It has always been intriguing to me that in both the Old Testament Hebrew and the New Testament Greek the word for “prayer” is the same word that also translates “air.”
Gen 2:7 “..God breathed the breath of life into the man..” NLT
This breath of life was man’s spirit and when man stops breathing his spirit leaves his body. The word, “inspire” means, “to breathe into”.
When you choose to live a life that is inspired by God daily you awaken your destiny. Otherwise, you settle for a mundane existence! This is how it should be with all of us just constantly living, and moving, and having our being in the presence of God. Enoch walked with God. Noah walked with God. We can walk with God in this conversational atmosphere of prayer.
Since prayer is so central to God’s purpose for our lives, it is not surprising that God would tell us, “Devote yourselves to prayer.”
Colossians 4:2, “Devote yourselves to prayer.”
What does this mean? You pray often and you pray regularly. Prayer is not some infrequent practice but prayer becomes our way of life. We can live in a state of constant communication with God.
Recently I began exploring continual and purposeful interactions with God throughout my day where I’m taking 15 seconds or so throughout the day to pray God’s Word back to him. Here are examples of what I have saved in my phone to reference any time I think of it:
Eph 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ESV
Thank you God that I am blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ!
Eph 1:17-18 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people ESV
Thank you Lord that I have the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to know you better.
The eyes of my heart are enlightened to know the hope to which you have called me to explore the riches of your glorious inheritance in your people.
Eph 3:16-17 And I pray that he would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power. [17] Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life. TPT
Thank you Lord that I am strengthened with power through your Spirit in my inner being rooted and established in love.
You unveil within me the unlimited riches of your glory and favor until your supernatural strength floods my innermost being with your divine might and explosive power.
The life of Christ will be released deep inside me and the resting place of your love will become the very source and root of my life!
Eph 3:19-20 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. ESV
Thank you that I am filled with all the fulness of God beyond my wildest imagination!
Col 1:9-11 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience
Lord I continually ask you to fill me with the knowledge of your will through all wisdom and understanding the Spirit gives
Grant me wisdom and understanding to live a life worthy of the Lord growing in the knowledge of God.
I’m strengthened with all power according to God’s glorious might giving me great endurance and patience.
Making time to start the day in the presence of the Lord where we truly sit with the Author and not merely read the Book is life-giving. My morning’s consistently start with personal, quite time with God. However, prayer isn’t an obligation we are supposed to get out of the way in the morning. This is to awaken a deeper level of life-giving conversation that God is desiring for us to walk in throughout every day of our lives.
We tend to treat Jesus like vitamins but we should treat him like oxygen. Without his purpose in our lives, we do not live but merely exist.
Many Hebrew scholars teach that the name of God, Yahweh (YHWH) is the sound of breath. On one hand, His name is too sacred to pronounce. On the other hand, it’s whispered w every breath we take. By design God’s name is the first word we speak and the first breath we breathe. God’s name will be the last word we speak and the last breath we breathe. Every word and every breath in between the day of our birth and the day of our death we are speaking his name by our God-given design.
We are designed by God to experience and explore his conversational nature. He is such a conversational Father that when he sent his Son to rescue us the Bible describes him as, “The Word made flesh”. It was as if God was saying, “I’d like to have a word with you” to initiate this conversational relationship for which we were designed which Adam abandoned as a result of sin.
Communication within the trinity is revealed in Genesis 1:26 where God says, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness and let them rule.” So there’s a conversation about how we, male and female, are going to be created in the image of God with the ability to carry on conversations and to have relationships with other people in community. This is why we believe so strongly in Community Groups where we grow deeper in relationship with God and each other together.
Picture two executives sitting in an airport coffee shop, briefcases open, papers spilling out all over the table, in conversation about something important. Or two ladies sitting in a coffee shop over a pot of Earl Grey. Or a young couple on a romantic stroll hand-in-hand down a beach as the sun is setting. Or two older men sitting in a boat with fishing poles in their hands. Or two little children playing in a sandbox, making sounds like engines and front-end loaders and bulldozers. Or two older women sitting in rocking chairs on a front porch reminiscing. Or two teens with cell phones that just can’t seem to stop talking with something to discuss nonstop.
All of these are reflections of our unique design having been created in the image of our conversational Father. Air is to the body what prayer is to the spirit. Breathing in the inspiring nature of God will transform everything about your life.
Job 33:4 The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life. NIV
When we choose to live a life that is inspired by God daily we awaken our destiny! You can find the details about what I believe to be the most helpful idea for people of all ages to consistently get into the Word. We call this “The Turn The Page Challenge” here: pastordude.com/turnthepage/.