Take a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. Feels good, doesn’t it? You just inhaled all that great oxygen and exhaled the carbon dioxide (the waste stuff). Your body is being refreshed by your now oxygen-rich blood. Now, take a spiritual breath. Don’t know how? It’s easy. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ and a man who has influenced billions for Christ, says we simply exhale the impure and inhale the pure.
1. Exhale — confess your sin — agree with God concerning your sin, and thank Him for His forgiveness of it, according to 1 John 1:9 and Hebrews 10:1-25. Confession involves repentance – a change in attitude and action.
2. Inhale — surrender the control of your life to Christ, and appropriate (receive) the fullness of the Holy Spirit by faith. Trust that He now directs and empowers you, according to the command of Ephesians 5:18 and the promise of 1 John 5:14, 15.*
If you did that for the first time, you were just saved. If it was the first time that you realized Jesus made it possible for you to be forgiven and to have a relationship with God, then you are saved. You were dead spiritually, and now you’re alive. Your inner person has been given oxygen for the first time. If it’s not the first time you’ve prayed that, then you got rid of the sin/the darkness that’s been guiding you, and now you’re living by God’s Spirit. You’ve been filled with His Spirit. Refreshing, isn’t it?
Every time you think about breathing, a process that refreshes your body, remember to breath spiritually. Spiritual breathing, every chance you get, will refresh your heart and keep you heading in the right direction in the right way. And while you’re at it, teach someone else how to breath spiritually!
* http://www.ccci.org/training-and-growth/classics/the-spirit-filled-life/index.htm