This morning, I had the privilege and honor of singing with a terrific group of ladies from our church–Seaford Baptist Church in Seaford, Va. We sang a song by Jesus Culture titled “Mighty Breath of God”. In preparation for worship this morning, I found myself thinking about the words of this song, and the implications it has about the trinity and the part of the trinity that is the Holy Spirit.
So, why would the phrase “Mighty Breath of God” lead me to think about the Holy Spirit? In looking in my Bible Software (I’m trying to teach myself some of its newest features that are extraordinarily helpful), I see that the the Greek word translated into Holy Spirit is “Pneuma”, which means “breath”.
I started by writing what “Pneuma” would mean–does mean–would look like–does look like. Breath is life-giving. Breath is cleansing. Without breath there is death. We use our breath to speak. To Sigh. To blow away things such as dust and cobwebs.
And therefore, if God is a person–and He is–than He contains breath. We see evidence of this all the way back in Genesis–as God spoke, using His breath, the world came into being. Light and water and living things came into breathing. In Genesis 2:7 we read:
In the book of John, we see Jesus trying to prepare his disciples for what is coming. Jesus is going away. These are His friends. He loves them. He knows that His going will be difficult on them. Therefore He tells them this (among many other things) in John 14:
I love this—this reference to the Spirit as being the Spirit of truth. Truth is vital. God literally breathes truth to us; to those that listen to Him. The world can not understand this. We as believers can understand this truth for this Spirit dwells with us and in us. No, I’m not claiming that I understand it perfectly. At all. But I do know that there are times when I can sense the Spirit so clearly that it is both overwhelmingly beautiful as well as disconcerting. Sometimes this happens during worship. Sometimes it happens during prayer and scripture study. Other times it happens in the midst of the darkest nights.
Please allow me to share one more example of how the Pneuma–the breath of God–directly impacts our lives. Take a look at these incredible verses in Romans 8, one of my favorite chapters in all of scripture:
It is the Spirit, the Breath of God, who helps us in our weakness. And I don’t know about you, but I know that I am weak. I am so very weak. I need the Spirit’s help. So often I do not have words to pray; words to say to my God. But the Spirit–the breath of God Himself-intercedes for me with “groanings too deep for words”. Wow. When I can not utter what is in my soul, the Spirit knows what is there and He utters it—breathes it out–Himself. And God, who searches hearts–who searches my very soul–knows, of course, the mind of the Spirit. And all of this occurs because it is the will of God. Whew.
So this brings me again to the song we sang this morning: Mighty Breath of God. God’s breath is mighty. We desire for the Spirit of God–for His breath-to move both in power and in grace. Think about that: Mighty Power. Gentle Grace. The two are compatible, necessary, beautiful. Passion for God’s Holy Name.
Blow, Mighty breath of God
Move upon this place
Blow, Mighty breath of God
Won’t you move, in power and grace?Verse:1
Streams of mercy flowing down
Light of Heaven all around
And it’s falling to the groundChorus:
Blow, Mighty breath of God
Move upon this place
Blow, Mighty breath of God
Won’t you move, in power and grace?Verse:2
Spirit fire, fan the flame
Passion for your Holy name
Burning everythingChorus:
Blow, Mighty breath of God
Move upon this place
Blow, Mighty breath of God
Come move in power and graceBridge:
Let Your wind blow
Let Your fire fall
Let Your wind blow, Your wind blow
Let Your fire fall, Your fire fall
Let Your wind blow
Let Your fire fallMore lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/j/jesus_culture/
