Click for audio: From Emotion to Inspiration
“You search the generic online female viagra scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40).
I remember reading this passage when I was in my early teens and wondering how this message could be reconciled with the teaching I was given that scripture was the word of God. It appears that Jesus was pointing to an authority higher than the written word. On the surface, he seemed to be calling attention to himself, which certainly fits the traditional Christian narrative of Jesus as the only way to God. Since then, I have come to think of the “me” he was referring to as the system of thought that he taught. You read about God, but to experience God you must go into your inner chamber, shut the kamagra recept duitsland door and pray to the Father who is in secret.
Enlightening words can certainly stir emotion. I have often thought that the born-again experience many have is little more than an emotional high stimulated by a religious group setting. I certainly experienced this when I was baptized by full immersion. It wasn’t long afterward that the emotion sparked by that special moment began to fade.
In the book of Job, we find this important insight: “The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (Job 33:4). Breath and the word inspiration are closely tied. Consider this entomology:
Inspiration: Middle English enspire, from Old French inspirer, from Latin inspirare ‘breathe or blow into,’ from in-‘into’ + spirare ‘breathe.’ The word was originally used of a divine or supernatural being, in the sense ‘impart a truth or idea to someone.’
The breath of the Almighty is the impartation, a direct experience of God. It is not the filling of our heads with ideas. It’s the opening of our hearts to the living presence of God. In this light, we see that Jesus was saying it’s time to stop merely reading about God and open our hearts to that life-changing presence that has been standing at the door and knocking. It is time to rise above mere emotion and seek the living breath of true inspiration.