Day: September 13, 2021

Breath Is Life

Currently, many people feel emotionally, mentally and financially out of breath and short of breath. It’s like we’ve lost our rhythm.

Jesus Christ is the breath of our lives and came to give life, and life in abundance (John 10:10).

Healthy emotions, relationships, business and physical fitness consist of a rhythm of give and take, work and rest, love and faith. Currently we are struggling to find this natural rhythm again. Again, Jesus Christ came to give life, and life in abundance.

Some people feel hooked, struggling to catch their breath!

Flourish Spiritually

To thrive in mental health, we must therefore remove all obstructions and limitations to a harmonious deep rhythmic breathing. [1]. Routine and rhythm are indispensable to soul happiness and rewarded satisfaction. When going through emotional trauma, one has to fight for a weekly routine of:

• regular spiritual gathering and connection
• exercise
• sleep
• restorative meals
• creative work
• give and service
• play and have fun
• grow and learn to maintain time.

Rest and Work

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me — watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly. ” (Mat 11: 28-30

When people lack rest they suffer physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Physical and mental exhaustion can often lead to emotional volatility, as a poorly rested individual become easily irritated and / or anxious. This lack of rest can escalate into larger issues. Relationships become strained. Over time a person’s spiritual life — a connection to God and the deepest meaning and joy in life — becomes diminished too. [2]

God balances creative work with the seventh day of rest (Gen 1:31). He also calls the day of rest holy. This day is therefore set apart, set aside for God’s use.

The Jubilee

The jubilee was the Jews’ determined political will to never duplicate the inhuman system of the Egyptian Pharaoh. The anniversary serves as a social service to their people, where each citizen remains his fellow citizen’s brother, thus ensuring each other’s future. Because the poor person I ignore today becomes the thief who steals from me tomorrow.

When I buy land that I have to repay after 49 years, or debt that I have to write off after 7 years, then I keep relationship with the borrower. This is to make sure he or she is able to pay off the debt ahead of time. Thus, society does not become a victim of cumulative debt (Deut. 15: 1-5).

The Sabbath

Sabbath is a form of release, release, strike, release, release. I give up my body with which I work, I let my body rest. In doing so, I also give up the land on which I earn an income, and let it rest. For one day a week, owner and servant are equal. The slave does not serve his master, and the master is not served. Both are works of creation created in the image of God, who enjoys His grace in gratitude. That is why the Sabbath meal is a feast.

The poor person saves to enjoy at least fresh bread with butter, honey, and salt; A royal meal! The owner is no longer in control of his servant’s body. During Jubilee, the owner also relinquishes control of the land.

The Pharaoh did not want the people to go for three days to sacrifice to their God (Ex 5: 1-2). Through the Jubilee, each owner becomes a type of Moses and a royal Father who frees his people from slavery. One day a week, and every seven years, people are delivered from the pyramid hierarchy of positional imperialism and dominance. All are again delivered from systemic Egypt, the place of slavery.

“When a fellow Israelite in your neighborhood becomes so indebted that he sells himself to you as a slave, you may not let him do slave labor.” (Leviticus 25:39)

“Because I brought the Israelites out of Egypt, they are my servants. Therefore, they may not be sold as slaves to anyone. Out of reverence for your God, you must not treat such a fellow Israelite harshly. ” (Leviticus 25: 42–43)

“Which can be bequeathed to your children by you as possessions and which will be their slaves for life. However, you must never enslave your fellow Israelites. ” (Leviticus 25:46)

“He worked as a day laborer year after year for the non-Israelite. You have to make sure that he is not treated harshly. ” (Leviticus 25:53)

 “Six years you may sow your fields and reap the harvest, but in the seventh year you shall let it fall. The poor among your people may eat of the storehouse, and what they leave behind may be eaten by the wild beasts. In six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day, you shall not work so that your cattle and donkeys may rest and your laborers and the strangers may be with you a little. create breath. ” (Exodus 23: 6-12)

Say unto the children of Israel, When ye come into the land which I give you, there shall be rest for the land unto the LORD: six years ye shall sow the land, and prune the vineyards, and gather in the fruits thereof; the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the whole land, a sabbath of rest to the Lord. Then ye shall not sow, nor prune the vineyards. Ye shall not even pluck the corn of the vine, or of the grapes of the vine undressed. It must be a year of complete rest for the country. It must be a year of complete rest for you. You, your slaves, your slave girls, your day laborers, and the attendants in your land, as well as your animals and the game, must live on what the veld produces. ” (Leviticus 25: 2–6)

“He must offer the veins as a wave offering to Me, the Lord so that you will be acceptable to Me. The priest must do this the day after the Sabbath. ” (Leviticus 23:11)

The Sabbath Rest

The Sabbath rest literally means to give up control of the hand, release your grip, give over your control. The highlight of the anniversary is after 49yrs the ownership of the land is returned to the original owner. (Lev 25: 23-28, 54)

This act of giving away prevents owners from becoming magnates, becomes more possessed than they need, and reminds everyone that they are stewards of God’s land. (Leviticus 26:35)

Land that did not rest, a.g.v. their disobedience will rest, in the time of punishment.

II Chronicles 36:21 explicitly connects Jeremiah’s figure of 70 to Lev. 26: 34-35: “Those who survived the sword, God exiled to Babylon… in fulfillment of the word of Adonai spoken by Jeremiah ‘until the land has repaid its Sabbaths, as long as it lay desolate it kept its Sabbath until seventy years were complete. ” Then, in the Book of Daniel, the 70 years became “seventy‘ weeks ’” = 70 x 7 = 490 years. Only with the passage of that period would the sin that caused the exile to be fully expiated (Daniel 9:24).

Rest is therefore a direct implicit “celebration” of FREEDOM! So we are no longer slaves! Slavery is thus equated with torturous abuse and relentless non-stop work. By celebrating our REST, and coming together as believers, we break with any slave drivers in our lives!

The solar system breathes – Centripetal and Centrifugal Force

Centripetal force is defined as the force acting on a body moving in a circular path directed at the center to which the body is moving. The term comes from the Latin words center for center and petere, meaning “to seek”. Centripetal force can be considered as the middle-seeking force. Its direction is orthogonal to the movement of the body in the direction of the center of curvature of the body’s path. Centripetal force changes the direction of an object’s movement without changing its speed.

While centripetal force acts to pull a body toward the center of the point of rotation, the centrifugal force (mid-flight force) pushes away from the center. [3]

Churchhood, like the solar system, also consists of an inward-looking search for intimacy, closeness, connection, and fellowship (Fellowship) in balance with an outward-looking focus on mission, mandate, calling, and ministry. These two forces work like our breathing rhythm in harmony and regularity with each other. The one can not do without the other!

Love your neighbor as yourself

Matt. 5:43; 19:19; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; [Rom. 13: 9; Gal. 5:14]; James 2: 8

Psychologists warn that healthy self-love is indispensable to fellow human love. But fellow human love is not sustainable without self-love. So we always have to keep the two in balance. Again natural harmonious breathing.

Temple – Naos – Ministry to God and ministry to your fellow man

The Greek word for temple is Naos: The word is content the seamless ministry to God in our sacrifices, praise, and worship and then again our ministry to one another and our fellow man. These two aspects of our temple being flowed like Jesus’ example comfortably and without hindrance. Jesus’ mountain encounters with God, of course, flow to ministry, healing of the sick, and casting out demons, and then again withdrawing to be alone.

Spring & Summer – Both have a specific indispensable purpose.

For the survival of the cycle of life, a good winter is necessary, to ensure a good summer. The one serves, as it were, the other. The leaves fall off, and become compost. Death and life are a natural cycle.

The whole Jewish concept of God is anchored around the cyclical seasons of the year. Daily life as farmers was intertwined with the temple calendar’s three most important feasts: the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover is at the beginning of the grain harvest. This was followed by the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Pentecost 50 days later where the first fruits of the wheat harvest were gathered. The Feast of Tabernacles was held towards the end and completion of the grain harvest.

If we want to understand God’s seasons in our lives, we must learn to receive and to be able to give. Many people get hooked and struggle to receive. Others struggle to give again. The spiritual life is a seamless cyclical flow of receiving and giving. When you receive the honor, immediately return it to the Lord and honor someone else. The pay-it-forward movement teaches people to return the gift they received to the next “random” person. Freely you have received, freely give. (Mat 10: 8)

Allow the life-giving Spirit of God to give you a new second breath to complete the journey of faith to the end!

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