The Breath of Life

The English word spirit comes from the Latin word spirare which means ‘to breathe.” In Latin, breath and spirit were virtually synonymous which goes to show that having the Spirit with us is as essential to us as breathing. A lot of other English words have that same Latin root like aspire, conspire, expire, inspire, perspire and respire. Aspire has the root -spire with the prefix a- which means to or towards. We aspire to something when we are working or oriented toward the Spirit. Conspire contains the prefix con- which means with. Conspire usually has a negative connotation but if we make plans with the Lord instead of in spite of Him, or in other words, if we conspire with the Lord, then we will have much more success. Expire has the prefix ex- which means out of or without. Things that expire go bad and die. If the Spirit has gone out of us then we will go bad and spiritually expire. Inspire means that we have the spirit in us. The Spirit shows us all things that we should do. Perspire contains the prefix per- which means through. God asks us to do hard things, but He will be with us every step of the way, through blood, sweat, and tears, through perspiration, through the spirit. And respire contains the prefix re- which means again. If we have lost the spirit, repenting and getting it back should be as natural and as often as breathing.