THE DESPERATE NEED FOR AIR
Ezekiel 37:1-10/1 Cor. 15:42-44

"Thief, thief, grab him", shouted the old lady hysterically. A large crowd gathered around the elderly lady on a street-corner in Lima, Peru, and focused their attention on an absent-minded man named Freddie Mesa, who had joined the crowd to see the commotion. Someone had stolen the defenseless lady's bag of groceries, and everyone thought that Freddie was the culprit.

The frenzied mob grabbed Freddie and tied a rope around his neck. They found a deep hole at a construction site and threw him in. They were in the act of burying him alive when the police arrived and saved his life.

"When they started to bury me," said Freddie, "I opened my mouth to breathe a little air, but all I swallowed was a mouthful of dirt."

Newspapers and television news, report similar stories from different parts of the world. The crazed minds of men attempt to punish by burying someone alive. Other people have been buried alive in snow avalanches or mudslides. In every case, those who escaped to tell the story have the same comment: the desperate need for air.

One can survive hours, even days, without light, water or food, with a leg pinned under debris such as happens in an earthquake. Rarely, however, can a person survive more than three minutes without air. The lack of oxygen for more than three minutes can be fatal.

The Bible describes man as being not only physical, but spiritual as well. We have both a body and a spirit. We can refer to the lack of the oxygen that relates to the body, but what about man's spirit?

Is there special oxygen for the soul of the person who has suffered some great moral catastrophe and has been destroyed by the struggles of life?

YES, there is! Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)

Friend, there is spiritual oxygen for the emotional and spiritual needs of man. God offers divine assistance for the destroyed soul, and gives life to the wounded heart. When Christ Jesus comes into the mind of a hopeless person something miraculous happens. A living faith takes hold allowing the person to take a breath of hope once again.

Allow Jesus, that Divine Oxygen, to enter your soul. He will renew you today.

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Pray for Radio Nacional Fénix in Zaruma, Ecuador. Over 100,000 people can hear the program ten times per week. We have been on this station since 1984.