Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” (EZEK. 37:9)

Come Holy Spirit! There is no awakening apart from the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit there will be forms of religion without the power, duty without desire, discipline without delight, knowledge without knowing, and, yes, bodies without breath.

We live in an age where even the so-called saved can still be asleep. We have made it all too easy to accept the terms of salvation like we would accept the licensing agreement on a piece of software. So many have quietly lamented in their souls that there must be more than this, while the machinery of church churns on.

Perhaps the awakening we who are in the church need is an awakening to the infinite more-ness of the gospel. We have walked through the door without moving our lives into the house. We have been lulled into contentedness, satisfied to have a key to the home without actually living there.

We must prophesy to the breath, “Come Holy Spirit ‘and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” Perhaps more important, we must prophesy to the breath, “Come Holy Spirit and breathe into these souls who have been saved by grace yet are still hitting the snooze bar.”

Writing in the midst of a great awakening in the nineteenth century, Edwin Hatch wrote the hymn, “Breathe on Me Breath of God.” The hymn speaks to the progressive nature of awakening. We will shape our praying today with the third stanza.

PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER
Breathe on me, breath of God, till I am wholly thine, till all this earthly part of me glows with thy fire divine. We confess, we believe more than we breathe. We need your breath or we remain mere bodies; busy, to be sure, but breathless. Touch us with your truth in such a way that our lives become truly alive. We long for this. In Jesus’ name, amen.

CONFERENCE TOGETHER
What holds me back from breathing deeply of the Holy Spirit? Lack of understanding? Fear? Lack of faith? Indifference? Share your answers with your band.