O Lord, breathe Thy Spirit on me

I am breathing out my sorrow,
Breathing out my sin;
I am breathing, breathing, breathing,
All Thy fulness in.

I'm freshly in awe of this precious hymn. Tonight, an older friend was struggling with anxiety and a racing heart. Over the phone I walked her through the deep breathing steps to help calm her. Afterwards, this hymn welled up in me, freshly reminding me of spiritual breathing too! Praise the Lord, He is so breathable! A brother experienced the Lord as the Spirit in this way and wrote a hymn for future generations to enjoy. Oh, what a rich heritage of faith we have! 🎵I am breathing in Thy answers, stilling every doubt and fear🎵.

Whenever I sing a hymn, my prayer is always Lord give me some “healthy experience “of you that I can leave with the saints to touch you always , like those brothers and like I can touch you through there experiences eg A. B Simpson because they found it by fellowship with you, and the joy they had in that moment , I dot know for some reason I love crying out to Lord and calling out while walking on the road.

1) The Definition of Calling On the Lord

Firstly, we need to learn the meaning of calling on the name of the Lord. Some Christians think that calling on the Lord is the same as praying to Him. Formerly, I held the same concept. One day, however, the Lord showed me that calling on His name is different from merely praying. Yes, calling is a type of prayer, for it is a part of our prayer, but calling is not merely praying. The Hebrew word for call means to “call out to, ” “to cry unto, ” that is, to cry out. The Greek word for call means “to invoke a person, ” “to call a person by name. ” In other words, it is to call a person by naming him audibly. Although prayer may be silent, calling must be audible.

To call on the Lord also means to cry to Him and to experience spiritual breathing. “I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon. Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry” ( Lam. 3:55-56 ). These verses indicate that calling is also crying and breathing. Crying is the best breathing. I have been told that crying is the best exercise for little babies. Whenever you cry out, you breathe spontaneously and deeply. By crying and breathing we both exhale and inhale. Inhaling always follows exhaling. By exhaling we breathe out all the negative things. Whenever you breathe out the negative things, the positive things of the Lord will fill you up. Let me take the example of losing your temper. When you are about to lose your temper, do not try to suppress it, but call, “O Lord Jesus. ” Then add a short prayer, “Lord Jesus, I am going to lose my temper. ” Do this and see whether you still lose your temper. By calling on the name of the Lord you will breathe out your temper and you will breathe in the Lord Jesus. You will exhale your temper and inhale the Lord. Do you want to be holy? The way to be holy is to call on the name of the Lord Jesus. By calling on His name all the sinful, evil, and unclean things will be breathed out, and all the positive things—the riches of the Lord—will be breathed into you.

A. B. Simpson wrote a hymn on breathing the Lord. Let us read some of the stanzas:

O Lord, breathe Thy Spirit on me,
Teach me how to breathe Thee in;
Help me pour into Thy bosom
All my life of self and sin.
I am breathing out my sorrow,
Breathing out my sin;
I am breathing, breathing, breathing,
All Thy fulness in.
Breathing out my sinful nature,
Thou hast borne it all for me;
Breathing in Thy cleansing fulness,
Finding all my life in Thee.

In 1963 I introduced this hymn to some of the saints in the United States. One day, after we had sung this hymn, a dear saint came to me and said, “I can’t understand this hymn. Breathing, breathing, breathing—breathing what? ” He was somewhat bothered. A few years later, after we had published our hymnal, this same saint said to me, “Brother, my favorite hymn in the hymnal is that hymn on breathing the Lord. ”

Life-study of Genesis

Chapter 25 Section 2 (LSM)

RECEIVING THE HOLY BREATH

After the Lord Jesus entered into resurrection, He came to His disciples. According to John 20:22, “He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. ” The Greek word for Spirit, pneuma, also means “breath. ” This indicates that the Lord Jesus was telling the disciples to receive the holy breath. The Gospel of John begins with the Word and goes on to speak of the Lamb and the vine. Finally, in John 20:22 we see that the very One who is the Word, God, the Lamb, and the vine is also the breath for us to receive. On the one hand, He breathed out; on the other hand, the disciples breathed in.

In 20:22 the Lord Jesus told the disciples to receive the holy breath, the Holy Spirit. We should not analyze the breath but receive it by breathing it into us. Unfortunately, many of today’s Christians know only to reason and consider; they do not have any experience of breathing the holy breath. A. B. Simpson was one who knew the experience of breathing Christ in. The opening lines of one of his hymns read, “O Lord, breathe Thy Spirit on me, / Teach me how to breathe Thee in” (Hymns, #255).

In the Gospel of John we have a record of the divine process. The Word, who was God, became flesh. Eventually, having passed through crucifixion and resurrection, He became the holy breath for us to breathe in.

If we see the steps of this process, we will have a proper and thorough understanding of the Gospel of John. According to John 1:1 and 14, the Word, who was in the beginning with God and who was God, became flesh. In verse 29 we see that this Word become flesh is the Lamb of God. On the one hand, He is the Lamb for accomplishing redemption; on the other hand, He is the tree for imparting life. Therefore, we may speak of Him as the Lamb-tree. According to John 15, the branches of the vine are the living of the vine. Ultimately, the Lamb-tree became the holy breath. Hallelujah! In our experience we have Christ as the Word, the Lamb, the tree, and the breath. The Word is for expression, the Lamb is for redemption, the tree is for the impartation of life, and the breath is for our living.

We cannot live without breathing. Instead of saying that a certain person has died, the Chinese say that he has stopped breathing. No doubt, to stop breathing is to die. However, to keep on breathing is to live. No matter how many schools we may graduate from, we can never graduate from breathing. No one can say that because he has become so knowledgeable or mature, it is no longer necessary for him to breathe. Rather, the older a person becomes, the more concerned he may be about his breathing. How marvelous that for our spiritual life we have the holy breath for our living!

Life-study of Philippians

Chapter 34 (LSM)

Praise the Lord that He is breathable! Wrote a stanza of breathing Him as peace:

"I am breathing out anxiety
Casting it-all upon Thee
Breathing in Thy peace abiding
God of peace Himself in me!"

Just to breathe the Name of Jesus is to drink of Life indeed! O Lord! When we call out “O Lord Jesus” we receive the sum total of His Person and work - Amazing! This is different than merely praying—call out to Him as though you were a person drowning in the sea—He will save you, actually and practically in your experience! see Psalm 116 —what a blessing to receive and enjoy Him and to “pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. ” 2 Tim 2:22

It's a super hymn.

I cant sing that song without tears.

Amen

I am breathing out my own life that I might be filled with Thine!