On a recent slow Saturday afternoon, I sat down to watch the last half hour of the movie Hoosiers. It’s a feel-good sports movie about a small-town high school basketball team that wins the state championship. It’s a David and Goliath sort of adventure that includes a love story. I’ve probably seen it at least six times.
In the final scene, the smaller, less likely basketball team makes a last-second point to defeat the team favored for the championship.
I knew this was going to happen. I’d seen it before. But this time when I saw the ending, I had an involuntary sob erupt from deep inside my chest. I pushed it back down out of embarrassment, but it sat heavy in my throat wanting to be released.
I’m not stoic. I cry at movies. But it’s usually the teardrop-out-of-the-side-of-your-eye kind of cry. This was an ugly sob that wanted to erupt. Where did it come from?
“It’s been so long since I’ve seen good defeat evil,” I said to my husband as I tried to explain my emotional response.
Then it dawned on me.
I was feeling hope – and it caused me to take a deep, sudden breath.
I’m not sure when it started, but somewhere in the heaviness of the last three months, I’d stopped getting my hopes up and I’d started holding my breath. Somewhere along the way, I’d gotten deflated and let current events dictate my level of faith and hope instead of leaning on God for strength.
With that realization I began to see a pattern in the effects of the recent world events -- LACK OF BREATH.
1. Pandemic – A major symptom of COVID-19 is difficulty breathing.
2. Racism – The world watched as the breath of a man was slowly snuffed out.
3. Weird weather – A dust cloud from the Sahara Desert made it difficult for some people with allergies to breathe as it passed over.
4. COVID restrictions – Don’t breathe on people. Cover your mouth. In some situations, don’t sing.
The target of all these forces was the same – our breath.
This isn’t just about physical breath. I believe there is also an attack on our spiritual breath.
The Old Testament Hebrew word for the Spirit of God is ruach which means breath. God’s breath is responsible for all that is created. The Ruach Elohim is mentioned in the first verses of Genesis to describe the Spirit of God hovering over the waters. In Genesis 2:7, “God breathed into man’s nostrils and he became a living being.”
In the New Testament, the Greek word for breath is pneuma which also means spirit, often the Holy Spirit. When Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, “he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (John 20:22)
As I processed this insight, I could sense God’s invitation for me, and anyone else who is weary, to receive a divine resuscitation – allowing His Spirit to fill us anew with hope that only He can bring.
To activate this hope, we use our breath. Here’s a few ways to begin:
1. Speak God’s word out loud.
I know it sounds strange, but there’s something important about using sound waves right now. Amidst all the voices and discord that currently fill the air, there’s a shift when we speak God’s word out loud. Find a Bible verse that ministers to you and read it out loud. It’s a powerful way to pray. It aligns our spirits with God’s purposes. That doesn’t mean that all our wishes and desires come true.
God’s Word is a sword, not a magic wand.
When we declare God’s truth out loud, it first begins to cut away at us – removing strongholds and attitudes that need to go. This process strengthens our ability to cooperate with God’s purposes on earth and recognize where He is at work.
2. Pray with others.
Praying with others in person or virtually holds us accountable to pray, keeps us from becoming too isolated, and strengthens us to hold on in faith to the promises we are believing God to fulfill.
3. Speak Life over others.
Is there something good you see in someone? Tell them! Is there encouragement you have for someone who is struggling? Share it! It’s life to the bones. Ezekiel literally found this out when He spoke the word of the Lord over a whole valley of dry bones.
In Ezekiel 37, God told Ezekiel to “prophesy to the breath” of these dry bones. Verse 10 says: “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army.”
So I’m using my breath and I’m declaring to anyone who will listen that I believe with all my heart that the best is yet to come. We aren’t supposed to sit this one out. As we lean into God’s Word and are empowered by his Spirit, we will receive a second wind that enables us to walk out the role in the story God has written for each of us.
It’s a David and Goliath sort of adventure that includes a love story.
