The Power of "Second Breath"

“Then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” Gen. 2:7

“And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” John 20:22

Take a look at the following list of astounding but highly varied feats and ask yourself: What is the single requirement necessary for them all?

•Scaling the top mountain peaks of K2 or Everest
•Shallow-water diving for precious pearls on the ocean floor
•Battling victoriously in a time-extended sword fight
•Performing as an opera singer at Carnegie Hall
•Winning the Tour de France, Boston Marathon or Ironman Triathalon

At first it might appear that athleticism and physical build would be the cohesive link. But most opera singers are not blessed with the musculature of a Lance Armstrong, nor could they hope to scale Everest. The physical requirements for climbing K2 and the athletic conditioning for sword fighting are considerably varied. Climbers are encouraged to lose weight, where overpowering size might be what tips a sword fight in a warrior’s favor.

It cannot be endless years of practice, either. A mere five- or six-year-old child can be a valued pearl diver, but could never compete in the Tour de France, scale Everest or win the Ironman. But there is a single collective requirement necessary for accomplishing all of these amazing escapades. It’s not training. It’s not athleticism. It’s not muscularity or body coordination.

It’s breath.

Though we marvel at athleticism and muscularity, and athletes hire strength-conditioning trainers for hundred of dollars per hour, without breath, success in these world-class events would be futile. But it cannot be simply breath alone; each one of us breathes in and out at intervals of three to eight seconds all day, every day. What separates us from all those having accomplished the feats on this list, then, is breath capacity. How much breath (or air) your body can hold becomes the critical cohesive factor in whether you can scale mountain peaks; uncover great and priceless underwater treasures; be the heralded as victorious in a critical sword battle; or receive the prize and accolades in a contest of endurance, athleticism, or vocal prowess.

Looking at the outcomes produced from the list above, it’s easy to see how metaphorically positive and potent these actions are. You can view the world from heights only a select few ever see; live in financial prosperity and freedom through the sale of your ocean treasures; win a personal war, or achieve world-renown, acclaim and praise. These are special, rare feats only a very few can claim to have accomplished. And they all require substantial breath capacity to achieve.

Let’s get logical for a moment. If these actions all have such strong positive metaphorical and even scriptural support – such as running a race or fighting in person-to-person combat – then would not breath, as the cohesive component to them all, also be spiritually significant? To answer this, we need to understand “breath” scripturally and etymologically. We discover in Genesis that when God created man (Adam) he breathed the breath of life into him. That first natural breath gave mankind the raw resource to achieve all the natural feats cataloged at the beginning of this article. But in the book of Acts, we read that the risen Christ, the new Adam, breathed on His band of uncertain and disjointed disciples to receive the Holy Spirit. The English term “breath” is the Hebrew word “ruach.” It is a reference of the term “spirit.” It was not just that the disciples had received the Spirit; they had received a second spiritual breath, as well.

Jesus said of John – the last of the prophets of natural first breath – that he was the greatest of all those having come before him. But moments later, in Matt. 11:11, Jesus declared that the least in his Kingdom (those with second spiritual breath) were greater than John. Again, Jesus told his disciples that they (only after second breath) would do greater works than even He had done. In fact, Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem and do nothing – until they had received this second breath. The rest of the book of Acts catalogs the radical feats accomplished after His disciples received second breath. The apostles began to supernaturally heal, raise people from the dead, prophesy about future events with stunning clarity, stave off physical ailments and lead thousands to Christ through minimal sermonettes.

Let’s do a natural/supernatural comparison. Is not raising someone from the dead a far greater feat than winning the Tour de France or performing in an Opera at Carnegie Hall? Would not someone prefer to be healed of cancer or AIDS than be given a necklace of black pearls and remain in their illness? The second breath is far greater than the first breath, because while the first breath is “human breathed,” the second breath is “heaven breathed.” Since first breath is ultimately “our” breath, its accomplishments are strictly limited to our own physiologic capacity. But second breath is “His” breath. It is a form of breath with accomplishments that have no ceiling! Why? Because it is not tied to man’s physiologic nature; it is tied to God’s nature.

So if first breath is the critical link between all these natural, world-renowned successes, and second breath became the conduit for all of the supernatural manifestations in the book of Acts, then why don’t we hear about more supernatural phenomenon occurring in our culture? Nearly every Christian denomination agrees that a believer receives second breath (the Holy Spirit) at his or her salvation.

It may be because second breath is also about capacity.

In the physical, breathing is little more than a natural reflex. The ability to breathe doesn’t qualify us to dive for treasures, accomplish great feats of battle, sing in an opera in front of thousands, or scale the heights of the earth. Neither does the mere presence of the Holy Spirit’s second breath allow us to accomplish commensurate and surpassing spiritual feats.

As reborn “second breath” Christians, we have the potential for feats greater than any feats in the natural. But our lack of breath capacity has staved off their reality. St. Iranaeus proclaimed, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” But instead of being fully alive in great second breath capacity, the church is more objectively on spiritual life support. So what does that do for God’s glory? Too often we cry out to God for more of His glory, when He’s calling out to us to become vessels able to contain what’s already available.

The term “revival” often constitutes the desire for something whose dormancy lies outside of mankind. But it is man that is dormant. We don’t need revival. We need repentance. We don’t need more of Him (breath). He needs more of us (capacity). This may sound like some typical church mantra. But Jesus divulged, in exacting detail, His Father’s “breath” formula.

It was the Son of God who declared: “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Luke 5:37-38).

Understanding that the wine in this passage is a metaphor for the Holy Spirit, or the second spiritual breath, and the wineskin is the metaphor for the heart, we can retranslate the passage above to read: “God cannot put greater second breath into a heart unable to handle its capacity. If he does the new breath will burst the heart…. No, second breath must be placed in a heart able to handle its capacity.”

Is this a far stretch from Christ’s intended meaning? Is there a breath/heart relation to the far superior supernatural acts those with the second breath are to achieve? To answer that question is to go back to natural breath scenarios once again. Here again is the list of astounding natural feats:

•Scaling the top mountain peaks of K2 or Everest
•Shallow-water diving for precious pearls on the ocean floor
•Battling victoriously in a time-extended sword fight
•Performing as an opera singer at Carnegie Hall
•Winning the Tour de France, Boston Marathon or Ironman Triathalon

What would happen to an individual attempting to accomplish these astounding natural feats without the proper breath (lung) capacity? Pushing the incapable body to the degree demanded by these actions would produce immense stress on the lungs. Unable to process the amount of air intake necessary, the lungs would go into arrest and eventually collapse. The failure of the lungs would cause so much pressure that the natural heart, unable to pump fast enough to remedy the cataclysmic situation, can… burst.

“And no one pours new wine into old wineskins, if he does, the new wine will burst the skins.”

Our God, the supernatural Creator and Author of our universe and mankind, created a physically observable metaphor that unlocks the secret to our supernatural success. He did not merely say it with His words; he proved it through His crafting of man’s own physiology. God made man so that he could not accomplish humanity’s most astounding natural feats without first breath capacity just as man cannot accomplish His astounding supernatural feats without second breath capacity. And He made man’s heart as the central conduit for both. God is exacting in every aspect of the metaphor. Through the natural, He has given us the key (and the warning) to the spiritual. God must wait on mankind’s second breath capacity. He cannot give us the supernatural power we cry out for – which the world desperately needs – if our hearts cannot handle it. Until we, as carriers of eternal life here on earth, build strong enough second breath capacity, the world is always going to revere and honor those with first breath capacity more than us. The astounding feats that have been listed are truly inspiring and life altering. But we were made for supernatural feats far surpassing those on the natural list the moment we were given the spiritual breath to accomplish them.

“I can do all things through Christ who (whose breath) strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13)

“All things” means every spiritual height, every spiritual treasure, every spiritual battle, every spiritual prize and accolade. It’s not some fantastical pipe dream. It’s always been His plan. All that’s required – or better yet, all that has been required – is capacity.

GAINING SPIRITUAL BREATH:
To learn how to gain spiritual breath capacity, one merely needs to apply its natural counterpart:

1. Focus on the prize, not the breath. An athlete builds breath capacity for the sake of something tangible and powerful. Focus on God’s Kingdom destiny. As Paul says, all competitors run, but only one gains the prize. Know the prize and you’ll know how to train.

2. Strip away everything not promoting breath capacity. If you are going to build breath capacity you must remove whatever is blocking or stagnating it. Hollow your heart through the deliberate and Spirit-inspired removal of pride, lust, anger, gossip, jealousy, and the like. But more critically, hollow your heart from the things of this world: entertainment, media, video games and useless trivial conversation. Things that are not in themselves morally wrong, but that specifically reduce the capacity for Spirit breath. Your second breath capacity has been stolen strategically. It is being stripped in greater degrees with every “coerced” advancement in mankind’s linear progression. You must begin to view your life strategically; be aware of what the things around you, technologically, ideologically, socially, etc., are doing to your heart behind the shallow veil of their claimed intended usage. Think about it. Those very same natural feats require the removal of anything that impedes on the ultimate end result. Neither a star athlete nor an opera singer can spend their time around the boob tube all day. Neither can the pearl diver; time spent in breathless activities shrink his or her opportunities for profitability. The spiritual metaphor correlates to the natural occurrence, and to its covert strategy.

3. Dive deep and fight hard. Building breath capacity comes out of the actions that require greater amounts of breath. A pearl diver stays down longer each time he dives because he is perpetually training his body to extend under the pressure. Dive deep into the Word of God; fight hard in prayer. Extend your times in spiritual activity. Allow God to put greater spiritual pressure on your heart to enlarge your capacity.

4. Humbly prepare for recognition. Do you know the name of at least one of the famed “Three Tenors?” How about the name Lance Armstrong or William Wallace? The victorious outcome of feats requiring second breath capacity will lead to public recognition and spiritual promotion. Be prepared, and be ready to give God all the credit before it happens. Because it will happen.