DUMC – BREATH OF LIFE! Rachel Hickson 12/13 September 2020 =================================== As we look to the horizons of this strange season of the global pandemic and we begin to access what we have learnt, I sense that all over the world God is stirring a fresh desire and hunger for Him. As I prayed for Malaysia – realising that it is your Malaysia DAY 16th soon - I felt Him say it is time for Malaysia to receive my FRESH WIND and then breathe life into Malaysia, its people and society. In my spirit, as I prayed, I began to hear the words of this famous hymn by Edwin Hatch: 1878 - A prayer of supplication yearning for the Holy Spirit! 1. Breathe on me, Breath of God, Fill me with life anew, That I may love what Thou dost love, And do what Thou wouldst do. 2. Breathe on me, Breath of God, Until my heart is pure, Until with Thee I will one will, To do and to endure. 3. Breathe on me, Breath of God, Till I am wholly Thine, Until this earthly part of me Glows with Thy fire divine. 4. Breathe on me, Breath of God, So shall I never die, But live with Thee the perfect life Of Thine eternity. # THE CRY FOR THE BREATH OF GOD (Job 33:4) The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. (Genesis 2:7) Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. It is because the breath of God is within us that we live. This is so true in the natural – we listen for that last breath and when it is gone we know that person is no longer living. As in the natural so it is in the spiritual …. we need breath in our spiritual lungs! We need God to breathe on us once again – FRESH WIND of GOD. (John 20: 21-22) 21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. As we receive this breath, it activates life within us. # NEW HUNGER – NEW WINE As we seek God in this season, He is stirring a fresh hunger for Himself and His ways. A fresh passion, rejuvenated love, hunger for His word and desire to pray, is awakening our spiritual life where we have been sleepy or apathetic. God is producing new WINE in our lives. # NEW WINDS and NEW FIRE As these NEW WINDS of the Holy Spirit blow through our hearts, it awakens the embers that have been going out and sharpens our discipline and attitudes that have become dull. He is refuelling the fires of our love for Him with fresh passion and hope. He is awakening the Jesus army that desire God. As we stand up with a new desire and hunger, God then challenges us again with a mission and shows us the landscape of our nation that He sees. God challenges us – NOW BREATHE into this community, your nation. # BREATHE LIFE INTO OTHERS (Numbers 27:15-17) 15 Moses said to the LORD, ¹⁶ “May the LORD, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community ¹⁷ to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.” Moses understood that God appoints “someone” to breathe into the people without hope or life! We need those people willing to go out and come in – those who will be in the community and work space and shepherd the people. Let us look at Ezekiel 37 Here God had to challenge His prophet Ezekiel and ask him what he saw and then teach him how to respond and minister to the people. So often we can make correct assessments of the situation but then we have the wrong reaction or response to the problems. (Ezekiel 37) 37 The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ² He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. ³ He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” I believe that God is taking the Malaysian churches and walking them back and forth amongst their nation and asking them if they can see life? The Spirit of the Lord has not left you; in fact He is leading you and you are walking with God in the valley seeing everything that is dry and appears dead! God then asks you – What is your expectation?? Do you believe Malaysia can live? What do you carry at this time? Ezekiel does not respond but asks God to tell him – He does not want to risk talking! 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath[ᵃ] enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’” Then God asks you – the church – the prophetic people - to PROPHESY to the bones and give them a word from God! Dry bones – Hear the word of the Lord and COME TO LIFE!! I believe that God wants to touch your mouth and give you the words for the dry bones - the words that will bring to life. As we speak - GOD WILL MAKE BREATH enter them! 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 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.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. 11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’” This is a time to release and speak LIFE and breathe into people and the NATION It is interesting that all over the world we are contesting with the COVID-19 virus and in the process, we are also fighting for our breath and our voice! Our breath is being challenged and squeezed. We have become masked and muzzled. We cannot see the faces and we cannot hear the voices! But God is wanting to see us and hear us. (Song of songs 2:10-14) My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me. 11 See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. ¹² Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. ¹³ The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.”¹⁴ My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. We need to speak out the word of the Lord and declare His purposes in the nations. In the Hebraic calendar - This is the YEAR of 5780 – the year of PEY The character PEY is represented by a mouth with a seed in it. So, I believe that it is important that we speak and declare the purposes of God in this season. This is a time to SPEAK! Last time I was with you I had such a sense that the Lord was raising up South East Asia like a megaphone in his hands to be a mouthpiece and voice to the nations. I do believe with all the shaking of this region with Hong Kong, Thailand and the other areas of conflict and challenge, God is giving you a new opportunity to be the carriers of LIFE in your communities and families. This is a TIME TO SPEAK and bring LIFE to the exhausted and overwhelmed. I believe many are like GEORGE FLOYD who cried out in panic – I can’t breathe! They are overwhelmed by the pressures and cares of this world and they have lost hope So it is our season and TIME to BREATHE hope into the next season. We are the carriers of life and I believe that SE Asia and Malaysia have a part in that role.