We make things so much more difficult than they need to be. Like the Pharisees who simply could not trust that God’s grace is sufficient, we pile on rules and standards that we were never meant to shoulder.
We turn relationship into rules, which causes us to be afraid.
Afraid we aren’t good enough.
Afraid He can’t love us in this moment because…(Insert issue here. I have all kinds of issues.)
Yet His grace is so much more than we can imagine. He just wants us to stop and realize who we are! Some of us may be poets, able to compose a beautifully worded prayer that blesses the hearts of those within earshot. But, sometimes, we are just desperate. We need God and we need Him now. We don’t have time to figure out how to word our prayers, we just need to fall on our face before God and, for lack of a better phrase, let it all hang out.
There is a type of prayer that I was taught years ago that I absolutely love. It is “breath prayer.” Doesn’t that sound beautiful! It is the natural outflow of a heart desperate to feel the presence of God. It can be one word or a few, but it is blessedly simple and wonderfully accessible to even the most newborn of Christians.
It can be the word, “Help.” Maybe we cry out, “Be near me.” Or perhaps we sigh, “Please, Lord. Please.”
The beauty of the breath prayer is the rest it gives our spirit, the knowing that God not only hears, but fills in the gaps when we simply do not have more words. We breathe out and then stop, waiting, resting, trusting. We know that the Lord sees the longing of our hearts and does not need eloquent words to draw His attention. We always have His attention.
Try it. Breathe in, then breathe out. Let your words be few and open your heart to the Holy Spirit’s work. Keep prayer simple when life is complicated and let the Lord give you rest.
A Life of Simple Joys 