The word “breath” has a common theme throughout
cultures and languages. It is particularly important within Christianity. Qi or
chi and prana are the Chinese and Sanskrit words that are similar to the Greek
word pneuma, which means spirit, wind, or breath, and, in Scripture, when the
word Holy is added, it becomes the Third Person of the Trinity, Holy Spirit.
The Hebrew word ruach is similar to the Greek word. Pneuma appears in the Greek
text 385 times. It is used at least once as a word for “life”. Sometimes the
use of the word in the New Testament means the “Giver”, or the “Holy Spirit”,
and other times it is referring to His gifts. It is often difficult to know
which word meaning is used, so we will leave that for the Bible experts!
In Luke 24:39 Jesus stated, “a pneuma does not
have flesh and bones, as you observe me having.” Thus Jesus defined a “pneuma”
as a living being without a body. James 2:26b refers to humans as “the body
without the pneuma is dead.” Pneuma usually represents a living, non-physical
being or a non-physical part of a human, either a soul or a spirit, or both.
God is a Spirit [pneuma], and they that worship
Him must worship Him in spirit [pneuma] and in truth”. John 3:8 says, “The wind
blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it
comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit”
[pneuma]. This verse explains that the wind does what it wants,
and we hear the wind blowing, but we don’t always understand or see the
results, so it is with the Holy Spirit as He molds, grows, and reshapes us into
His image for His purpose. That reshaping is done beneath the surface of our
physical being, somewhere with us where those nebulous things happen, like
thoughts, emotions, and decisions.
Bible experts disagree on whether the soul and
spirit are separate or they are one. I will use the word spirit here in this article.
Our spirit is very much connected to our
hearts, and to our consciences (did you know the heart emanates 5000 times the
electrical energy than the brain does?). Through its abilities, the human
spirit embraces, discerns, and reveals what Jesus does in the Holy Spirit. This
is probably what new agers call the “God part” in us, but, as Christians, it is
so much more than just a part. This spirit within us is what connects us to the
essence of what God is. Jesus talks a lot about being in the Father and the
Father in Him. Jesus said in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one”. Jesus also
said in John 14:9-11, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you
say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the
Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own
authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am
in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works
themselves”.
This is one of the pieces of us that is like God,
in His image, as He made us. Our spirit is what yearns and pines to be
with God. All humans desire that connection with something bigger than themselves. Adam and Eve lost this connection,
and subsequently lost it for us, too, when God kicked them out of the Garden of
Eden for disobeying Him.
Man has wandered and searched for that
reconnection both physically and spiritually ever since then. We Christians
have it when we accept Jesus as our Savior, but that acceptance doesn’t
immediately eliminate our negative human behavior in us. And that human
behavior tends to be what gets in between us and our relationship with God and
with others in our lives.
And the spirit carries around all that
behavior, thoughts, ideas, emotions, etc. that does interfere in those special,
fulfilling relationships. The "soul" is the word “psyche” in Greek. It is the
root word for our word “psyche”, which consists of the mind, intellect, will,
and the emotions, etc. This is the sum total of the parts God put in us that
makes up our own individual personalities. It is everything we have ever
experienced, thought, hoped, felt, learned, etc. and subject to the whims of
our human nature because of our God-given free will. Our thoughts and behavior
change with our emotions & behavioral decisions over time and with
different maturity levels. That is why the Bible uses soul and spirit interchangeably.
The responsibility of our spirit then is
to submit itself continuously to the Holy Spirit. That is part of the process
of sanctification. Sanctification is what makes us more like Jesus in our
behavior. We can never be perfect this side of heaven, but our job is to TRY to
be as perfectly reflective of the nature of Jesus as we can.
When we do that, we will move toward the ways of
the Lord. Hebrews 9:14 says, “how much more will the blood of Jesus, who
through the eternal spirit offered Himself up unblemished to God, cleanse our
consciences from dead works to worship the Living God”.
When we are born again, God will bring our will to
a point where it has no more desire than to submit itself to the sole wishes of
the Holy Spirit. Our emotions must be healed and stilled before the Lord so
that we can attend to that still small voice within, as written in Psalm 46:10,
“Be still, and know I am God”. Romans 8:2 reads, “Through Christ Jesus the law
of the Spirit of Life set me free from the [consequences of the] law of sin and
death”.
Immature believers, or believers that are still filled with past hurts,
are unable to discern clearly the quiet voice of the Lord within them. When the
emotions are still screaming out, they drown out the presence of the Lord. All
deliverance, inner healing, counseling, and therapy (which I do not do) must be
directed at setting us free to hear and uncompromisingly obey the Holy Spirit.
Healing is the means of becoming a spiritual or “pneumatic” Christian. Our mind
and intellect must be renewed by the Word of God so that it can adequately
understand what the Holy Spirit wishes.
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) does just that.
As the past negative emotional events are cleansed from our physical bodies via
the mechanism of tapping that God the Father instilled in us at birth, we then
can move on to building a relationship between us and the Almighty. The
emotional static and interference that has been preventing that is gone! It is
a freeing process that opens us up to actually experience forgiveness and love
in our lives. Jesus tells us to “love one another”. John 15:12 says, “This is
My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you”.
Both forgiveness and love are feelings and we, as
humans, can actually know and understand them. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 reads,
“However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has
conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him’. Yet God has revealed
it to us by His Spirit. The Sprit searches all things, even the deep things of
God”.
Until you have applied EFT to that mountain of
negativity in your life, eliminating the junk clogging up your cellular
receptors, pushing those negative emotions into nonexistence, you will have a
much more difficult time experiencing the fullness of what the Holy Spirit is
whispering and showing you to do. When He talks, He has to penetrate that cloud
of emotional stuff you have piled up in your soul that is between God and you.
In Romans 12:2, which reads “Do not conform any
longer to pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind”, gives us an understanding of what God wants us to do as Christians.
Renew our minds out of our human sinful nature into the spiritual mindset of
Him who is the Master of the universe.
Give EFT a try! It will be one of the best choices you will ever make!
To schedule a free EFT consultation coaching
session, email me at: EFTforChristians@gmail.com
Always remember to take complete responsibility
for your own health and well-being.
