What Air is to the Body...

What Air is to the Body...

by David Brenneman

Our bodies need water...our bodies need air...at the proper time they need food.  Water that's not dirty, air that's not polluted and food that's not filled with junk or chemicals.

Our Spiritual bodies need water from the well of Christ, air from the prayers we breathe and food from the Word of God. 

Growth only happens when the right things go in so that the right results happen.  Insanity is defined as doing the same wrong thing over and over again expecting a different result.  You can't live life that way, and neither can I.

Many, if they're honest, and to be truthful in my early years, I was sort of afraid to approach the Throne of God.  I saw my daily 'deeds' and I didn't like them.  I constantly felt dirty and Satan and or his minions had no trouble in reminding me of my condition.  Reminded of my failures, reminded of my perceived distance between myself and God.

In time Jesus broke through all that.  In time, post-that-mess, prayer became more like breathing to me. Even a mental 'sigh' could be a prayer that the Spirit of God within me knew how to convey to my Lord and Savior.

There's been times when it may not have shown on the outside but inside I was crying my eyes out.

It's been extremely hard concerning adjusting to moving in some ways.  Jesus knows my difficulties because I bring them to Him.  I sorely miss the few friends we had where we used to live but here is where God wanted us.  I miss the conversations, the dinners together, the just being there for each other.

If you look at the Scriptures, specifically the Gospels, you see what the Disciples were taught about physical things as well as the Spiritual.  Attachments to things are a trip hazard.

In most every company that I've worked there's a Safety program. Slips, Trips, and Falls, is a commonly taught program for people to be constantly aware of.  

We often don't realize the dangers we get into until it's too late. We can often get so caught up so easily that we cut off our Spiritual air supply, our Spiritual water supply and our Spiritual food.   Our excitement in our own understanding of things often isn't taking into account how the physical world has consequences in our Spiritual lives.

We are easily sucked into traps in the physical world that are purported to help our Spiritual life.

We can get sucked into programs and into this or that, that was supposed to help us.  Books, video's, etc. can be traps to us that in reality take us away from our Spiritual walk, not draw us into a more intimate relationship with Jesus.

Someone once said the most perfect place to be is in the center of God's Will for your life.

Martha gets to thinking on all the physical stuff that needs done and her sister Mary was after the Spiritual that needed done.  Jesus said on many occasions that while the physical stuff might be important the Spiritual ought never to be neglected.

Our Church's sermon series was called "Amen".   It was on prayer and praying. It brought me to reminder concerning many years ago of another sermon series at a church we attended that challenged us to pray specific "God-Sized" prayer request.  Requests that were indeed serious prayers, not praying for things like winning the lottery.  Prayers that by no shape or form could be misconstrued as being anything else but from God.

In going through this series I had to go and get my list from that other series.  More than a few of them God certainly did something with.  God, in my viewpoint, answers in 1 of 4 ways. Yes, No, Not right now, and Wait--I've got something better in mind.

In order:  1 was a yes, 2 was a wait I've got something else in mind, 3 was a yes, 4 was a yes, 5 was a yes, 6 was a wait I've got something else in mind, 7 was not right now, and 8 was a yes.

These were not insignificant prayer requests.  We're talking everything from medical bills, to major issues with our house at the time, to things others were going through that were major, to employment to legal issues of others.  

In a way, this new series "Amen" issued somewhat of the same challenge.  Here before me is a new list of 5.  

In my Bible app's verse of the day:  Psalms 27:14 NASB "Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord."

Read again that passage from Hebrews 4:16 "Let us come boldly to the Throne of our Gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help when we need it most."

I bought intentional reminders for here in my den. "Set your mind on things above" and "Pray on it, Pray over it, Pray through it."  

I need to breathe Spiritually the air that Jesus intended me to breathe.  Just like the air He intended me to breathe for my physical body.  Just like the chemicalized prepackaged foods that we have been brought up to ingest...look at our medical records and we see the consequences of not eating as our bodies really need.  Look at our minds...we listen to often immoral, idolized types of worldly music and wonder why our Spiritual minds suffer.  Garbage in Garbage OUT.

So many want to tell us how to take care of one aspect of our bodies but without a healthy Spiritual life, your physical really is going to suffer loss.  The physical can't take place of the Spiritual but don't be surprised that if you are heavily into the Spiritual you won't have physical problems.  Jesus often didn't eat because He said "I have food that you do not know...My food is to do the will of He who sent me."

Take a good look at the struggles in your life, and in all things even compare them to what ought to be in your life.  Denying idol worship?  If you're not worshipping your Lord and Savior, who are you giving that worship to?  That's but one...

Pray without ceasing is what the Scriptures say...same as saying you need to breathe Spiritually.

Come boldly to the Throne of Grace.

Keep track of your own "God sized" prayer requests as well as all others.  Some requests are only going to be answered through prayer that is constant and deliberately repeatedly returning to Jesus to be asked about or for.  Do not forget to understand and know that even death is a healing in the lives of people.  

Your faith is bolstered by your prayer life...by the requests you make...by the answers you get.  When times are rough you can look at your prayer history to be encouraged at the knowledge that Jesus is indeed still in your life still doing that work of sanctification in you.  Your sanctification is more important than anything else from eating to your enjoyment of this world.