“I CAN’T BREATHE”
On a July afternoon,
the whole world stopped to watch a man named Armstrong walked upon the moon.
Regardless of race or religion, people stood in awe that day trying to
understand what had just happened. I was twelve years old then. On another July
afternoon, the whole world heard the cry of Eric Garner’s repeated cry of “I
can’t breathe” just as he passed when he was put in a chokehold by a New York
police officer. The same cry was heard globally when George Floyd succumbed too
with his last words “I can’t breathe”. We are alive today because we are still
breathing.
To stay alive, we
need oxygen. Unless there is a special need for it, the good news is, oxygen is
aplenty. We do not have need to earn it, permission to use it, but we do know
we depend on it. It doesn’t matter if we are black or white, good or bad,
religious or not, God made sure it is freely available to all. The problem is,
we don’t usually think on these things and we take God and His creation for
granted. In fact, many denied even His existence. But God is gracious.
Regardless of what we do to this planet, His goodness is still reflected in His
creation. Our planet is well.
Oxygen is vital to
our living. So is prayer to our spiritual life. We are s spirit being living in
a body of flesh. Being “born again” our human spirit is regenerated and our senses
towards God are once again connected and heightened resulting is a process of
transformation and a changed life. To keep our spirit man alive, well and
sensitive to God, we need to commune with God. We need to “breathe”. In short, prayer is oxygen.
We need to pray. We need to pray not just an
hour a day. We need to pray constantly just as we need to breathe all the time.
We have this notion: to stay spiritually healthy and connected to God, we need
to set aside a time to pray daily. This is where we have the concept of daily
devotion. But breathing is not about an hour a day. Breathing is a constant and
unconscious effort on our part to stay alive. When we stop breathing, we die.
Prayer cannot be compartmentalized. It has got to be a constant and unconscious
effort on our part to stay alive in God. You cannot just do devotion for the
day and “parked” God throughout the rest of the day. Just like breathing, we
need to connect with God constantly.
To me, prayer is not compartmentalized.
There are times I will have need to go into my “closet” and seek God but I do
not have a fix time to “breathe”. I “breathe” all the time. When I see something,
I talk to God about it. When I am watching a movie and something stirred in my
mind, I immediately talk to God about it. When a random or spontaneous thought
got a hold of me, without missing a beat, I chat with the Holy Spirit about it,
seeking to learn from Him. When I am talking to someone about some matters,
underneath my breadth, I am asking the Holy Spirit for guidance. No matter
where I am or what I do, I always “breathe”. I used to have a constant daily
devotion but I don’t do that much. Throughout the day, I think God’s thought, I
think God’s word and I talk to God. The first thing I do when I awake in the
morning, I think God. My first words: “Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise
the Lord” and then I talk to God immediately. Even now as I am writing, I am “breathing”.
Prayer is oxygen. I
am not designed by God to breathe oxygen an hour a day. If I were to stay
alive, I need to breathe every second, every minute, every hour of the day,
even when I am sleeping, consciously and unconsciously. Constant breathing to
stay alive is not an option. We need to keep God’s presence throughout the day,
not compartmentalized or only when needed. We need to take in oxygen always.
1
Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray
without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus for you.
God is still in
control. Prayer is oxygen. Prayer is to commune with God. Breathe … breathe …
breathe. Don’t let the devil put a chokehold on you.
God bless.
