Breath Prayer

As we move forward with our time of prayer emphasis, I wanted to present you a method that I have used to help me with prayer. I think that sometimes we get caught in thinking that we have to take a lot of time to pray and that turns us off or makes it hard for us. While God wants to be in communion with us, He also wants us to talk to Him often, but we think that with our busy lives that it is hard to take time out of our day to pray and especially pray for a long period of time.

Once of the things that I do to help me with prayer is what is called a breath prayer. It is a simple one sentence prayer that I can use through out the day to draw close to God. Breath has always been symbolic with the Holy Spirit so I think about how when I am doing my breath prayer that I am inviting the Holy Spirit to work inside of me.

You start off my thinking of the name of God that you want to use. It could be God, Father, Creator, Comforter, Healer, Sustainer, Holy, Jesus, Christ, or whatever makes you feel comfortable and draws you close to God. Then ask God what you need (Be honest. But be real.). Maybe you need rest, healing, comfort, direction, or something else. Then put the two together. Christ, give me wisdom today. Creator, please comfort me. Father, please draw me close to you. Sustainer, give me what I need for today. You get the picture. If you start it, you will find that it will come in handle during the day and will change the way that you look at things.

Maybe when you get stopped at that red light you call out to God with your breath prayer. When someone says something unpleasant to you or someone cuts you off in traffic, you use your breath prayer. Maybe you just need a little recharge, use your breath prayer. It will shape you and transform you if you give it a chance. It has for me and I hope you will let it do the same for you.

Jim Whitaker

To respond to this blog go to the Connections Google Group where I have started a conversation called Prayer Emphasis and join in the discussion.