Spiritual exhaling is releasing what the living, indwelling God breathes into you,
for the building of his kingdom and the honor of his name.

In The Release of the Spirit, Watchman Nee wrote:

Among those who possess the life of the Lord
can be found two distinct conditions:
one includes those in whom
life is confined, restricted, imprisoned and unable to come forth;
the other includes those in whom the Lord has forged a way,
and life is thus released from them.¹

Every moment we live in that confined, restricted, imprisoned condition, the words and deeds coming out from us may sound and look appropriate, even good, but they carry no life. Every moment we live in the opposite condition, ahhh, then we’re exhaling the breath of God.

The essence of exhaling

So far in this Life and Breath series we’ve seen:

• Breath is vital to life. Breathing is inhaling and exhaling. If you do not do both, you cut off your life.
• What’s true physically is also true spiritually. Indeed, the word spirit in Scripture also means breath.
• As you inhale, you’re filled with breath. As you inhale spiritually, you’re filled with the Breath of God. You receive, Spirit-to-spirit, the life he is breathing into you.

If inhaling is receiving,
exhaling is releasing.

As you exhale physically, you release breath. As you exhale spiritually, you release the Spirit-life you’re continually receiving in your inmost being. Whether by word, act or presence, you breathe out what comes from God himself and thus imparts life.

Several times in Romans and Galatians we’re told a similar thing: “Walk by (or, in) the Spirit.” “Walk according to the Spirit.” Those simple words express a concept very hard to grasp. Some translators have struggled to convey the mystery. For example:

Live and move … in the ways of the Spirit.
(Rom. 8:4 AMPC)

“Walk by the Spirit
[with personal integrity, godly character, and moral courage –
our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit].”
“Since it is through the Spirit that we have Life,
let it also be through the Spirit that we order our lives day by day.”
(Gal. 5:25 AMP, CJB)

Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit.
(Gal. 5:16 MSG)

If we substitute the word Breath for Spirit in those verses, we find:

We release the life of God as our every movement flows from the Breath of God.

Jesus

How astonishing! The Son of God took on flesh and demonstrated in his own body what it looks like to inhale and exhale the breath of God. The Son baptizes us with the same Spirit who empowered his earthly life and ministry.

[The Father:] “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.” (Matt. 12:18)

[John:] “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” (John 1:32-34)

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit [to begin his ministry]. (Luke 4:14)

[Jesus:] “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you – they are full of the Spirit and life.” (John 6:63)

You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea … how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. (Acts 10:37-38)

Before he was taken up, working in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus instructed the apostles he had chosen. (Acts 1:2 CEB)

God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. (Acts 2:32-33)

Us

In Ezekiel, God promised that his people would one day live and move Spirit-to-spirit:  

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you … And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ezek. 36:27).²

Jesus ushered in that day. In him, we too can experience the vital, ongoing connection between being filled with – and being moved by – the Holy Breath:

Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:21-22)

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” (Acts 2:17-18)

This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. (1 Cor. 2:13)

Since it is through the Spirit that we have Life, let it also be through the Spirit that we order our lives day by day. (Gal. 5:25 CJB)

The blessing of exhaling

In Scripture, God cries, “Exhale!” often. He says it many ways. Always, this exhaling imparts life. As you exhale freely – regularly releasing what God is pouring into you, Spirit-to-spirit – the presence of God and the kingdom of God touch other people and the world around you.

Here’s a sampling of Scriptures that call us to release, give, send forth from what we’ve received. Notice all the inhaling and exhaling going on in these verses:

Humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. (James 1:21-22 NLT)

You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. (2 Tim. 2:2 NLT)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. (2 Cor. 1:3-4)

Freely you have received, freely give. (Matt. 10:8)

The wonder and the challenge

Exhaling, by its nature, is a relinquishing, a giving up, a letting go, a giving out, that holds nothing back. Exhaling requires selflessly, relentlessly risking everything by faith. It’s not forced effort. It’s released breath.

And each breath you release means that survival itself, as well as the ability to breathe out one more time, rests solely in this: that you welcome the breath to flow in again.

As you exhale spiritually, breathing out the life of God:

More and more, you understand and walk in what is truly righteous, just and God-honoring. You recognize and turn from paths you may have thought right, but now realize are not. You see and turn toward right and good paths you had shunned due to fear or pride, or personal or generational wounding. Learning to walk in the truth, you also learn to walk in love.

More and more, you speak the truth in Spirit-taught words. Whether you comfort, encourage, teach, prophesy, challenge or simply converse, your words are life-giving to those who hear.

More and more, you do what carries Spirit-authority and builds the kingdom of God. Anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, you go around doing good and healing. People are truly, deeply helped. God’s name is honored and his kingdom, advanced.

More and more, you shine. Even when you’re not doing or saying anything, the life of God you’re continually receiving is also continually flowing out. Your Spirit-filled spirit touches the spirits of others, and they encounter the breath of God.

Exhale the Breath of God, dear one. Never stop. Live freely, animated and motivated by the Spirit.

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The original version of “Exhaling the Breath of God” was published July 31, 2013.

Image courtesy FreeImages.com / cylonka Bsg

Life and Breath series

Breath of God – key to life introduces the series and tells how I began teaching it.

Three posts explore how it looks when our lives breathe with God’s life:

• Spirit to spirit: A matter of life and breath
• Inhaling the life and breath of God
• Exhaling the life and breath of God

Three posts explore two stories from Scripture, to find how it can look and what God does when his people have cut off their breath:

• Code blue! Breathing crises in the church
• Code blue! God’s cry to the breathless
• Code blue! God’s call to the breath-filled

Other posts on Spirit-to-spirit intimacy

• Dear weary one, can we talk about the spirit realm?
• Humble your soul, release your spirit
• Living by the Spirit
• Our Spirit-to-spirit birthright
• Mastering the language in which God speaks
• Praying for God
• Truth, desperation, spirit, life

Footnotes

1. Watchman Nee, The Release of the Spirit (Indianapolis, IN: Sure Foundation Publishers, 1965), 11. See the post, The people I quote. ↩︎
2. See more on this verse in the post, Our Spirit-to-spirit birthright. ↩︎