Living Stream Ministry

BREATHING AND DRINKING
BY CALLING ON THE NAME OF THE LORD

Along with drinking the Lord, we also need to breathe Him in. According to the spiritual reality, breathing is drinking. M.E. Barber said in one of her hymns, "Just to breathe the Name of Jesus / Is to drink of Life indeed" (Hymns, #73, verse 2). To breathe the name of Jesus is to drink the water of life. By calling "O Lord Jesus" we breathe, and by breathing we drink.

Isaiah 12 speaks of drawing water (v. 3). No doubt, this is for drinking. Now we need to consider where breathing is revealed in this chapter. Verse 4 says, "And you will say in that day, / Praise Jehovah; call upon His name!" Praising Jehovah and calling upon His name are put together as one. Whenever we call on the name of the Lord, that implies praising. When we say "O Lord Jesus," that is not only calling but also praising. When we say, "O Lord Jesus, I love You," this is praising and breathing. Many Christians are deadened because they do not practice this spiritual breathing. If we do not breathe physically, we will die within a short period of time. This shows how crucial calling on the Lord is.

Acts 2:21 says, "And it shall be that everyone, whoever calls on the name of the Lord, shall be saved." The note on this verse in the Recovery Version points out that calling on the name of the Lord began with Enosh, the third generation of mankind, in Genesis 4:26. The name Enosh means frail, mortal man. We human beings are altogether weak, frail, fragile, and mortal. We cannot do anything apart from the Lord. Because we need Him in everything, we need to call on Him. When we call on Him, we breathe Him in, and our breathing is our drinking.

The air we breathe includes water. When water becomes vapor, it gets into the air. The air sends water to the earth in the form of rain, and the water on the earth vaporizes and goes back to the air. There are devices called vaporizers which convert the water into vapor for inhalation. The water in the vaporizer goes into the air. When we breathe in this air, we get the water because the water is in the air. This illustrates that our breathing is also our drinking. Spiritually, our calling is our breathing, and our breathing is our drinking. When we say, "O Lord Jesus," we breathe Him in, and we are watered and refreshed.

(Life-Study of Isaiah, Chapter 40, by Witness Lee)