One morning at the Renovare Conference in San Antonio a while back, the concept of Breath Prayers was introduced, and some examples were given of breath prayers taken from scripture. I had never heard of breath prayers before, but liked the concept as a new take on praying. Breath prayers are phrases we recite back to God. But we can also recite short phrases to ourselves, or as David said, "Why are you downcast, Oh my soul." We can talk to our souls. Since our souls are the center for mind, will, and emotion, the idea of directing our souls on what to think, feel, and decide makes sense.
Therefore,, I can see the value of reciting short snippets of Biblical admonitions to our souls would be a proper daily endeavor. In fact, I suspect that Biblical meditation would most likely amount to ruminations of snippets of scripture to shape our souls. Rather than reading lengthy passages we can't recall later, we might be better served by serving up snippets to repeat to ourselves continuously until we are shaped by them. For example, a snippet from today's devotional thoughts by Oswald Chambers is this line from scripture, "“All my fresh springs shall be in Thee.” (Psalm 87:7) Repeating that snippet to my soul could be refreshing and restorative to a weary soul. I believe there could be benefit from hearing this more than once. Soul, are you listening?
