Verse of the Day 4/5

Verse of the Day 4/5

Genesis 2:7   And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.    New King James Version (NKJV)

Many years ago my wife Jean and I were at a reception at a banquet hall with many family members present.  My father in law, Chet, suffered what is known as sudden death and collapsed at our table.  Thankfully, Jean is a respiratory therapist and with the help of one of her cousins they were able to perform CPR on him and revive him.  Chet went on to live another 20 years thanks to receiving  the "breath of life" of CPR.

The other day I read the following on CPR from a devotional. "Cardiac Pulmonary Resuscitation, better known as CPR, dates to 1740 when the Paris Academy of Sciences officially recommended a mouth-to-mouth method of resuscitation for victims of drowning. But it did not gain popularity in the United States until endorsed by the military in 1957. In 1972, a man named Leonard Cobb began mass training efforts in Seattle, Wash., showing more than 100,000 people how to give the breath of life.......When God formed man from the very dust of the ground, He did something extraordinary. He breathed into Adam's nostrils "the breath of life" (v. 7). It was God's breath that transformed man into a "living being." What an amazing gift God gave at that moment: the gift of life. As Acts 17:28 says, "For in him we live and move and have our being."

God formed man and breathed into him the breath of life.  Spiritually, He breaths life into us as Christians when we receive Him as Savior.  A stanza in the song "Come Thou Fount" tells of how we are "prone to wander", but thankfully God can call us, bring us back to life giving us spiritual "CPR" giving an opportunity for many years of love, devotion and service to Him.

I was then reminded of the current Christian song, "Come Alive".

God of endless mercy god of unrelenting love  Rescue every daughter bring us back the wayward son  And by your spirit breathe upon them show the world that you alone can save  You alone can save    As we call out to dry bones come alive, come alive  We call out to dead hearts come alive, come alive  Up out of the ashes let us see an army rise  We call out to dry bones come alive    So breathe, oh breath of god  Now breathe, oh breath of god  Breathe, oh breath of god now breathe   (Lauren Daigle)  

We may know some people who have dead hearts, hearts of stone, or who may have "walked away from God", but God who created life has the power to breathe spiritual life into the deadest hearts.  If you know of someone that needs this CPR, call out to God for them.  Reach out to them with a verse, a song or hymn and encourage them to have faith in God.

Read Ezekiel 36 where we read the following verse and then chapter 37 which speaks of the dry bones coming alive.

Ezekiel 36:26    I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  New King James Version (NKJV)

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

Genesis 2:7-8 New King James Version (NKJV)

⁷ And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Life in God's Garden

⁸ The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.