I did not think this up, but a clever preacher, Mark Flynn, preached a wonderful sermon one morning years ago from the Hebrew word, YHWH (to be, to exist, to breathe). God is the great “I am” which is the present tense of “to be”; God was, God is, and God will be. He is always “to be” because He is eternal. In his sermon, Brother Mark was like , “Breathe while using these letters… Yhhhhh (inhaling) and Whhhhhhh (exhaling)”. Did you try it? Go ahead, I will wait….
I was dumbfounded and actually felt “being” as I was sitting and breathing and trying to breathe YHWH. Did you feel that way too? God gave Adam the “breath of life”, and we have it too. We know we can have it because Jesus Christ, God’s son, reminds us that HE IS as part of God with his words of “I am” . So, this isn’t a lesson on baptism, but just a few scriptures where we know we are connected to Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38 Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and Galatians 3:27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
When we dwell in Jesus the Christ we are a part of the “I am” , y’all!
The preacher today did not share all the Jesus “I ams”, but he did use the Exodus 3:15 YHWH and connected it to Jesus. Like the Apostle Paul told the Greeks who were traveling up on the Athens Acropolis and thinking about honoring the “unknown god” (they did not want to offend a “left out god”)… I’m paraphrasing but Paul said, “ I am here to preach about that God in whom we live, breath, and have everything else”. Paul then finished up by telling of Jesus’ resurrection as God’s son, our “breathing, alive, savior”
This morning, my heart has been so full that I felt I couldn’t keep this to myself—I felt led to share a simple, beautiful way to experience YHWH on this peaceful Sunday. Each time I’ve returned to this gentle breathing exercise today, it has wrapped me in deep peace, softened my worries, and helped me feel cradled in His presence. Whether this is your very first time trying something like this, or you’ve practiced breathing and feeling YHWH’s nearness before, I invite you to come back to it with a peaceful, open heart, rest quietly in that presence, and then consider sharing what you experience so others can be comforted and encouraged, too.
