Somewhere along the journey of my spiritual life, however, I got introduced to breath prayers. In the traditional practice, people pray in rhythm with their breath, as a form of contemplation or meditation. (Read more on that here.) In my practice, these prayers are just simple words I can say in a breath. They're often desperate cries to the Lord, but they are also honest and real. They remind me that there is more to this world than me and that Jesus is my source of power.
Here are a few of my breath prayers and why I pray them:
Lord, help!
Desperate times call for desperate measures. And sometimes sending out an SOS is all I have in me.
Let me be love.
This is a prayer I often pray as I go to work. I can't necessarily witness with words in this setting, but I pray that my life will be a witness.
Let me be Jesus.
I pray this as I start hard days and go into difficult situations. I may be all some people see of Jesus and I need the Holy Spirit to empower me to represent him accurately.
Let love flow through.
A lot of my prayer lately revolve around love as the Lord is teaching me I need to learn to love a whole lot better. I tend to be a human doing instead of a human being, so when I pray this, I am praying for God to act and empower me to do right instead of trying so hard to find and do right on my own.
They're yours, Lord.
When I want to cling to people for comfort or when I'm scared for people I love, I remind myself that people are not mine. They are the Lord's, and as a Good Father, He will take care of them (Matt 7:11).
Jesus.
In those times when I literally don't know what to say or do, I call on Jesus, for there is power in His name. This is also my cry for the Holy Spirit to intercede for me because I don't know how to pray (Rom 8:26-27).
Does any of you have short prayers that they pray to get them through the day? Please share in the comments section below.
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