls them to repent and walk with him.
I had always read this passage and heard it taught as “I will come as a thief in the night.” As if we will be walking around and not have any clue as to when he is coming and he’ll just pop in one day, but that isn’t what is said here. He says, “ If you’re not alert (or awake), I will come as a thief in the night.” He’s telling us to wake up and be watching so that we will know when He is near.
So what I am getting from this is that we are being called to Prophesy to the breath. I am called to do this through worship, some will be called to testify, some will be called to preach with the confidence of Christ, some will be called to teach, etc. We are the body and each has a different part. I urge you to pray and seek what part He is calling you to be. He doesn’t give a time frame, just that we prophesy to that breath, wind, spirit that He is bringing to our body and the Church.
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I have been studying Habakkuk and in 3 chapters, I am not sure it could more accurately describe what is happening in our world. I encourage you to read it. The thing about Habakkuk was that he recorded his actual conversation with the Lord. It was a dialogue, a relationship. Habakkuk was frustrated and distraught with what was happening in his world. The Lord really didn’t make it much better by telling him that his world would see judgement and that the Chaldeans would be destroying the Southern Kingdom of Judah. BUT, God did let him know that 1. He was there. 2. He saw the injustice. 3. He wasn’t standing idly by, but he was doing something. 4. He is faithful to his promises. 5. There was a plan to save his people.
Now, Habakkuk didn’t see the Messiah, but he was able to live in anticipation of the Messiah. He fixed his eyes on the One and trusted his process even though it was difficult.
I am grateful for the history we have to look back on to see the character of God and his forgiveness through the Cross. I feel like the church as a whole has been stuck in the fact that we are saved by grace through faith and that we can live however we want because we have the cross. We forget that God is Eternal and that he doesn’t live in our religious or social box. We forget that He isn’t done yet and are asleep to the fact that he is coming again. Be that today, tomorrow, or 10,000 years in the future, God isn’t done and we have to wake up and live like He isn’t done yet. We have something to look forward to instead of just looking behind, we press ON towards the goal, keeping our eyes on Jesus.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Phil 3:12-14
Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down and the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2
Ezekiel 37:9-11Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Come breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet-a vast army.
Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and aI have done it, declares the Lord.’ “
Come breath, from the four winds
And awaken your people
