Breathe on me breath of God

When I was young, we attended the Presbyterian Church. There was a hymn that we sang with these words.

Breathe on me, Breath of God, 
fill me with life anew, 
that I may love what thou dost love, 
and do what thou wouldst do. 

Breathe on me, Breath of God, 
until my heart is pure, 
until with thee I will one will, 
to do and to endure. 

Breathe on me, Breath of God, 
till I am wholly thine, 
till all this earthly part of me 
glows with thy fire divine. 

Breathe on me, Breath of God, 
so shall I never die, 
but live with thee the perfect life 
of thine eternity. 

If you can look past the "dosts and wouldsts", the message is clear. I need your breath in me to make me more like you. To make me want what you want and to do what you would do. That breath is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit.

The part about purity talks about endurance and I realize that the tests that I face now in my life are all a part of that process of achieving purity and that without running the entire race to the finish, I won't build up the endurance that is needed. It is a bit like a doctor putting a heart patient through a stress test to see the baseline of where the heart is for building it up and making it strong. [OK Lord, have you seen enough of the baseline? I'm weary of the stress!!!]

I like the part about glowing with His fire and that when people look at me they would see His reflection. That is my heart's desire.

Yesterday at our Tres Dias meeting for those of us serving on the upcoming weekend, I was talking with my prayer partner and she was talking about a challenging time in her life where she felt she hadn't been able to "exhale". I related to that and realized that those words perfectly described where I was as well. After the prayer time, the very next song was Michael W. Smith's "The Air that I Breathe":

This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me

This is my daily bread
This is my daily bread
Your very word spoken to me

And I I'm desperate for you
And I I'm I'm lost without you

This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me

This is my daily bread
this is my daily bread
your very word spoken to me

And I'm, I'm desperate for you
And I'm, I'm lost without you

And I'm desperate for you
And I'm, I'm lost without you.

I'm lost without you.

I'm lost without you.

I'm desperate for you.

I'm desperate for you..

I'm lost, I'm lost, I'm lost without you..
I'm lost without you

I'm desperate for you

Oh, this song showed me that as long as God is the air that I breathe, it is ok not to exhale! But if what I am breathing all day long is toxic, then not exhaling is a very bad thing.

The last few months I have been desperate for God, for His love, for His peace, but most of all for His direction.

As you read this blog today, if you have been unable to exhale due to stress or just plain being too busy to enjoy life, make sure that the air you breathe is the daily bread kind and not the toxic kind. He can and will get you through and while being desperate for God sounds like a place of weakness, I can assure you that I've never felt stronger in my faith than in this place of desperation.

Breathe on me breath of God......


Chicke Fitzgerald