“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness…” 2 Timothy 3:16
“Breathe in through your nose, while trying to keep your mouth closed, like you’re sniffing a rose. Now slowly exhale the air out through your mouth like you’re blowing candles out on a birthday cake.”
We can probably all agree that oxygen is necessary to our survival. We have to have it and if we don’t get it or feel like it’s in short supply, it can definitely send us into a well-deserved panic. So I find myself giving the above instructions for the pursed lip breathing technique quite often with my patients who have respiratory or endurance issues. It is usually very effective in helping to improve breathing patterns, relieve shortness of breath, and enhance general relaxation. Most of the time, patients pick up on the technique fairly quickly and can practice the exercise on their own.
When thinking about how important our breathing patterns are to every aspect of our lives, I am reminded of a verse from the Bible that mentions God exhaling, only He was breathing out His words of inspiration to be written by the prophets in the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” According to the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, the Greek word, theopneustos, used in the original translation of the verse, literally means “breathed by God”. Its definition means given by God or divinely inspired. This is the only verse in the Bible in which this specific term appears. The verse reinforces how all parts of God’s Word are from Him. And all Scripture is useful, beneficial and important for teaching and guiding us to live for Him and His glory.
It’s exciting to think about how alive, authentic, and vital the Bible truly is. The Good Book is not just a collection of stories, beliefs, and ideas about God. Every word recorded in the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit to be written down by believers so that His message would be shared in just the way He wanted. For the Lord to put so much time, effort, and care into making sure His people had instructions and guidance that was given directly from Him, I am humbled that I don’t make reading His Word more of a priority in my life. I have been given this divine treasure from God that I don’t fully utilize to its potential. I don’t need to read and study the Bible to know more, I need to read and study to know Him more.
Maybe you, too, have fallen short in spending time in God’s Word. Will you join me in praying that God will ignite within our souls a fire, a desire, to get into the Bible like never before? To have a hunger for learning, reading, and digging out the truths for ourselves? I pray that the Lord will make our longing for His Word to be as crucial to us as the oxygen we breathe.
Have a great weekend and crack open that Bible!
Alisha Ritchie
Seek Him Daily 