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There is nothing like having a good friend in your life. I’ve heard it said that at the end of your life if you can say you have had 5 good friends, you have had a wonderful life. We know that Jesus is the friend that sticks closer than a brother, but did you also know you can have a friendship with the Holy Spirit? I love the song Holy Spirit by Francesca Battistelli that says in the chorus:
Holy Spirit you are welcome here,
come flood this place and fill the atmosphere.
Your glory Lord is what our hearts long for,
To be overcome by Your Presence Lord…..
And the bridge says,
Let us become more aware of your presence
Let us experience the glory of your goodness.
Those words so beautifuly portray what our friendship with the Holy Spirit can look like. Let’s become more aware of His presence, and let His glory be what our hearts long for. There is nothing more precious in life.

If you are one of those on the fence about being filled with the Holy Spirit, I encourage you to open up your heart to the possibility. From personal experience I can say that after being saved, it is the most important decision I ever made. Once I was filled with the Spirit of God, I had a deeper love for God’s Word, and a desire and the power available to share my faith with others effectively. I love Charles Finney’s testimony of how his life changed after he was filled with the Spirit. He lived from 1792-1885 and was curious about Christianity, but was reluctant to give his life to God. This is how he described his encounter with God. “The Holy Spirit descended on me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I could feel the impression like a wave of electricity, going through and through me. Indeed, it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love, for I could not express it another way. It seemed like the very breath of God.” What a beautfiul description. He was filled with fresh air from the Holy Spirit, and his life was never the same. I can say the same, when I was filled with the Holy Spirit, life was never again as it was before, only way better!

One of the most wonderful moments in my life was when I received the Holy Spirit. It was something I had a lot of questions about, and being raised in a church where being filled with the spirit was frowned up, I really wanted to know the truth. I’m so glad I decided to look into the Word of God and do some study on my own. One scripture that spoke to me specifically that I could personally be filled was in Acts chapter 2 when it said that “they were all filled and they all began to speak” with tongues. The word all, meant me too! What the disciples waited for, came to pass, and since that day, the day of Pentecost, anyone who asks can receive the Holy Spirit. What I didn’t understand fully was that the Holy Spirit would give me the words, and that it was my vocal cords, and my voice that would speak them out. It was God’s super with my natural that did this very supernatural thing of speaking in other tongues after being filled with the Spirit of God. If you want to receive like I did, the only prerequisite is that you are born again, and then you can pray a prayer like I did, similar to this. Jesus, I ask you to fill me with the Holy Spirit, and I will speak in tongues as the Holy Spirit gives me the words.

Intro:
Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword. This week as we continue winding down our study about breathing Fresh Air into our lives, we will talk about the word breath. In the Bible, every time you read the word Spirit it means breath. In the Old Testament, it is translated ruwach which actually means a blast of breath or a strong wind. In the New Testament it is translated pneuma, which means wind, a current of air, or a strong breeze. If we want the vibrant breath of fresh air in our lives, we must seek a vibrant relationship with the Holy Spirit. Here is your dailyeword.

So what is the best way to keep fresh air flowing through your life? It isn’t something that is unattainable, hard to master, or even expensive. It is totally a free gift for anyone who desires it, and it really isn’t an it, He is a person and He is the Holy Spirit! If you have read the book of Acts, you know that in the first chapter, the disciples were told to wait for a wonderful gift that they would receive. The gift would give them power to be witnesses, right where they were, and around the world. The gift was the Holy Spirit and He is the source of fresh air that we need, every hour, every day. With the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we live our lives to the fullest, making the most of every day for the kingdom of God. Sounds like a win/win!

Trust and obey, there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. I love that old song! Just as trusting and obeying go together, resting and trusting go hand in hand. When we rest in the Lord, we are saying we trust Him. We take our agenda, or even our own way of thinking and say we will think higher, like God does and we will give ourselves over to His Lordship in our life. We call Him Lord which really mean boss. If we want to keep our job, we do what our boss asks us to do. If we want to breathe fresh air into our life, we do what the boss (our Lord) says to do. Take a Sabbath rest. Intentionally leave margin in your life. Take vacations. Listen to your warning lights, and take a breather. Your body will thank you, and your family will too!

Are you a napper? I was speaking with a young mom this week, and every Sunday afternoon when she puts her kids down for a nap, she takes a nap with them. I love that! One of my favorite things to do on a Sunday afternoon in the summertime is to read the paper on the hammock and drift off to sleep in the warm sunshine for a short nap. I try to intentionally, deliberately take it easy on Sunday afternoons. As much as I am a go getter during the week, I realize the importance of a Sabbath Day rest, and I know that if I don’t intentionally, deliberately rest my body, I can not be my best for the rest of the week. Sometimes our body makes us rest through sickness. My best advice is to listen to the warning signs that your body gives you and act on them. Drink lots of water, get daily exercise, eat healthy food, and get some good healthy rest. It will do your body good, and will breathe fresh air into your world.

I saw an ad recently that was encouraging people to take their vacation time. A little girls says that 400 million paid vacation days go unused everyday. The little boy says that’s the stupidest thing I ever heard! It was little kids in the commercial and they were adorable, but so very right. I was so surprised to hear how many people don’t use any or even most of their vacation. As surprised as I was, I had to laugh, because for our 25th anniversary of starting AGF, we were given a vacation trip that we still have not taken. We are 2 ½ years since we were given the gift, and life has been really full and we haven’t used it yet. So, my fresh air determination is that very soon we will book the trip! So I will tell you to do what we haven’t done, go on your vacation. Use your paid vacation days! Give your family time to get excited about a future trip. Plan a trip for just you and your spouse, with some fun surprises along the way. A vacation can breathe fresh air into your family, into your marriage, into your own life. It is worth it!

Perhaps you haven’t heard about Sabbath in our secular world recently, but it is something that God established. God made the Sabbath for us and we honor Him by honoring a Sabbath day. Honoring God’s design, and the principles He established will only make our life better. Having a Sabbath in our week is a key component to finishing our race strong and healthy in old age. God knows how to take what we give Him and make more with less. He does it with our finances, and He also makes it happen with our time. Give God one day of your week, and it will make the other six more productive. It is opposite thinking to the world, but it is a principle that will breathe fresh air into your world. Make a commitment to weekly rest, and then carry it over to a life long pattern in your life. We want to finish strong emotionally, spiritually and physically.

Take it to the limit, one more time. That line from an old Eagle’s song is the way many of us live. When it comes to finances, when it comes to time management, or even stress levels, we take it to the limit. God wants us to have margin in our lives, and make choices that keep us from living over the edge. In fact we learned in elementary school when we first learn to write that we need margins. The wide ruled paper that we used to print our name on had two margins, one on the right and on the left. It actually is a great reminder of how we are to live. Give yourself time at the beginning and at the end of your day to wind up and wind down. Take a break in your work day. That’s like a comma or a period to take a breath while you are reading. Take your lunch break. Take a potty break! Live within the margins, and deep breathe throughout your in your day. That will give you more oxygen for yourself, and then you can really help somebody else when you are not totally worn out. Breathe some fresh air into your life, and you’ll have some to give to someone else.

Have you noticed in your car if you don’t check or change your oil that after a certain amount of miles a little red light will come on in your car? If can happen if we don’t care for the battery, or the tires or the brakes. We want our car to be in good working order, so we check up on these things regularly. We should probably do the same thing with our physical bodies, our mental health and our spiritual life. How are you doing physically? Are any warning lights going off that are cluing you in that you need to get a check up? Listen to your body. How about mentally? Have you been so stressed that one more little thing in your world could make you snap? Listen to your mental health, and honor your body by taking a breather. Over stress is a warning light you can’t ignore. How about your spiritual life? Have you telling God you can do life without Him by ignoring His Word, or forgetting to communicate with Him? Make the change today. Listen to your warning lights, breathe in some fresh air. And don’t forget to vote today.