The king said to me, “What is it you want?”
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.” (Nehemiah 2:4,5 emphasis mine)
There it is. Cushioned between the king’s question to Nehemiah and Nehemiah’s response. A breath prayer.
A quick spoken or unspoken prayer to the God of heaven.
It’s easy to befriend to the breath prayer, and we should. “Lord, give me discernment.” “Help me know what to say, Lord.” The Father leans in for the whispers of His children.
While breath prayers are a privilege (as is all prayer), we see that Nehemiah’s breath prayer was drawn from a four-month reservoir of prayer and patience. (Neh. 1-2:2) Kelly Minter refers to this as the “prework of prayer.”
Nehemiah befriended the breath prayer but he did not depend on it as his only means of communicating with the God of heaven.
And the blessings of this dependence continue to unfold throughout our study in Nehemiah.
How will the blessings from our time with the God of heaven unfold this week?
Cathy, ok, ouch! You make a great point! So many times, we depend on those breath prayers alone. That won't always sustain us. They won't sustain us when our world is crumbling around us. They won't sustain us when the realationship we thought we had with a friend is no more. The thing that will sustain us during those heart wrenching times is the prayer of crying out to God for help, for understanding. During the hardest time of my life recently, those breath prayers weren't enough. Thank you so muchCathy for this insight. Love you, sweet friend!
Believe me, Jamie, I was stepping on my own toes first. Ouch, indeed!
You're right — breath prayers can carry us throughout the day, but they can't sustain us.
Love you too!! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
I just love the book of Nehemiah and your post. Breath prayers, never thought of it like that before…a great prompting to do some self evaluating. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing this Cathy,
I had never thought of it this way before. 😉 Glad to hear you are enjoying your study.
Love, Hester 😉
I, too, never heard the term breath prayers, but what a perfect description!
Oh, that I'll be faithful to do the prework of prayer, and then call in the breath prayer for support.
Wise words, Cathy. Thanks!
Thank you Kim, Hester, and Vonda. 🙂 I'd never considered this type of prayer either until the study.
Oh, the beauty discovered when studying God's living and active book.
The greatest love letter ever written.
I love Nehemiah! He's one of my dad's favorites because he was such a faithful manager. I love that Kelly calls them "breath prayers." I've always referred to them as "arrow prayers." Breath sounds more organic, less combative!
Great point, Cathy — we befriend them, not make them our sole source of communication.
I still wonder if you won't be petitioning someone for something big soon 🙂 Be sure to keep us posted!