BBD 05.27.14 Don't Hold Your Breath (New)

#1 · May 27, 2014, 1:36 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on May 27, 2014, 1:36 pm
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

If for
some reason you do not receive your email version of the devotional please
check the Burning Bush website at www.theburningbush.net for the “Devotional of the Day” and read the devotional there.

The Burning
Bush Devotional

05.27.14

Don’t
Hold Your Breath

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed
hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave
Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for
Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. - Titus 2:11-14 NKJV.

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His
commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the
world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. Who is
he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? -
1 John 5:3-5 NKJV.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things
have passed away; behold, all things have become new. - 2 Corinthians 5:17
NKJV.

Near
Manning, Oregon is a the Highway 26 tunnel and it takes about ten seconds to
pass through the tunnel at the 55 mph speed limit. Daniel J. Calhon, however,
didn’t make it through the tunnel. He had an accident, and it resulted in
himself and three other people going to the hospital for non-life-threatening
injuries. What caused Daniel to have an accident? He told police officers that
he was holding his breath as he went through the tunnel and passed out. State
Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said that people sometimes hold their breath through
tunnels as part of a game or superstition. Hastings also said that
investigators did not believe drugs or alcohol were involved. Daniel Calhon has
been charged with reckless driving, three counts of reckless endangerment and
fourth-degree assault. (The Oregonian; AP; various other news venues 05.26.14)

One
person that commented on this article noted that holding your breath for ten
seconds does not usually cause a person to lose consciousness. He said this: “Do a search on
"huffing driving" to see what I'm talking about, and I'm assuming the
police looked for bottles of compressed air? I have second hand experience on
this one - a friend's now deceased wife was a huffer and passed out several
times while inhaling air and driving (as well as other places). She drowned
after huffing, passing out in the bathtub.” It is shocking to think
that people could be driving around do that!

Holding your breath for a Christian is like trying to live a
sinful, worldly life after you have been “born again.” You can
hold your breath for 30 seconds or so, but you cannot do it for days or even
hours at a time. Your nature, once you have been “born again,” has been changed, transformed (2 Corinthians 5:17) and you
cannot continue on the same path of life you were on before. You may be able to
do it for a while, but your new nature will have to come up for a breath of air
at some point. If you persist in holding your breath, there will be
consequences. Physically, holding your breath can have consequences, some severe
as we see with what happened to Daniel Calhoun. Spiritually, holding your
breath will have consequences too, because “the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23),” and those wages must be paid.

Why do people try to hold their breath spiritually? I think the
number one reason is succumbing to temptation. There is a continual spiritual
pressure upon Christians from the world, the flesh, and the devil. However, God
will provide a way of escape (1
Corinthians 10:13), but we
must choose to take God’s way. Another reason is that people become angry with
God and they throw a temper tantrum by spiritually holding their breath. Little
children sometimes have temper tantrums. Here are the top five things that have
been reported that children do when having a temper tantrum: Scream, stomp, kick, cry, and hold their breath. I have
seen kids do all of those things. To stop children from holding their breath,
some parents have resorted to throwing cold water on them to break the habit.

If you think that you will gain God’s attention by throwing a
spiritual temper tantrum, it may happen. Jonah (Jonah 1:17) threw a
spiritual fit and what happened to him? He ended up in the belly of a great
fish. Lot’s wife (Genesis
19:17, 26; Luke 17:32) looked
back, and turned into a pillar of salt. Ananias and Sapphira ended up dead (Acts 5),
and it didn’t work out very well for Adam and Eve either (Genesis 3). So if you are thinking about not doing
what you know God wants you to do or doing what you know He doesn’t want you to
do, here’s my advice to you and to myself: Don’t hold your breath, DO WHAT GOD
WANTS!

Copyright © 2014. Ed Wrather. The
Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998
the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather
began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first
devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison
facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

The .org
Burning Bush website

is being updated.

The Burning Bush websites have
received visits from more than 170 countries. Celebrating 15 years online since
January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the Burning Bush Devotional has been
spreading the truth of God's Word to more than 14,000 subscribers across the
world.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top left hand corner of all of the pages.

Prayer Warriors Wanted! Please join the
Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998. Send prayer requests and
receive prayer requests. To join send an
email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and has more time to pursue other ministry opportunities.
You can make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

Prayer Requests: Please pray for
the return of the Nigerian school girls. Many prayer needs are posted at the
Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer
requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for
me.).

If you enjoy the devotional
please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank
email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

You can unsubscribe to the
burningbushdevo devotional group by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html
text group (Because of time constraints the devotional is only being sent now
in html format) by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org
and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.
If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

--

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org

Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

If for
some reason you do not receive your email version of the devotional please
check the Burning Bush website at http://www.theburningbush.net for the “Devotional of the Day” and read the devotional there.

The Burning
Bush Devotional

05.27.14

Don’t
Hold Your Breath

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed
hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave
Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for
Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. - Titus 2:11-14 NKJV.

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His
commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the
world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. Who is
he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? -
1 John 5:3-5 NKJV.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things
have passed away; behold, all things have become new. - 2 Corinthians 5:17
NKJV.

Near
Manning, Oregon is a the Highway 26 tunnel and it takes about ten seconds to
pass through the tunnel at the 55 mph speed limit. Daniel J. Calhon, however,
didn’t make it through the tunnel. He had an accident, and it resulted in
himself and three other people going to the hospital for non-life-threatening
injuries. What caused Daniel to have an accident? He told police officers that
he was holding his breath as he went through the tunnel and passed out. State
Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said that people sometimes hold their breath through
tunnels as part of a game or superstition. Hastings also said that
investigators did not believe drugs or alcohol were involved. Daniel Calhon has
been charged with reckless driving, three counts of reckless endangerment and
fourth-degree assault. (The Oregonian; AP; various other news venues 05.26.14)

One
person that commented on this article noted that holding your breath for ten
seconds does not usually cause a person to lose consciousness. He said this: “Do a search on
"huffing driving" to see what I'm talking about, and I'm assuming the
police looked for bottles of compressed air? I have second hand experience on
this one - a friend's now deceased wife was a huffer and passed out several
times while inhaling air and driving (as well as other places). She drowned
after huffing, passing out in the bathtub.” It is shocking to think
that people could be driving around do that!

Holding your breath for a Christian is like trying to live a
sinful, worldly life after you have been “born again.” You can
hold your breath for 30 seconds or so, but you cannot do it for days or even
hours at a time. Your nature, once you have been “born again,” has been changed, transformed (2 Corinthians 5:17) and you
cannot continue on the same path of life you were on before. You may be able to
do it for a while, but your new nature will have to come up for a breath of air
at some point. If you persist in holding your breath, there will be
consequences. Physically, holding your breath can have consequences, some severe
as we see with what happened to Daniel Calhoun. Spiritually, holding your
breath will have consequences too, because “the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23),” and those wages must be paid.

Why do people try to hold their breath spiritually? I think the
number one reason is succumbing to temptation. There is a continual spiritual
pressure upon Christians from the world, the flesh, and the devil. However, God
will provide a way of escape (1
Corinthians 10:13), but we
must choose to take God’s way. Another reason is that people become angry with
God and they throw a temper tantrum by spiritually holding their breath. Little
children sometimes have temper tantrums. Here are the top five things that have
been reported that children do when having a temper tantrum: Scream, stomp, kick, cry, and hold their breath. I have
seen kids do all of those things. To stop children from holding their breath,
some parents have resorted to throwing cold water on them to break the habit.

If you think that you will gain God’s attention by throwing a
spiritual temper tantrum, it may happen. Jonah (Jonah 1:17) threw a
spiritual fit and what happened to him? He ended up in the belly of a great
fish. Lot’s wife (Genesis
19:17, 26; Luke 17:32) looked
back, and turned into a pillar of salt. Ananias and Sapphira ended up dead (Acts 5),
and it didn’t work out very well for Adam and Eve either (Genesis 3). So if you are thinking about not doing
what you know God wants you to do or doing what you know He doesn’t want you to
do, here’s my advice to you and to myself: Don’t hold your breath, DO WHAT GOD
WANTS!

Copyright © 2014. Ed Wrather. The
Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998
the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather
began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first
devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison
facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

The .org
Burning Bush website

is being updated.

The Burning Bush websites have
received visits from more than 170 countries. Celebrating 15 years online since
January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the Burning Bush Devotional has been
spreading the truth of God's Word to more than 14,000 subscribers across the
world.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top left hand corner of all of the pages.

Prayer Warriors Wanted! Please join the
Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998. Send prayer requests and
receive prayer requests. To join send an
email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and has more time to pursue other ministry opportunities.
You can make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

Prayer Requests: Please pray for
the return of the Nigerian school girls. Many prayer needs are posted at the
Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer
requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for
me.).

If you enjoy the devotional
please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank
email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

You can unsubscribe to the
burningbushdevo devotional group by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html
text group (Because of time constraints the devotional is only being sent now
in html format) by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org
and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.
If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org