Thursday, October 29, 2015

ELEVATION NORTH has NEWS for YOU!


A VITAL NECESSITY.  Just when does God become a vital necessity to us?  Somehow even the air we breathe that keeps us alive can become a thing taken for granted.  But remove the availability of air – and we will have no life.  So how vital is that necessity to our physical lives?  And WHO gives us that gift and provision?  None other than the One who also longs to have us understand that His presence in our lives is as vital a necessity to our spiritual well-being as the very air we breathe!  More so, actually.

Why is it that people forget to “breathe God in” when they feel as if life is sailing along quite smoothly?  When everything is falling into place?  When things are going their way?  When all is laughter and the struggles of life have been placed on the shelf of denial?  Could it be that we are raising our own abilities above our desire or need for God?

And why is it that in the moments that take our breath away, we finally pay attention to the fact that we cannot breathe without God alive within us?  That we cannot survive if He is not alive in our hearts?  When our most precious ones disappear from our sight and leave this life behind … we can barely breathe.  When crushing disappointments come from any angle … we feel like the life is being squeezed from us.  When relationships lack love, honor and respect, or turn cold and sour ... we feel as if we cannot even muster another breath to go on.  But it is in these very moments that we finally give in and cry out to God for “spiritual air” so that our faith stays alive.  That’s all well and good – but “what if” we learned the life-giving technique of “breathing God in” - in every circumstance?  How much different would our lives really be?

Listen to this scripture:  “Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me (as a vital necessity) and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”  (Jeremiah 29:13, The Amplified Bible)  Somehow, that tells me that when I choose this “breathing God-connection” and apply it to every part of my life, I will discover how God meant for me to live!  Every day.  Every hour.  Every moment.  In every circumstance.  Whether in joy.  Or in sorrow.  Whether I have plenty.  Or not enough.  His Word says I need to “require” Him.  That sounds pretty mandatory to me, and for good reason!

Let’s see if we can make clearer sense of this.  Deuteronomy, chapter 4, verses 29-30 share the same message as the above verse in Jeremiah.  It helps us clarify the fact that WE, ourselves, have much to do with how this breathing thing turns out.  We can either hyperventilate and suck for air, or we can purposefully choose to breathe in God as the vital necessity that He is.  IF we seek God, inquire for God, and require as VITAL NECESSITY our Lord God, then we WILL find HIM – IF – we really, truly SEEK HIM with ALL our HEART and MIND and SOUL and LIFE!  That leaves nothing out.  You see, if air is needed by our body to keep living, then all the more God is needed by our heart and soul, our very life … to keep living.  As believers, we should be just as concerned about maintaining our spiritual lives as our physical lives.  About breathing in God, more than breathing in air.  Breathing in God will renew us, refresh us, and bring us to the lives of victory and triumph that most people just wish for.  You see, breathing in God should not be an option for His children.  His Word says that it is something we must do; it is necessary.  Vitally so.  It should be a spiritual compulsion.  We should experience the need to breathe in God as an urgent desire, until we awaken to the realization that there is no other way to live.  Not if we want to live in obedience to Him.  What was that verse again?  Let’s memorize it, dear friends, and live it … breathing God into every part of our lives.  Every part!

REMEMBER . . .
“Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me (as a vital necessity)
and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”
~ Jeremiah 29:13  

Serving Christ Joyfully . . . 

Pastor Doug and Debbie






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