DAY 2 : RUACH, PNEUMA, AND DUNAMIS: THE BREATH AND POWER OF GOD

Ruach is the Hebrew word used in the Old Testament for breath, wind, and Spirit/spirit. It is a feminine noun, thus expressing God’s feminine side (both masculinity and femininity come from God). Pneuma is the Greek (New Testament) word with the same meaning, and is used most often to describe the Holy Spirit, our spirits, and the energy God gives someone. 

So throughout your Bible, Old and New Testaments, the Holy Spirit has been breathing life and power into the followers of God. He is the breath that animates our life. He wants to bring God’s life into us.

Dunamis is the word used when the Holy Spirit came to the followers of Jesus to fulfill Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” They were “filled to capacity” (Acts 2:4) with the Holy Spirit, and their lives were forever changed by His Presence and power.

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit “came on” someone to empower them for a specific task. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit “came in” someone who believed Jesus was the Son of God, their Savior. The Holy Spirit then empowered them for living out their entire life in Christ. This was no one-job deal; this was now and into eternity.

Imagine God’s loving Spirit coming to empower you to do Kingdom work, ablaze with light, acting like an inner battery, dynamic and ready to create a chain reaction within you for God’s world (see Acts 2). Imagine a mellow, hot blaze within you, a burning that moves you toward loving God and loving people. That’s the Holy Spirit alive in you. He is your fuel, your own inner spiritual combustion system.

REFLECTION :

Morning Pause: Pause and ask God to animate you for this day ahead. As you walk through the door of your job, as you walk through the doors within your house or apartment, ask the Holy Spirit to breath His breath of life in you.

Afternoon Pause: Refresh yourself with the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to refresh you with the wind of Himself, just like a cool breeze would revive you. Go forward with His power.

Evening Pause: Consider the fiery language of the last paragraph. What makes you burn? What cause or passion or idea or job sets a fire in you? When did fire flare up in you today? Journal about this.