One of the basic required processes of fowl and mammals. Some reptiles require it but others can go to sleep for years without it. Some insects need it and others don’t. I guess you could say fish breath as well pulling oxygenated water through their gills.
But man, we are even more special. Not only do we need it but how did we get it? “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.” Genesis 2:7 NLT
Out of all of creation, man is the only one that it says God formed out of the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into. So God builds up some dust into a mud-pie (we are 97% water, or something like that), formed it into a person, made some nostrils and blew it into a human.
The only creature to have it recorded to be touched by God’s hands and breathed upon by God. Also, the only creature to be created in the image of God with the concept of right and wrong and ability to make moral and ethical decisions. God fashioned us into a mud-pie and blew us into existence.
In Psalms it speaks how God knit us together in the womb. While in the womb we survived on the breath of our mother, her blood carrying the important oxygen to our developing fetus and being. Her blood flowing to us as God knit our DNA into what we are.
If I hold my breath too long I will pass out and the automatic breathing process will again take over. If you get hit in the abdomen or fall a certain way you can have the breath knocked out of you…man does that hurt. You try to breath but can’t because the impact has constricted muscles that are blocking the process. Once they relax again the body can again begin breathing. Sleep apnea hinders breathing at night and can cause all kinds of health, awareness, and strength issues in those of us who endure it.
Edwin Hatch pinned the following hymn in 1878…
1 Breathe on me, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
that I may love the way you love,
and do what you would do.
2 Breathe on me, Breath of God,
until my heart is pure,
until my will is one with yours,
to do and to endure.
3 Breathe on me, Breath of God,
so shall I never die,
but live with you the perfect life
for all eternity.
In our Christian walk we must have the Lord’s breath in our spirit man. We must be in His word, seeking experiential time with Him, and meditating on His truths and works in our lives. Without these basic requirements of our spiritual lives we will inevitably stumble and fall. Sin and our fleshly spiritual man can force our christian spiritual man to hold its breath, lose its wind, or have sleep apnea. The Spirit brings conviction to our minds to which we should act swiftly and aggressively to heed and repent allowing our christian spiritual man to again breathe.
May we not lose focus on the breath of the Lord and how we allow our christian spirit man to breathe.
Thoughts 