This is a post that I have been sitting on for a few weeks. I didn’t want to overload with topics from The Hillsong Conference, but I have to share this one. You never know when one concept or thought can be life changing for someone. This was the first time that I had ever heard Judah Smith. My husband is a huge fan…read the books and even met him at general council one year. All it took was hearing one message from him and I completely got it. I totally understood why my husband was such a fan; this guy is great.

One of the messages that he shared in New York was all about your soul. He talked about how Genesis gives us the origin of the human soul. “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7) He went on to explain that the Hebrews believed that anytime you spoke of your soul, that you were at the same time speaking about the breath of God. We, as humans, possess the breath of God. It is what gives us life. It is what gives us meaning. There is such a beauty about that concept that we tend to not even realize or think about. We get caught up in our own life and our own to do list. We forget about the majesty of God that is all around us everyday. We certainly tend to forget that every single inhale/exhale of our body is breath that God breathed into us. God breathed life into man and so the very breath that we are breathing is borrowed from God.

Psalm 103:1- “Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!”

He also talked about how the term bless in Hebrew means to gratefully praise in adoration. Living a life of praise is living in grateful adoration- not just presenting a list of wants and needs like people tend to do during their prayer time. Living this way is a lifestyle. You can’t just bless God with your lips or words. You have to bless God with all of you- your time and your finances and your talents. Sometimes you have to choose praise even when you may not feel like it.

Not all of life is pleasant. In fact, sometimes life can be quite treacherous. It can be overwhelming and stressful. It is not always easy to choose to praise God through times like that. Sometimes when you are in the midst of a hard time and it seems to be taking every ounce of energy out of you just to survive. There are times when you can’t even think about tomorrow, because you are literally taking life moment by moment. These are the times when you have to actively and purposely choose to praise God. He is always worthy regardless. We just tend to get caught up in our own junk. It can seem like it took all that you had to offer just to make it to church.

Now what? I’m expected to lift my hands and sing these songs. I just can’t. I feel so weighed down. I’ve been there. It’s not easy.

When you feel that way….and are burdened down….like the walls are caving in…. just take a deep breath. remember as you exhale that your very breath is borrowed from God. God loves you dearly and longs for a relationship with you. Use your borrowed breath to give him praise and see how quickly your situation will change. Sometimes the circumstances themselves do not change, but sometimes it is us that does the changing. Peace can replace stress. Purpose can replace confusion. Love can replace bitterness.

“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ~Romans 8:37-39