Yesterday we touched on the fact that communion with God is spiritual breathing. Just as air is the most essential need of a newborn baby, so communion with God is the single, most important practice for children of God. Trying to be a Christian without communion with God is like a baby trying to live without air.

We used to sing a song that the David Crowder band sang, which says, “Every move I make, I make in You; You make me move Jesus. Every breath I take, I breathe in You. Every step I take, I take in You; You find my way, Jesus. Every breath I take, I breathe in You. My friend, this is normal Christianity! Those who live with God at the center of their life will live with him not just day by day but second by second. When I first met the woman who would become my wife, I could not stop thinking and talking about her. Why? Because she was the love of my life! This is what life is like for those who find out how beautiful and wonderful God is!

Though Apostle Paul had accomplished a lot in his life, he confessed a stunning and true reality about his greatest passion. He said, “But whatever (accomplishments of the past) were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more; I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”

For Apostle Paul, there was nothing more important than knowing Christ. As a matter of fact, everything that he had accomplished in the past was like garbage to him. This is precisely why he encouraged the church in Thessalonica by writing, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Pray continually. In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18  

Martin Luther often said, “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” In her book, A Short and Easy Method of Prayer, Madame Guyon wrote, “The life you love living can be attained only when self is lost in the contemplation of God.” Yes! Prayer/communion with God is irreplaceable to a genuine Christian! Prayer is not something I do in the morning – prayer is a lifestyle!

One day, a young preacher approached the great revivalist Smith Wigglesworth and asked him how he could live in the power that he manifested in his life. Upon receiving this question, Smith called the young preacher over to the big watering trough where the cattle and horses would drink and told him to look into it. As the man stared into the water, he said, “I don’t see anything.” Smith then told him to get down real close to the water and look. When the man’s head was inches from the water, Smith grabbed his head and shoved it underwater.

At first, the young preacher thought he would let him up quickly, but after a while, he began to be desperate and started flailing and kicking, trying to free himself from the firm grip Smith Wigglesworth had on his head. When Smith finally let him up, the man was furious and said, “what are you doing – what’s wrong with you – are you trying to kill me?” Smith replied, “when you want God as much as you want that next breath, you will find him.”

Instead of being our life, how often God is relegated down to something we merely add to our life. When God becomes the central purpose for living, communion with God becomes a way of life! Like the apostle Paul, those desperate to know God will live their earthly moments in communion with God because the best way to thrive spiritually is…

Spiritual Breathing