Prayer Is the Breath of the Soul
But I call to God, and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. Ps. 55: 16, 17. NIV.
While the baby is still in the uterus, it is obviously unable to breathe air into its lungs. Yet as soon as it is born it must be ready to start breathing within seconds. For the baby to go from living comfortably in a bath of warm water for nine months to suddenly surviving in cold, dry air takes a lot of preparation. How can this happen? Does the Creator leave it to chance? No! In His usual ingenious manner God has designed that the baby will perform special exercises to get ready for this vital event.
Before birth the baby regularly exercises the chest muscles used to breathe air after birth. Such breathing exercises start early in pregnancy and are a normal part of what the baby does when it is awake. The closer the baby gets to the time to be born, the more it does its special exercises. When the baby is asleep it lies still, allowing the breathing muscles to rest.
Even though the baby cannot take air into its lungs when it moves its chest, the exercises are very important. As well as keeping the breathing muscles strong, the breathing movements help the millions of tiny air sacs in the lungs to develop normally. The baby will need to fill the air sacs with air when he or she takes his or her first breath after birth.
Babies unable to perform breathing movements in the uterus not only have weak breathing muscles and get tired quickly, but their lung air sacs may not develop properly.
Prayer is the breath of the soul. Like a baby exercising its breathing movements before it needs it, we must be exercising our spiritual “breathing movements” regularly, or our spiritual muscles will be weak, our spiritual growth will be limited, and we won’t have the spiritual health we need to make it through tough times.
Am I getting the spiritual exercise I need to grow spiritually strong and healthy?
While the baby is still in the uterus, it is obviously unable to breathe air into its lungs. Yet as soon as it is born it must be ready to start breathing within seconds. For the baby to go from living comfortably in a bath of warm water for nine months to suddenly surviving in cold, dry air takes a lot of preparation. How can this happen? Does the Creator leave it to chance? No! In His usual ingenious manner God has designed that the baby will perform special exercises to get ready for this vital event.
Before birth the baby regularly exercises the chest muscles used to breathe air after birth. Such breathing exercises start early in pregnancy and are a normal part of what the baby does when it is awake. The closer the baby gets to the time to be born, the more it does its special exercises. When the baby is asleep it lies still, allowing the breathing muscles to rest.
Even though the baby cannot take air into its lungs when it moves its chest, the exercises are very important. As well as keeping the breathing muscles strong, the breathing movements help the millions of tiny air sacs in the lungs to develop normally. The baby will need to fill the air sacs with air when he or she takes his or her first breath after birth.
Babies unable to perform breathing movements in the uterus not only have weak breathing muscles and get tired quickly, but their lung air sacs may not develop properly.
Prayer is the breath of the soul. Like a baby exercising its breathing movements before it needs it, we must be exercising our spiritual “breathing movements” regularly, or our spiritual muscles will be weak, our spiritual growth will be limited, and we won’t have the spiritual health we need to make it through tough times.
Am I getting the spiritual exercise I need to grow spiritually strong and healthy?
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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