Breathe

We know our whole existence started when God breathed His breath into Adam.
Genesis 2:7
“The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being.”

Let’s take a minute to pause and capture that intimate picture of God breathing into Adam’s nose. God didn’t stand above Adam and generally blow in his direction. It doesn’t say how, but God would have had to get low and bend over Adam or pick him up. Either way, God was close to Adam.

Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Verse 31: “God saw all that He made, and it was very good. And there was evening and morning  - the sixth day.”

Genesis 2:1-3 “ Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done.”

God breathed life into man on the sixth day and on the seventh He rested. The first day they were together they rested.

Let’s take another minute to let that sink in. Before Adam named any animals or tended to any plants, he hung out and rested with God!

We know that what God says in His Word should be our standard and goal, we see here that it is God that set up and modeled a work – rest rhythm of life.

Our culture tells us what we do matters more. We often feel guilty when we rest and have to justify why we are.

One of my favorite stories about rest is when Elijah had just finished defeating the prophets of Baal:   
1 Kings 18:16-40 tells about Elijah and the prophets of (450) Baal were in my god is bigger than your God contest in front of all of Israel.
* They set the rules and conditions. The prophets of Baal went first, they prepared the bull and called on Baal to bring fire to burn the sacrifice. When he didn’t show up they screamed louder and cut themselves.
* Elijah taunted them and mocked their god.
* Baal never showed up.
* Then it was Elijah’s turn: he dug a ditch around the altar, repaired the stones of the altar, put the wood on the altar, prepared the bull and poured enough water all over the wood and sacrifice to fill the ditch.
* God came and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the soil and the water.
* Israel declared God the true God and Elijah had all the prophets of Baal killed.

We pick up his story in 1 Kings 19:1-13:
* Elijah had a contract put on his life by Jezebel.
* He ran to the desert, wanting to die, falls asleep under a Broom tree.
* An angel wakes him up twice to feed him.
* He goes to Mt. Horeb (the mountain of God) and God sends a mighty wind, an earthquake, fire and a whisper. God is in the whisper.

One of the things I love about this story is the character and love of God. God never rebuked Elijah for where he was at emotionally, mentally, spiritually or physically. God met Elijah with food and a nap. God then met him in a whisper. God gave Elijah his next step with Elisha and finding the others who did not bow to Baal.

Maybe you feel isolated and worn out and like Elijah, you want to give up. You may need food and a nap. Maybe you need to know that your Heavenly Father loves you. Maybe you need to be quiet enough to hear God in the whisper of your heart. Maybe you need your next step. Maybe you need to reach out to someone and know that you are not alone.

God wants to breathe on YOU!

“To find rest we have to believe that we are seen, safe and our identity in Jesus far outweighs who we were before. That knowledge will impact our beliefs and activity.
Our position ~ belonging to Jesus ~ changes in a moment,
our perspective and behavior change with a process.”
~ Ben Stuart Rest and War

Our beliefs form our behavior.
There were things that we were told as children and through the years, those things form a grid that we view everything through. For me, those things effected how I viewed myself and my place in the world, in my family, and in the church.
What I believed about myself put in motion a lot of beliefs and behaviors that didn’t line up with what God thinks and what His Word says. God has spent a lot of time changing those things in my life.

We need to believe that our worth and validation come from our position – being His child – not  our performance: am I a good mom, a good wife, am I good at my job, if you read the Bible enough? You can add your thing here______________________.

Do we get our worth from what we do or who we are?

Changing our beliefs and behaviors is a process. It takes time and a lot of re-learning.

God is always more concerned about who we are than what we do for Him. He wants character over gifts or talent (what you’re good at).

We may know this in our heads but it can take a lifetime to embrace it as a belief and change our behavior.

There is a long list of all the things that steal our breath and rob us of rest: stress, anxiety, fear, doubt, how is this going to work out, how do I get this done when I already have all of this to do …

Life at times is busy and hard and we need rest to be able to breathe and have margin in our lives, so we can enjoy moments of beauty and fun.

Margin is simply creating space so not everything is back-to-back scheduled out. There may be seasons of busyness, but it is not sustainable or what God has set up as a healthy work – rest rhythm of life.

God is near you when you need Him to breathe new life into you. Or like Elijah you are feeling worn out and isolated. Take a minute to tell Him where you are at emotionally, mentally, spiritually or physically. I have a pretty good feeling He will meet you there without judgment.

Have an amazing grace-filled day!
All My Love ~
Jodi xo

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