Spiritual Breathing

I've been reading a book off and on for a while now.  This section spoke to me.

Spiritual Breathing...hmmm.  We must breathe in the physical sense lest we die.  But what about spiritually?

Let's look at the physical first.  Here's the definition of breathe.

1) A :  to draw air into and expel  it from the lungs :  to take in oxygen and give out carbon dioxide through natural processes 

B :  to inhale and exhale freely 

   2)  live 

So the process is to take in good and exhale waste or bad.  This is natural process, not forced.  I especially love definition #2...Live.

So we must breathe spiritually as well.  We must inhale and exhale freely.  We must live.  We must breathe in God and exhale anything that isn't like him.  This should be second nature just as physical breathing is.  We should be filling ourselves with more of the Spirit instead of ourselves.  

Here's an excerpt from  Not A Fan:

The basic idea is that you live with a moment by moment awareness of the Spirit until walking in the Spirit becomes as natural--as habitual--as breathing.  It's just part of who you are.  Here's how it works:  the moment you become aware of the sin in your life you exhale.  When you exhale, you breathe out and repent of your sin.  Repentance becomes a natural response and clears out space in our hearts for the Spirit to fill us.  So the moment you are prideful, jealous, lustful, harsh, selfish, impatient, you exhale and repent of your sin.

The only way to be filled with the Spirit is to empty myself of me.  When I empty me of me, it provides space for the Holy Spirit to fill me.  The more he fills me the less room there is for me.

And then you inhale.  When you inhale you breathe in and pray to be filled with the Spirit and you surrender control over to him.  As you practice this spiritual breathing it teaches you to keep in step with the Spirit.

As you become more aware of his presence and pray daily for his power, what feels forced and unnatural now will become second nature.

God help me to be aware of you.  To listen to you and exhale/repent of anything that is not like you.  Remove me and fill me with you.  Let me breathe in your spirit to guide me and mold me.  I cannot do this alone and need your strength and power along this journey of life.