Inhale / Exhale

Job 33: 4

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Let’s return to the breath. I should have shared this with you long ago. My friend Chuck Goldberg taught me this, so here we go.

I have shown you that the Breath of God is the Holy Spirit. Step one complete. Step two – we have talked about the name of God before, Yahweh. Now, Chuck has taught us that the name of God is actually the breath. What? Step three.

Okay, so here is the lesson. Divide the name Yahweh into its two syllables: Yah – weh. Now take a deep inhalation and as you do pronounce Yah. You may think you cannot utter a syllable while inhaling but I think you will surprise yourself. Breathe – Yah. When you exhale say “weh.” Inhale Yah – exhale weh. Your breath is connected to the name of God. Your breath is connected to the very person of God.

I have said for years that you breathe in the Holy Spirit and exhale out impurity. Chuck has shown us this is literally true. Inhale. But here is a cool thing that I understand better through this teaching. We exhale on the second syllable of God’s name. Does that mean we are expelling God? Well, that makes no sense. No, here is the revelation I have on that. The reason we still connect to God on the exhalation is because all effective transformation must be connected with our maker. Let me clarify. Let’s say the thing you want to exhale is anger. If you want transformation in your life as it relates to anger you need to be connected to God; you need His help. So, it is important that we solicit God’s help in expelling the things we do not want in our life. It is to put that thing under His authority. When we exhale, being conscious of the thing we want to leave us, His breath takes it away and insulates us from it. So, I may want to exhale sickness, but it is the Father’s Spirit who must assist me in that, so in my exhalation, I give it over to him and to His authority. Does that make sense?

If you practice deep breathing or yoga, I entreat you to use this technique. Combine your breath with the Father’s name. It makes your breath a holy connection with God. That connection always brings health and wholeness. If you suffer from anxiety, this can really help you. Sit down in a comfortable chair or lay down on the floor and breathe in God. Breathe deeply getting all of Him you can. Don’t worry if it feels like not enough because you are going to get another breath in a few seconds. Just receive all you can in this moment. Breathe! “Yah.” Then exhale, long and slow. Keep pressing the air out of your lungs until you think there is not one minuscule bit left. Think about that thing you want to send away and keep exhaling until you are empty. “Weh.” In, out, repeat. You have a new meditative device that will break the stranglehold of stress, anxiety or nervousness.

I love this so much and it has more application and is more effective than I have the ability to share. We can be, literally, connected to the breath of God. I pray that you employ this technique. You’ve got a lot of breaths in a single day. Think what that adds. It is mind blowing! Thank you Chuck!

God Success

Proverb 10: 22

It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it.

This is the last day of our sojourn through the proverbs and I can think of no better proverb to end on than this one. I have been wanting to write on this for months anyway.

Do you know that you can do a lot more good in the world with riches than without? God knows it and so He intends you to be rich? Does that bother your sensibilities? I hope not because God has a plan and that plan involves making you rich. Hey, He said it! Besides, the verse tells us that you should not feel chagrin or shame. It is the blessing of the Lord which makes us rich and God adds no sorrow, misery, worry, shame, chagrin, or regret to it.

But wait . . . there’s more, much more. My good friend, Dr. Chuck Goldberg shared the real truth of this scripture with me and it brings great joy and perhaps even a little relief. Dr. Goldberg was on the Rabbinical path until he chose the study of medicine. That is a blessing to you and I because he was able to reveal to me what the original Hebrew of this text is and it is earth shaking. The Hebraic rendition of this verse is, “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and your toil adds nothing to it.” Wow! When we get back to the original language the truth and revelation leap out at us. For those of you are have been learning about and leaning into the integration, the intertwining of you and Jesus, this is at the heart of that critical lesson.

Our success is not about our gifts, talents, brilliance or even hard work. Success and riches are the by-product of a life intertwined with the Lord. As you have heard me say before, He does the heavy lifting. Our job is to pray and to listen to Him. That is also why Psalm 46: 10 is so important. It reads, “Cease striving and know that I am God.” Do you see the parallel with Proverb 10: 22? Success is not in our striving but in our “knowing” and experiencing Him as God.

I have been blessed to work with a number of business people lately and I have seen time and again that God keeps imparting this message in numerous ways. I have watched as He continues to lead you into business integration with Him as a partner. I celebrate you and hope that this “Word” from the Lord encourages you. It turns out that our “workaholic” patterns and mindsets are not of the Lord. In fact, in light of these scriptures they are not only unscriptural but might you argue they are sinful? They fly full in the face of these two scriptures. He has said, “Cease striving.”

God is the author of success and riches. I do not deny that we can attain some level of riches in our own strength but I am increasingly aware of the high cost of doing it ourselves. First, we never succeed to the level we would if we let God be the author of our success. Second, the cost usually is in sorrow.

Success with God and in God brings no downside, no sorrow. Success in the world is often marred by broken health, broken relationships and devastation in many areas of life. One’s spiritual life is guaranteed to suffer. This is the sorrow and suffering that God intends us to bypass. He has only good plans for us and everything with Him is good. There is no downside. Come on! That’s exciting. Can’t someone shout?! Let’s get a full revelation of this. God wants to bless you financially and in the offing is goodness and blessing in every single area of your life. That is God success. He wants you to have enough money to meet your needs, yes, but we’ve got to get past that. He wants you supporting ministries and sending ministers into all the world. He wants your star to shine so brightly and so high in the sky that it will draw people to it and thus, to Him. And, He wants to do the hard work. He does not want you to strive to achieve any of this but rather to lean on Him. He wants you to learn how to trust Him and work with Him as you never have before.

Be still, cease striving and let Yahweh show who is God. His action will bring rest and wealth and your toil, well, it adds nothing. It is all about Him and the power of His might. Yahoo! Find your way into that deep relationship with Him which issues from within your spirit. Look into your heart and find the creator of the universe. Then wrap your tendrils around Him and succeed.