[Breath Prayer] I Will Not Be Afraid

Hey, my friends. Welcome back to Let’s Encourage One Another.

I’m your host, Kari Bartkus, and today we are going to talk about something that all of us deal with, and that is fear and anxiety.

I have to admit that there are times when I get so afraid of something that my thoughts just start going crazy. I can start thinking about all kinds of scenarios that just get me worked up even more, afraid and anxious and restless, and it just is not good.

Perhaps for you, it’s worrying about a medical diagnosis, or the safety of your children, or protecting your home from natural disasters. Whatever it is, fear and anxiety can cause quite a mess in our hearts, can’t they?

Our bodies get tense. Our minds race. Our breathing grows shallow. It’s hard to focus and remember what is true.

What in the world can we do in that moment of fear to calm down and point our eyes to Christ?

Today, I wanted to offer you a breath prayer that I use in times like this.

Now Celia Miller and I talked about breath prayer in episode 63, and essentially, breath prayer is a short prayer that you can sync to your breath, saying the first part as you inhale and the second part as you exhale. Or you can simply say it as you do deep breathing. Or, it can be a short prayer that you can just say within a breath’s time. Something short and simple.

Celia shared an example of one she has used for anxiety, and now I’d like to share one of mine that I use for fear. You’ll notice that mine kind of combines breath prayer and talking to your soul.

The breath prayer I use is based on Psalm 23:4 (NLT), which says, “I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me,” or some translations say, “for you are with me.”

So my breath prayer usually starts with something like, “I will not be afraid, for You are with me.” You’ll notice, it’s not a prayer so much as it is a reminder of Scripture.

“I will not be afraid, for You are with me.”

I am speaking Scripture over myself. I am reminding myself that God is with me.

I usually repeat that a few times, “I will not be afraid, for You are with me,” and then it slowly morphs into something like this: “You are with me, so I don’t need to be afraid.”

You see how that simple switch changes my focus from not being afraid to God being with me? It takes the emphasis from my fear and places it on God’s presence with me.

And that is huge.

There are a lot of times when I don’t physically sense God’s presence with me. So it can be especially important to remind myself of this truth. Again, speaking God’s Word over myself, and then proclaiming that because He is with me, I don’t have to be afraid.

So again, it starts out as “I will not be afraid, for You are with me,” “I will not be afraid, for You are with me,” and when I’m ready, it changes to “You are with me, so I don’t have to be afraid.” “You are with me, so I don’t have to be afraid.”

And once that has sort of settled in my soul, it goes simply to “You are with me.” And I rest in that truth even longer until I have cast away that fear and focused fully on Christ.

Do you know how incredible it is that God is with us? I mean, it’s just kind of overwhelming—in a good way. It’s definitely worth meditating on.

This whole process can take 2 minutes, or it can take 10. It just depends on how much I’ve let fear get in the way of my heart and soul.

Sometimes I walk. Sometimes I sit. Sometimes I’m just saying it or thinking it as I do chores around the house. I usually take deep breaths, because fear has a way of making it hard to breathe, and deep breaths help me to calm down.

Now, does my fear automatically go away and stay away forever after I practice breath prayer? No. But it brings my heart and mind back to God, and He helps me each time fear comes back.

So here are the breath prayers one more time. I’m going to go ahead and say them slowly, with pauses in between, so we can practice them together:

“I will not be afraid, for You are with me.”
“I will not be afraid, for You are with me.”
“I will not be afraid, for You are with me.”
“You are with me, so I don’t have to be afraid.”
“You are with me, so I don’t have to be afraid.”
“You are with me, so I don’t have to be afraid.”
“You are with me.”
“You are with me.”
“You are with me.”

Now, if you want to learn more about breath prayer or talking to your soul as a way to bring your fear or anxiety to the Lord, go ahead and sign up for the Soul Care Group within the next week or so at lovedoesthat.org/soulcaregroup. You’ll then get an email each month with some different practices we’ll explore together and you can discover ways to connect with God and care for your soul—especially in times when life is hard. This is so important, my friends.

Thank you so much for joining me for this bonus episode today. Until next time…

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES + BIBLE VERSES:

• Join the Soul Care Group: Monthly spiritual practices to help you care for your soul
• Episode 63: Using Christian Spiritual Practices to Draw Closer to God with Blogger and Writer Celia Miller
• Psalm 23:4 (NLT): “…I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me…”

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