Friday, November 21, 2008

Scripture is God-breathed

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training the righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17

I honestly can say that I cannot go through a day without reading God's Word and writing in my journal. I think it is in my blood. When I read this verse in Timothy, the words "God-breathed" seemed to jump out at me. I have often heard the term, "the Breath of God" and so I did a little research. God breathed into man at the beginning in Genesis and man became alive. Breath gave life. In Ezekiel, in the Valley of the dry bones, God again breathed on the dry bones and they became alive. As my thoughts seem to go further, it also could be interpreted as not only giving life to something that is dead but it could also inspire action. To go from being dead, to living, is something when God breathes and here in this verse, it says that "Scripture" is that for us. God took words and breathed on them and now they are alive. How many times I have done what I did this morning? I opened the bible and when my eyes hit upon a verse, something very profound resounded in my soul. The Holy Spirit convicts and guides us to truth. This is exactly what I mean, a verse will become illuminated or magnified and it will almost jump off the page at you, then you receive the deep and God inspired meaning. That is the breath. In Hawaii, we have the word, Aloha. The "ha" part of the word is breath. In old Hawaii, when a person would greet another, they would breathe on them a warm love and caring breath.  Not only does God breathe into His Word, but He shows us how to use it in our live through the  application of His Word. We can read, but if there is no action, then it is for no purpose to us at all. That is why I like to journal. It takes me through the reading of God's Word, then I need to use that verse and think how it applies to my own life. Then, if I stop there, only part of the process is completed. The last step, and most important step, is looking at what I need to do with God's Word. What changes or correction do I need to make? What is God telling me to do? that is exactly what 2 Timothy 3:16 is telling me. I need to apply this to my life. This application is how God will breathe into my life and what is the fruit of this? I will find that it will help equip me to do His Kingdom work, here on earth. Question: When was the last time that God's Word was illuminated and you took action? What can you do today to apply God's Word in your life?