Spiritual Disciplines for the Soul: Breath Prayers
William Gaultiere, Ph.D. © 2006
When Jesus was being crucified on the cross his last breath was a prayer to his Abba, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Jesus in Luke 23:46, NKJV). Then after Jesus rose from the dead and before he left earth to ascend back into heaven he appeared to his disciples and he breathed on them saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22b, NIV). He breathed his prayer for them. He breathed his Word of life in them. He breathed the Holy Spirit into their souls.
These accounts of Jesus breathing his prayers indicate a mystical, living connection between breath and Spirit that recall the creation story when the Lord breathed his Spirit into Adam’s dust-formed body and he became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). The Biblical languages link Spirit and breath as both the Hebrew word “ruah” and the Greek word “pneuma” are translated as either the “breath” or the “spirit” of God or of people. To breathe is to be alive and the spirit or will is the essence of life.
The Ancient History of Breath Prayers
About three centuries after Christ monks known as the “Desert Fathers” went out into the Egyptian desert to pray and meditate on God’s Word and to breathe in Christ’s Spirit of life. This was after the years of intense persecution when many Christians were martyred. The Desert Fathers’ departure was a protest against the worldliness in the church, which was increasingly adapting to and being accepted by Roman culture. They lived in cells or huts made of reeds and practiced austere and rigorous spiritual disciplines like silence, solitude, simplicity, fasting, penance, and obedience to an elder. Their asceticism was their “internal martyrdom” that purged their souls of sin and worldliness and led them into lives of intimacy with the Lord and ministry to others. Their testimony to the transforming life of Christ was so powerful that thousands of people traveled to visit them in the desert to receive spiritual direction.
One of the beautiful things that emerged from the disciplined life of the Desert Fathers was their soul-full practice of contemplative prayer, including the use of “Breath Prayers.” The Desert Fathers preferred short, one breath prayers offered in a receptive stillness before God, following the example of Jesus’ own Breath Prayers and his teaching on avoiding many worded prayers that attempt to manipulate God or impress people (Matthew 6:7). To focus their minds simply on Christ and to descend with Christ into their hearts these monks slowly repeated their short holy prayers over and over with each breath. Many of these prayers were a perfect body rhythm of seven syllables that easily could be whispered in one breath. Often they would breathe their prayer before going to sleep at night until it prayed itself within their souls while they slept. Then when they awoke in the morning the prayer was still on their lips!
The favorite prayer of these Desert Fathers was “Kyrie Eleison” or “Lord, have mercy.” Recall that in Jesus’ teaching on prayer the tax collector was made right with God after he beat his breast in repentance and humility and cried out, “God have mercy on me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Eventually this Breath Prayer of the Desert Fathers became known as the “Jesus Prayer” and was expanded to become, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”
My Breath Prayer Rhythm
When I use a Breath Prayer I like to combine it with deep breathing. This helps me to connect with God deep in my heart. Maybe you’ve tried deep breathing as a relaxation exercise, but what I’m referring to is much more than a psychological technique – it’s a heart interaction with the Living God! To learn how to do this it’s best to settle down in a quiet place where there are no distractions and then get still before God to pray. (Later, once you get the hang of this, you can do your Breath Prayer by “shooting up” a short prayer anytime as you’re going about your day – getting ready in the morning, driving in the car, before a meeting, or while waiting in line.) To begin, slow down your breathing (and your heart rate!) by breathing in deep, holding your breath, and then slowly exhaling. In prayer you breathe in God’s Spirit with the oxygen in the air and then you breathe out your anxieties and agendas with the carbon dioxide so that you can live freely in God’s loving presence and power. Or, after you prayerfully inhale God’s Spirit and hold him close, you can prayerfully exhale his Spirit with intentions to minister to others in Jesus’ name.
Recall that our bodies are temples for the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). It’s in our bodies and with our bodies that we pray and fellowship with God. The Psalmist prays this way again and again (see Psalm 63 for one example). This is why sitting quietly or kneeling or raising our hands toward heaven really are helpful postures for prayer. And it’s why getting into a rhythm with our breathing and our praying is conducive to getting in sync with the Spirit in contemplative prayer. These are concrete ways of expressing our heart to God that help us to connect with him and interact with his grace in ways that grow his love, joy, and peace in our bodies.
Another way to put your body into your Breath Prayer is to extend your hands out with palms up, indicating your receptiveness to God. As you breathe in deep, pull your hands slowly toward your chest to remind yourself that you’re internalizing God’s life-giving Spirit. While you hold your breath keep your hands at your chest, just as you’re holding onto Christ’s presence by faith. Then as you exhale extend your hands back out again and put your palms down, symbolizing that you’re letting go of trying to control things in your life, releasing to the Lord your sins, or overflowing with his love to others.
Did you catch the rhythm I use when in my Breath Prayers? I’m praying with my body, breathing, and words all in sync, all expressing the same heart intention to God. And I’m using all three forms of praying in each of three steps that express the Triangle of Life Purpose for Christ’s Ambassadors: Worship (Upward Journey), Grow (Inward Journey), Serve (Outward Journey). The triangle integrates the disciplines of theology (knowing God), psychology (healing and growing the self), and ministry (caring for others).
Here’s a summary of the Breath Prayer rhythm I’ve developed:
1. Worship / Upward Journey: Be still and silent As you wait to breath As you open your hands to heaven And as without words, you worship God and long for his Word and Spirit…
2. Grow / Inward Journey: Pray the first half of the Breath Prayer As you breathe in deep As you pull your hands in to your chest As you receive into your soul Christ’s presence so you can grow in his grace and truth…
3. Serve / Outward Journey: Pray the second half of the Breath Prayer As you breathe out As you extend your hands outward As you let God’s love overflow from you so you can serve others in his name (Or release control and yield to Christ’s will)…
To get comfortable with this Breath Prayer rhythm you’ll need to practice it. In time it’ll become a part of you and how you live. It expresses the flow of life as God intended it. God initiates and we respond by trusting and obeying. God acts in grace and we receive and overflow to others.
Sample Breath Prayers from the Bible
I like to use this way of breathing and praying to meditate on Psalm 23 or the Lord’s Prayer phrase-by-phrase, forming each phrase into it’s own Breath Prayer. As I do this I find it helpful to imagine the Scripture I’m praying. So in Psalm 23 I visualize the Lord as my Shepherd and myself as his sheep and I go with the imagery imbedded in this wonderful Psalm. And in the Lord’s Prayer I see God as my Father and myself as his child. Focusing my mind on a picture of relating to God helps me to be still and undistracted. I find this is to be a very rich and meaningful way to take God’s Word deep into my soul so that I actually experience it and carry it with me in my day-to-day life. In fact, I’ve done this so many times with Psalm 23 that now when I breathe in deep and pray, “The Lord is my Shepherd,” hold him in my mind and heart, then exhale and pray, “I shall not want,” I find that the feeling of peace I have from my history of taking the Psalm 23 journey with Good Shepherd flows through my being!
There are countless Breath Prayers, or “Prayers of the Heart” as Richard Foster calls them (Prayer, p. 141), which we can use. My favorites, like the original “Jesus Prayer,” come straight from Scripture. Jesus said that the Word of God is spirit and life (John 6:63) to us so it makes sense for us to breathe in God’s Word into our souls, knowing that there’s resurrection power in the Word! Into the dark and putrid-smelling grave Jesus speaks the Word, “Lazarus! Come forth!” and Lazarus, who has been dead four days, walks out as a Mummy! – living and breathing and ready to be unbound from his grave clothes! This is the power that’s in God’s Word to free our spirits and raise our bodies so that we can walk to Jesus.
Here are some Scriptures (verses from NIV unless otherwise indicated) that you can use as Breath Prayers to help you “get centered” in God (let the Lord lead you to the one that you need to pray now):
* “Speak Lord… for your servant hears” (Samuel, 1 Samuel 3:9 & 10, NKJV)
* “Give thanks to the Lord… for he is good” (David, 1 Chronicles 16:34)
* “The Lord is my Shepherd… I shall not want” (David, Psalm 23:1, KJV)
* “Taste and see… that the Lord is good” (David, Psalm 34:8)
* “Be still… and know that I am God” (Korah’s family, Psalm 46:10, KJV)
* “The Lord… will be [my] confidence” (Solomon, Proverbs 3:26)
* “The joy of the Lord… is [my] strength” (Nehemiah 8:10)
* “Let it be to me… according to your word” (Mary, Luke 1:38, NKJV)
* “Our Father… Hallowed be thy name” (Jesus, Matthew 6:9, KJV)
* “Father... glorify your name” (Jesus, John 12:28, NKJV)
* “Father… into your hands I commit my spirit” (Jesus, Luke 23:46, NKJV)
* “Live by the Spirit… Keep in step with the Spirit” (Paul, Galatians 5:25)
* “To live is Christ… and to die is gain” (Paul, Philippians 1:21, KJV)
* “In Christ’s humility… consider others better than yourselves” (Paul, Philippians 2:3)
* “I want to know Christ… and the power of his resurrection” (Paul, Philippians 3:10)
* “My God… will meet all your needs” (Paul, Philippians 4:19)
An Example
One time Kristi and I were on a retreat with a group of Christian leaders and I found myself feeling jealous – of not just one person, or two, but three! They each had wonderful opportunities to serve God in powerful ways that I’d like to do. I was disappointed in myself – I didn’t want to be that way! I thought that I had worked that issue through in my prayers already. Besides, these people were my friends and they were serving the Lord! I felt discouraged and guilty. Later, when talking with another friend he brought up Paul’s words in Philippians 2:3 about Christ’s “kenosis” or self-emptying love:
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”
Now you might think that just heaped onto me more guilt and pressure. But actually it focused me on Jesus and how in his incarnation and life of service he humbly ministered to me. Jesus, the Lord Almighty and King of kings, picked up a towel, got on his knees, and washed my dirty feet! (John 13:1-17). I wanted to serve others as he served me.
As I meditated and prayed on this the Lord led me to form a Breath Prayer: “In Christ’s humility… consider others better than yourselves.” I kneeled before the Lord in quiet prayer, waiting to breathe, hands raised high in worship before the Lord who humbly served me… I prayed, “In Christ’s humility” as I breathed in deep and pulled my hands toward my chest, receiving the Lord’s generous love… Then I prayed, “Consider others better than yourself,” as I exhaled and extended my hands outward, overflowing with Christ’s consideration and esteem for those I had been jealous of.
I prayed this Breath Prayer for each person I had been jealous of, asking God to bless each one in his or her life and ministry. My soul smiled with delight. I was happy for these people to be in the spotlight. I realized that I was blessed to be in the background and to affirm and intercede for them.
Other Ways of Using Breath Prayers
I’ve found that my Breath Prayer rhythm is a great way to practice contemplative prayer. To truly and deeply rest in God’s presence, not only in silence, but also without thought is a challenge for me. Have you ever tried to pray without word-thoughts? This is a very deep form of prayer that takes practice. The simple Breath Prayers from Scripture that we’ve discussed get us close. But to go all the way into the holy silence we need to completely quiet our minds and offer soft, open hearts to God. To do this I’ve found it helpful to use the same Breath Prayer rhythm, but without the words. I pray the worship-grow-serve (wait-receive-overflow) sequence with using my body posture, hands, and breathing. As I pray I discipline myself not to think, but simply to let my heart pray a Breath Prayer through my bodily rhythm.
Another way to do a Breath Prayer is to develop your own personalized prayer that helps you to connect deeply with God in whatever way you need it the most at that time. To do this, start by selecting a favorite name for God. (In the Biblical conception the names of God represent God’s character and invoke his power, as indicated in Genesis 4:26, Jeremiah 10:6, Proverbs 18:10, John 16:23-24, Acts 4:10.) For instance, you could call on God as Creator, Yahweh, Lord Almighty, the I AM, Father, Jesus, Spirit, Potter, Good Shepherd, Living Water, or Bread of Life. Then pick a word or phrase that describes what your heart longs for from God. It’s important that you take some time to settle on your personal Breath Prayer. Be still before God and ask him to reveal himself to you and to show you what you most need from him.
Years ago Brennan Manning did this and he tells the story of how the Breath Prayer that God gave him healed his heart. Since being abused and abandoned by his alcoholic father as a boy he had suffered from crippling shame, insecurity, and addiction. But breathing in and out his contemplative prayer helped him to develop a secure identity as the beloved child of his Abba Father. Brennan’s Breath Payer is “Abba, I belong to you” (Experiencing Jesus: A Spiritual Retreat, San Diego, CA, 2004; see also his book, Abba’s Child). His Breath Prayer is a seven-syllable prayer that perfectly synchronizes with your breathing. As you breathe in you pray with a whisper, “Ab-ba…” Hold your breath as you imagine yourself a child in your Heavenly Papa’s lap. He smiles at you and you smile back. Then as you breathe out pray softly, “I belong to you.”
Practice your Breath Prayer in silence and solitude for at least five minutes at the beginning of your day and your soul will learn to settle into a heavenly and spirit forming peace. Then come back to it often during the day, even if only for two or three breaths, in order to “practice the presence of God” in whatever you’re doing.
And the best way to use a Breath Prayer is to share it! Either by using it as a form of intercessory prayer or introducing others in how to practice it.
