Daily Breath

Daily scriptures and devotionals. Currently taking prayer requests. Send me an ask or message.

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What is Prayer?

“He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.”

Psalm 91:15

Prayer is more than coming before God with a shopping list of requests that we wave in front of Him being before swiftly making our exit.

The Hebrew word for prayer is tefilah, which encompasses petition, but also worship, thanksgiving, praise, confession, and communing.

At the root of tefilah is the word palal, which means to think, to judge, to differentiate, to clarify, and to decide.

Prayer, therefore, is an introspective process that helps us examine ourselves, judge situations, differentiate between right and wrong, clarify our relationship with God, and decide on a course of action.

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Enjoy the breakdown, and let us Pray!

[thebeautyofscripture]

And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.”

Mark 16:6

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This passage is one of those precious moments in Scripture that emphasizes Jesus’ humanity. We learn that Jesus was “angry” and “grieved.” He was angry on behalf of the man with a shriveled hand, who had been left in that condition by religion for years. The Pharisees’ dead religion had no power to save or heal. Even worse, it also had no compassion or real desire to save or heal; we know this because they thought that healing counted as “work” and was therefore prohibited on the Sabbath. Jesus challenges them with the truth, which is that to heal and save life isn’t work, but doing good as God has called us.

Jesus’ anger at their refusal to acknowledge the truth is a form of compassion that challenges the Pharisees’ lack thereof. He had compassion on the man with a shriveled hand, and He was grieved that the Pharisees’ hearts were so hardened that they couldn’t muster up the same. Friend, I am glad to serve a God that gets angry at anything that would impede my healing. May we rejoice that He never considers it work to save us and deliver us.

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Friend, we don’t know anything beyond what God allows us to know. The only reason we can perceive anything is because His light is there to illuminate things for us. God’s light is what gives us the ability to even see light – to see what is true, to see what is good, to see what is right. Only God opens our eyes to see His own light.

So we should not be prideful and deceive ourselves into thinking that any wisdom and knowledge we have is from ourselves. We shouldn’t delude ourselves, thinking that everything we accomplish was done solely by our own hands. It is God who gives us the light by day to work under, and God who gives us the ability to get wisdom and knowledge. It is God who gave us Jesus, the Light of the world (John 8:12). He shines into every crevice and corner where darkness hides and gives us life. Is Jesus shining in your life today?

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We must allow the Holy Spirit to move in whatever way He wants to move – in our churches, in our homes, in our work, in our lives. To “quench” means to put out or extinguish, especially a light or fire. When the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles at Pentecost, tongues of fire came and rested on each of them (Acts 2:3). John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11). To quench the Holy Spirit is really to put out the fire of God in our lives – the fire that purifies, provides light, provides warmth, and provides power. Friend, you can’t afford to be without any of these things in your life. You can’t afford to be without the fire of God. Do not grieve the Spirit, but endeavor to get to the point where you can’t live without His power and His anointing.

Live your life being continually baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. It’s not just a one-time thing – He is constantly wanting to pour out greater and greater levels of anointing and grace on your life. In Him we must live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Cry out to the Holy Spirit today for more of Him.

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If you are saved, you probably know exactly what I mean when I say the Lord has put a song in your heart. But did you know that the Lord Himself is our song? He is the music that flows out of our lips when we praise Him and speak loving words to others. He is the melody that emanates from us when we live a life submitted to him. He is the harmony that people hear and tremble at when we lay hands on the sick, raise the dead and perform miracles. To be saved is to have your whole life sing one song, and that song is the song of salvation, the song of strength, the song of might. That song is the Lord Himself, who is all of these things and more.

I encourage you to ask yourself today: What song is your life singing? Who is it glorifying? If the answer is anyone other than God, repent and put your trust in His Son, Jesus. Let Him become your salvation. And then start singing along – there’s a chorus of us waiting for you.

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A message for this generation

If you are a Gen Zer, take courage. Your parents and the media might say that there is no hope for this generation. But God has not given up on you. I believe that God has seen fit to put a fiery spirit in the hearts of this generation. Many of us are using it to pursue purposes and causes that are against His, but a time is coming where he will turn the heart of this generation back toward Him. Revival is coming, and it will come through the zillennials and Gen Zers.

Why would God choose to put this fiery spirit inside an entire generation? Because God is looking for a supernatural people. This fiery spirit, this courage to rebel against the system is precisely what this generation needs to reject dead religion and forcefully advance God’s Kingdom. Our refusal to settle for the status quo and simply follow along our parents’ path will make us a people who hunger and thirst for the supernatural. It will make us a people who are willing to go into all the world and preach the gospel by any means necessary, who are willing to cast out demons, who are willing to lay hands on the sick, who are willing to raise the dead.

So take heart, all you who are young. If you’re looking around and feeling unsatisfied with what you see, wondering if there’s more to life, know that you are not crazy. God has given you eyes to see all that is broken in this world, and hunger for the solution. The Bible says that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed, for they will be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). Submit your hunger and your life to Jesus, and He will satisfy you. Establishing His Kingdom on the earth will bring about the change you seek.

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Jesus knew that He had come from God, so He got up and began to wash His disciples’ feet. It was not despite the fact that He was the Son of God that He washed their feet, but because He was the Son of God. The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve (Matthew 20:28).

The Kingdom of God is an upside down kingdom. It is not like the kingdoms of the world, in which the greatest people are those who rule over and oppress and gloat over those who are beneath them. In this Kingdom, the greatest people are those who get the lowest. Our Jesus, the King of kings, demonstrated His leadership by being a servant. He performed the most undignified, messy, disgusting task that existed in those days - washing the feet of people who had been walking through dust and mud and sand all day with very little to cover their feet.

After this passage, Jesus goes on to say that as He is the disciples’ Lord and Teacher, they should follow His example. If our Lord and Teacher was selfless enough to wash the feet of his own students, how much more should we, who are also His disciples, serve those around us? Ask yourself today: How low can I go?

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Friend, if you feel like you’re all alone, left to face the trials of life by yourself, don’t fret. The Lord is with you. Not only is He in you (if you are a born-again believer) as the Holy Spirit residing within your spirit, He is also with you. He holds your hand to lead you and guide you, to help you face life, to help you fight your enemies.

There are some of us that feel like the Lord has left us alone because we don’t have a mentor or spiritual parents. There’s no one in our lives to pass along the wisdom they’ve gained and the lessons they’ve learned about life in the Spirit. We may feel as though we’ve been left to make all the mistakes ourselves, to fall flat on our face by ourselves, to pick ourselves back up with nothing but our own strength. There are some of us called to be forerunners, to do it first – first out of all our friends, all our family members, all of our fellow church members. Being a forerunner can feel lonely at times. Friend, if that’s you, I want to tell you what God told me: you are not alone. He is holding so tightly onto your hand, and He will never let you go. Even when you stumble and fall, He’s holding onto you to help you back up. He’s squeezing your hand in reassurance as you face the biggest and scariest battles of your life. He is tenderly holding your hand in love, so happy to just be with you.

So do not fear. The Lord your God is there to help you, and He isn’t going anywhere.

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At the end of the day, only one thing is necessary for life: Jesus. His words, His presence, His love for us is vital to our lives. The world encourages us to live like Martha, concerned only about what must be done. It’s no wonder that we live our lives stressed and depressed and flustered, because Martha’s “many things” cannot fulfill us. In a world full of Marthas, dare to be a Mary – one who soaks in the presence of God. 

When we start to get worried and upset about many things, we must remember to turn to the One who is necessary. We should strive to get to a place in life in which it’s as if our very breath depends on the presence of God. We must make the same choice as Mary and choose His presence, which, unlike the things of this world, will not be taken away from us.

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Friend, do not let yourself get haughty. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you are better than other Christians and unbelievers because you pursue God with more passion than anyone else you know. Don’t puff yourself up because of how long you pray, or how passionately you worship, or how many sacrifices you have made unto the Lord. Don’t admire yourself for how much you love God. 

For this is not from anything you’ve done in your own strength. No, the Apostle John says that we can only love God because He first loved us. Before you ever thought to pursue Him, He was pursuing you with all of His strength. Before you ever parted your lips to say your first prayer, He formed you lovingly and put breath in your lungs. Before you ever sacrificed the money or the music or the friends or even your own body, He sacrificed His Son for you, the Lamb who was slain since before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8 KJV).

It is God who gives us the ability to love Him. It was Him who designed us to need Him, to crave Him, to rely on Him. It is because of God that we even know what love is. So as you go about your day, remember to thank Him for being the First Lover of your soul. Remember to thank Him because He loved us and has been loving us from eternity.

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In the end: WE WIN Y’ALL! At the end of all of our difficult circumstances, we win - not necessarily because God brings us out of our problems (although He can and does do that), but because God makes it so that everything that happens to us isn’t wasted. Friend, everything that happens in your life, He allows. And whatever He allows, if you let Him, He will cause to work out for your refinement of character, for your increase of endurance and patience, for your increase of trust in Him, for your good.

Of course, the Apostle Paul clarifies that this promise is only available to a certain kind of person: one who loves God. To love Him is to love His Son, Jesus the Messiah (John 14:9). Fall in love with Him and believe in what He did for you on the cross, so that you too can be called according to His divine purpose and plan for your life.

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This is a well-loved verse. And with good reason. Who doesn’t love the idea of being not just a conqueror, but more than a conqueror? But I wonder if our focus is on the wrong part of the verse. It’s easy to pay attention to the “we”. But what about the “him”? Friend, this verse isn’t really about us. It’s about Him Who Loved Us. It’s about Jesus. And more specifically, abut what He did on the cross. How do we know that? Well, just look at “loved” - it’s past tense. We know that Jesus loves us now, but why does Paul point out that He did love us? Because He proved it – already, in the past – by going to the cross and dying for our sins, taking our punishment so that we might have communion with the one, true God. It’s through that powerful love, that love that would lay down its life for someone else, that we are more than conquerors. Our God is a warring God, and we are called to be warriors by His side. But always remember that He wars and He conquers out of love.

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God is a refuge on the move. He’s not a shelter-in-place God. We’re not called to sit in one place and cower behind Him all day. We’re not called to do nothing else with our day but soak in His presence. We are to be on the move, follow the way, the path that He has set out for us. We are to carry His presence with us into whatever situation we go – into our jobs, our schools, our homes, our gatherings with friends. In the midst of all that we do, God promises to be our refuge. And He promises to make our path perfect with each step we take.