Verse of the day: Romans 8:26-28 The Message (MSG)
‘26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”
“I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I’m supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I’m praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.” -Mother Teresa
There are many different ways to pray, many different reasons to pray, and so much to pray for. Sometimes at the end of the day, I realize that I have forgotten to pray for someone or something, or that I didn’t take the time to pray during the busy day, and then with guilt, I try to get all of my prayers said so that I can check them off of my todo list.
I feel prayers need to be genuine and authentic, they need to come from the heart and shared with an open mind. One of my favorite ways to pray is by using breath prayers.
Breathing is easy (most of the time) and we all do it. With breath prayers you simply breathe deeply in and let the air completely out as you say a simple request, hope or thought. Breath prayers bring me into the moment, help to calm me and give me strength.
A favorite of mine is as I breathe in I think “Jesus walk with me” and I breathe out I think “Spirit fill me”. One that my friend Henrieta uses is “Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on me”. I know some who use pieces of songs for their breath prayer, finding the music calming. An example of this is the song “O Lord hear my prayer”
Today I invite you to take some time throughout your day and breathe a few breath prayers. A little authentic one on One time between you and God.
Peace!