QUESTION FROM A READER:  WHAT IS A SIGH?

“What is a sigh - is that supposed to happen a lot if someone is praying?”

SANDY COMMENT:  Just this same week I pondered the experience of sighing.  I had been working hard to get the new website up for the QW Class.  And as most software have discrepancies, I was finding discrepancies in what the Help pages said and how the software worked.  I was going in circles trying to find ways to resolve my issues and at the same time learn the software as to what it could do.  During this time, I also had people pressure and I was burdened.  I felt a lot of pressure building up inside of me.  As I was praying and calling out to the Lord, I suddenly sighed really, really deep.

I felt a heaviness leave my soul.  It was a strong enough experience that I noticed it immediately.  The experience is hard to describe.  I had been sighing prior to that, in an effort to feel lighter.  In addition, I was experiencing some relief, but this sigh was different.  It was almost as if I had received some kind of deliverance from a burden and I actually pondered it for a few minutes.  I felt so much lighter.

In the natural, sighing can help the feelings of anxiety, fear, depression, and stress. 

In the spirit, sighing can help the expressions of praying through a burden, in an effort to find relief.  In the OT, sighing is related to mourning and groaning.  In the Hebrew, one of its meaning is to groan. 

Ezek 9:4 NKJV

"Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it."

Ezek 21:5-7 NKJV

Sigh therefore, son of man, with a breaking heart, and sigh with bitterness before their eyes. And it shall be when they say to you, 'Why are you sighing?' that you shall answer, 'Because of the news; when it comes, every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it is coming and shall be brought to pass,' says the Lord GOD."

'anach

OT:584 'anach (aw-nakh'); a primitive root; to sigh:

KJV - groan, mourn, sigh. 

In the NT the Holy Spirit groans deep within us in prayer without words. 

Rom 8:26-27 NKJV

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

2 Cor 5:3-5 NKJV

For we who are in this tent groan , being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

Rom 8:23  NKJV

Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 

There are other reasons why a person will feel a heaviness on one’s chest, and sighs in an effort to rid oneself.  Heaviness upon the chest can also be from witchcraft.  An undeserved curse will not land.  When we judge others, it returns as a judgment on us and places the same curse upon our own selves. 

Prov 26:2 NLT

Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an unfair curse will not land on its intended victim.

Prov 26:2 AMP

Like the sparrow in her wandering, like the swallow in her flying, so the causeless curse does not alight. {Num 23:8.}

In deliverance ministry, demons can come out through deep sighing.   If you are feeling depressed and sighing or groaning without understanding the reason, repent of any judgments and unforgiveness against others.  Make a commitment to the Lord and ask Him for help for you to forgive.  Determine in your heart to let go of all offenses and do not keep them bound to your heart any more.  Release all judgment against those who have offended you.  Then ask the Lord to deliver you from any curse in Jesus Name.  Continue to ask Him, while sighing deeply.  Sigh and pray until you find deliverance that your soul craves.

Ps 30:2-3 NKJV

O LORD  my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me.  O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 

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CONFIRMATION 2/23/10  At the exact moment I read the word SIGH on the title of this post, Wayne got up from his chair and sighed really huge.  With a sudden emphasis on the word “sigh” I cant help but wonder if the timing of this word is related to the following scripture:

Ezek 9:4 NKJV

"Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it."