Ruach Elohim

Ruach Elohim

by

Bishop M.L. Maughmer, Jr.

OPENING: - My wife and I love to sit out on the patio and just enjoy life, nature, and each other. Now both of us being northerners neither one of us are really enthused when the temperature and humidity is super high, that is one of our biggest dislikes about when we lived in Florida the high humidity. However, when a breeze blows it makes you feel good, it sends a calming effect through you. When the wind blows the leaves on the trees come alive with movement, the flowers sway, and the smell of honeysuckle or lavender fills the air, when the wind blows.

Today I want to talk about another blowing of wind called the Ruach Elohim, which is the Breath of God.

DEFINITION: - The Hebrew word Ruach means “breath,” “wind,” or “spirit.” The Greek word is pneuma. Both words are used in the Bible referring to the Holy Spirit. Elohim, which means God. The root word of "Elohim" is "El," and is composed of two letters: Aleph (Hebrew ?) and Lamed (Hebrew ?). "El" in Hebrew represents the idea of "one who is strong and has authority," or "a strong one with great authority”. The original Hebrew symbol for the letter aleph is a symbol of an ox head. Logically, it represents strength, force, power. The original Hebrew symbol for the letter Lamed looks like a J, and is a symbol of the shepherd's staff. The staff represents the shepherd of a flock, who has authority over the sheep who are entrusted to him.

So, together, aleph and lamed come together to form the idea of "strong authority" or "a strong one who has authority. "God’s Ruach is the source of life. The Ruach of God is the One who gives life to all creation. Moses said in Numbers 27:16 says, “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh…..”.

PRAYER: -

SCRIPTURE: - Ezekiel 37:1-5 says, “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones. And caused me to pass by them round about and, behold, there were very many in the open valley, and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophecy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live.”

Life is uneven, there are ups and downs, there’s good times and bad times, there’s joy and there’s pain, there’s sunshine and rain, there’s devotion and deceit. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 says “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

UNDERSTAND:- This may be a little hard to grasp at first but the highs and lows in life are ordained by God because He knew that in this flesh dwelleth no good thing and if we always had high, if everything was always great in our lives, if we never experienced times of struggle and hardship, then pride would take over us and we would begin to think that we were all that and pride goeth before destruction. So to keep us from becoming cynical and judgmental He allows us to go through low places because when low places come flesh is brought under subjection, pride is not allowed to fester and if I like Paul learn to be content with the low place, not comfortable, but learn to manage the low place understand that God has a purpose for me than I can develop compassion and understanding and when I see someone else who is in a low place I will not be so quick to judge them but have compassion and understanding on them.