There is a dizzying array of options when it comes to religion, and the culture around us says that they are all equally valid. It seems absolutely bizarre to people that someone would say, “This one way is the truth and the only truth.”
John 20:22: And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
For the second time in scripture in John 20:22, God breathed on man. The first time in scripture that God breathes on a man is when the Creator breathes on Adam in Genesis 2:7.
When God breathes life into you, it’s not possible for you to die.
Adam, from creation, was immortal. Something profound and spiritual had to take place for death to enter the picture. Later in the Edenic story, we learn that Adam and Eve ate the fruit that would lead to death – and it wasn’t necessarily the fruit, but the disobedience that opened the door to death.
Rebellion is dangerous.
When Adam and Eve rebelled, the death process began. And it wasn’t just a physical process, but a spiritual one as well. Mankind was left to die – not just in his body, but also in his sin.
And then Yeshua came.
When Yeshua came He did something profound – He breathed on His disciples. Yeshua was giving them the Holy Spirit, but I also believe that Yeshua was breathing spiritual life back into mankind. I think he was correcting the brokenness that occurred when man was disobedient.
The Greek word for Holy Spirit is pneuma – which means wind, breath or spirit. I think that the breath of life in Genesis 2:7 was also HOLY. Logic dictates that God’s breath is Holy because He is HOLY, HOLY, HOLY.
When God made man, man was Holy because God had breathed on Him – man had an impartation of God. You cannot have a piece of God within, without having some holiness in you. When Yeshua breathed on His disciples, He was imparting the Holy Spirit.
When you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, you are filled with the Breath of Life. It’s our duty to be filled with the Holy Spirit and be filled with life. We are to be life in the midst of darkness.
I used to think that if I prayed more, fasted more, read more scripture, recited the Psalms and the Lord’s Prayer more I would have more of God’s spirit within.
Can you image the relief I felt when I learned in the Bible that the way to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to simply ask God and walk in obedience to Him.
We need to ask for the Holy Spirit.
The Bible clearly says you’re supposed to ask for the Holy Spirit. God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask. Ask God to fill you with His Breath of Life.
It was around 3 AM, and I knew that unless I opened the door, she would never go away. Her cries were desperate and difficult to drown out. I was tempted to let her in, but my husband gently pulled me back to bed. Her cries echoed like wailing stars outside the block of wood that separated her from us.
I lay there for ten minutes as the intense firestorm at the door increased in pressure. As I leapt towards the door, her body rushed past me. She jumped into the bed with my husband and began to purr. Each day, it was becoming increasingly clear that the cat we rescued suffered from extreme anxiety.
At first, we thought Isabella’s constant desire to be in our presence was endearing. We thought it funny when we’d awake with her perched on top our heads. But then, her fearfulness and anxiety became more pronounced. Each time my husband took a business trip, she gnawed the fur from her body. It was a violent and cathartic way in which our cat dealt with his absence. We knew that the bald patches weren’t the result of allergic reactions or parasites but anxiety.
When the Huffington Post asked people to describe what an anxiety attack feels like, they were flooded with a plethora of responses. Some people said that it feels as if you’re drowning, others described it as feeling as if you are facing a terrorist attack or being chased by dinosaurs. But the consensus is that when a panic attack comes, the walls close in, and a person’s own body becomes their worst enemy. But you can’t escape your body – which is why panic attacks are so tormenting. The attack makes a person want to literally crawl out of their skin. An anxiety attack feels like you are going to die.
Physiologically, when a person experiences a panic attack, the amygdala, which is the fear center of the brain becomes hyperactive. The amygdala is the same region of the brain that kicks into gear when a person senses an imminent threat. Panic attacks cause the region to overreact, and it’s an extreme reaction. The fight-or-flight response is magnified. And then the harrowing experience of panic ensues.
Southern Methodist University conducted a rare study where patients were monitored around-the-clock for physiological instabilities before an attack. The team of researchers discovered that panic attacks are not unexpected. They start about an hour before the patient is fully aware of what’s happening to their body. Although the body is in a panic mode for an hour, it’s only within those last few seconds or minutes that one finally realizes that they feel as if they are going to die. Unfortunately, there is no way to emotionally or mentally survive an hour-long panic attack. Therefore, it is a grace, relief and mercy that the person isn’t aware of what’s happening to them until those last few moments.
The anthesis of anxiety is peace. The book of Philippians, which is called the Book of Peace, also happens to be one of the few places in scripture where the word anxious comes up. In Philippians, the reader is told not to be anxious about anything, but in every situation to pray with a heart of thanksgiving and present requests to God. Prayer is the answer to anxiety.
In the summer of 2014, a study published in Sociology of Religion released its findings on how prayer and anxiety connect, and whether or not the anxious really do find relief. The study acknowledged that prayer helps people manage and reduce negative emotions. The study also noted that how a person envisioned God while they were praying made a difference in their anxiety. Those who benefited the most from prayer were those who saw God as loving and intimate. When people saw God as distant and cold, there were no real, tangible benefits and no ease from the anxiety. The studies’ implications are clear. One’s perception of God interacts with both their spirituality and health.
Philippians 4 is devoid of instructions to think of God as loving and intimate. The book of Philippians is a letter written specifically to the people of the church of Philippi – a group of people who believed God to be both loving and merciful, holy and just.
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No one really knows where anxiety disorders originate. The general thought is that anxiety is a combination of nature and nurture. It is an amalgamation of anxiety-riddled DNA and a life built upon a fault line that ruptures often. A person who grows up in an environment full of abuse or contention may find that they are increasingly anxious as they age. Eventually, they find themselves on a cream colored couch with a prescription for Xanax in their hands. These are the same people that might experience their first panic attack in their mid-twenties. It’s as if a culmination of the all the stress over the years has finally taken its toll on the body. The body wants out.
In The Concept of Anxiety, Kierkegaard describes anxiety as the dizziness of freedom, but he couldn’t have been further from the truth. Anxiety traps a person within the most uncomfortable, primitive confines of their imagination. When one suffers a panic attack, the mind and body are imprisoned. The innocent party desperately wants to escape. There is no freedom in anxiety.
The apostle Peter echoes the sentiments of Paul in the Book of Philippians. Peter tells the Christians to cast all their anxiety on God because God cares for them. God becomes the place to hold the anxiety, and the path through which to transport the emotional baggage is prayer. In Philippians 4:5, Paul tells the church that the ‘Lord is at hand.’ Upon first glance, one might assume that the apostle was referring to the Second Coming. However, Lead Pastor Sam Storms believes that Paul is speaking about the nearness of Christ in terms of time and space.
And so, we are to be anxious for nothing and remember that the Lord is at hand. Before anxiety comes to lodge, we are to remember that God is with us, beside us. And His Presence is the antithesis of anxiety.
Baptism is one of the most memorable events in my life. I was baptized at age seven, and it was something I’ll never forget. In our Southern Baptist church it was traditional for a person to wear white from head to toe – I even wore a white turban on my head. When I stepped into the baptismal pool, (which wasn’t designed for children, but for adults) the water was almost up to my neck.
There was no need to tip me backwards. I was so small that the pastor could have pushed a small wave towards me. However, I was dipped backwards and came back up again. I felt clean and tingly – there were all these emotions stirring within. I knew that I had done something spectacular, and I knew that the angels in heaven were having a party. I knew that something profound had occurred that I didn’t truly understand.
Baptism is one of the most profound aspects of Christianity. It’s an enigma. It’s an esoteric mystery of renewal and cleansing. There are two things that occur when you are baptized. You go under. And then you rise again.
You are submerged and what’s left in the water are the fragments of who you used to be and what rises from the water is a brand new person. Baptism symbolizes dying to self.
Years ago I read a book that changed my life. It was a book (written by Richard Wurmbrand) called Tortured for Christ. The book opened a world for me that I didn’t know existed – the world of Christian persecution. In the book, Wurmbrand talked about his persecution in Romania under the oppressive rule of communism.
Richard eventually went on to found an organization called Voice of the Martyrs, which is a Christian ministry that helps families affected by Christian persecution.
Since reading Richard’s book, I’ve had a heart for those who are persecuted. Every day I pray for those who are in chains. (Hebrews 13:3) God tells us to identify with our brothers and sisters who suffer persecution. I think this is one of the ways that we fulfill the commandment of Yeshua who gave us a new commandment in John 13:34,35: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Loving each other means loving the persecuted church and those in North Korea, Iran, Iraq, India, Egypt, Syria, Columbia and all the other countries where Christians are persecuted. Let’s not forget to pray for our brothers and sisters on a daily basis that God would be their source of strength in times of trial.
People who carry unforgiveness, aren’t just carrying it in their mind, but also in their bodies. Scientific studies have confirmed that unforgiveness literally weighs you down. But I would hypothesize that it’s not just unforgiveness that ways a person down. I think that worry, anxiety, frustration, anger and other negative emotions can also weigh us down. The answer is to give those worries to God.
Leave your troubles at the altar is an old Southern spiritual saying. In Southern Baptist churches, there is this idea that you got to church and leave everything at the altar, in God’s hands. And you leave lighter.
I once attended a church with a congregation of about 15. It was a small church, and I liked it that way. I didn’t just like the size, but I also enjoyed the way that I felt after the service. I often left church feeling lighter – physically lighter.
Yeshua said His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. When we follow Him, we find peace and lightness – the weight of the world is lifted off our shoulders. When we trust in him, we don’t have to worry about everything around us and carry the burden of worry. Instead, He takes it upon Himself for us.
Cast all your cares on Him. This is a refrain echoed throughout Scripture. God cares about every little detail of our lives. He doesn’t want us to worry about anything. Instead, He wants us to pray about everything.
There is a freedom in knowing He cares for us. It makes us feel lighter.
On Daystar, I heard a minister preach on the miracle of Yeshua feeding the 5,000. The preacher pointed something out that I had never noticed before. He pointed out that Yeshua blessed the bread and broke it, but the miracle didn’t materialize until it was in the hands of His disciples. His point was clear – We need God’s blessing for the miracle, but the miracle is in our hands – we have to take action. There are times when we should actively participate in the miracle and not just be passive observers of what God is doing, but actually act – with His Blessing.
However, I believe that the miracle of feeding 5,000 was twofold.
Throughout the New Testament, we watch God incarnate heal and fix everything that He touched. And now, finally, He breaks something – a loaf of bread. But, then we discover that God wasn’t actually breaking the bread, but rather multiplying it. Here is another beautiful mystery of the Father – that even when He seems to break – He is really multiplying.
Only God can bring abundance from that which is broken.
When God takes away something, we often writhe in pain, not knowing or understanding what He is doing. We don’t realize that when He breaks, He is creating something new. When God took away a rib from Adam, it was because he was going to multiply people upon the earth. Is it possible for God to divide without simultaneously multiplying? I think Job understood this concept when he said “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” I think Job understood that although it seemed like God had broken him and taken everything away, God could restore even more… and this is precisely what occurs at the end of Job. By the end of Job’s book, we read: And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
I think I should begin by saying that when I met my husband, it wasn’t the first time that I found myself in an interracial relationship. I had dated guys from all sorts of background and races – black, white, Asian, Hispanic – and I never really had any problems with people being negative or hurtful towards my relationships. Nor were there any internal feelings of discomfort.
I have to credit my environment – I was raised in a pretty multi-cultural environment. Even though I was in a small suburban town stuck in the 1950’s, the town was incredibly diverse. I was exposed to all kinds of cultures and races. From kindergarten to high school, I was never just with white, black or Hispanic people – but a mixture of everyone. I never thought that racism was something that I struggled with internally.
With that said, the relationships I had when I was “dating” boys of a different race were in high school and quite superficial. After all, it was high school – you talked on the phone and maybe held hands if you saw each other. The relationships lasted anywhere from a few days to a couple of months.
Years later, I met my husband.
Suddenly, I found myself deeply in love, and I wanted our relationship to evolve. We both felt the same, but then something started to rise to the surface – and that something was racism. I started to realize that I had my own misconceptions and preconceived notions of what I thought people of my husband’s race were like. Even though I grew up around all people, there were parts of me that held bitterness and resentment. I had no idea that this was stuff was hidden in my heart… it was buried deep.
Either I was in self-denial, or I hadn’t spent enough time in an intimate relationship with someone of a different race to realize that it was even there. And then God began to pull back the layers and expose the hatred and all the wrong misconceptions. As the layers were pulled back from the wound of racism, the wound began to breath. As the wound began to breathe, it also started to heal.
As I was experiencing these issues and going through the emotional healing, I was a professing Christian. I know what you are probably thinking. You might be thinking “Well, you weren’t a real Christian because you had racism in your heart.” But I would argue quite confidently that I was indeed a Christian.
In the book of Acts, Peter didn’t have the best perception of Gentiles. He thought of them as unclean, but God came to Him in a vision and removed the veil of racism covering Peter’s heart. God exposed it and then healed it. Peter’s racism and prejudice were erased when it dawned on Peter that God loves Gentiles as much as Jews. Peter was the kind of man who loved what God loved. He couldn’t hate and call unclean what God had called clean.
Can you be Christian and racist? Yes. Racism is a result of imperfect love. The opposite of hatred is love. When you love people, you can’t hate them. You can only love or hate, but you can’t do both – a love-hate relationship is oxymoronic.
When you have a perfect love – the kind of love that God has for people, it’s not possible to hate them. The book of 1 John speaks of perfect love and how perfect love drives away fear because those who fear haven’t perfected love. This is an amazing verse to describe someone dealing with hatred and racism. Racism is driven by fear. People fear what they don’t understand and when people don’t understand or can’t relate to a group of people, the fear often develops into hatred. Much of racism is simply fear and misunderstanding.
Perfect love drives away fear. When we no longer fear, we can finally love.
BOHO + THEO 