Have you ever caught yourself unconsciously holding your breath?

I have noticed this whenever I watch someone dive under the water, for some reason I hold my breath too until I remember I am not underwater and I can breathe just fine.

I am writing this post in January and we just experienced Christmas. I mention this because I noticed my kids and their cousins holding their breath as they unwrapped their gifts. We might all do this, but I find it especially noticeable with kids. They take a deep breath and hold it as they rip all the wrapping paper.

Ever since the whole COVID pandemic began I began to pay more attention to breathing. I had asthma growing up and I was afraid of what might happen. As I began to pay more attention to my breathing and to read more about this topic I learned that it is common for people to hold their breath when under stress or threat. We also tend to hold our breath when we are anticipating something or want something to happen.(Psychology Today)

Email Apnea?

Have you heard of email apnea?

One day Linda Stone, a former top researcher at Microsoft, noticed herself holding her breath while doing email, she conducted a study to see how widespread the issue is and discovered that 80% of the participants appeared to have email apnea—in other words, they held their breath or otherwise interrupted normal breathing.

Stone describes email apnea as the "temporary absence or suspension of breathing, or shallow breathing, while doing email."

Of course, you are not going to faint or die from reading a really long email, but holding your breath can contribute to stress-related diseases because it throws off the body's balance of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitric oxide, according to the National Institute of Health. Nitric oxide is especially important in fighting viral, bacterial and parasitic infections, as well as tumors. 

In Stone's research, she also found that there's a strong relationship between breath-holding and the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is responsible for mediating the autonomic nervous system, which includes the sympathetic ("fight or flight") and the parasympathetic ("rest and digest") nervous systems.

The problem with holding your breath while checking email is that it puts your body in "fight or flight" mode, which shoots up your heart rate, and causes the liver to pour glucose and cholesterol into the bloodstream.

A recent study out of the University of California at Irvine found that stress levels in participants were lower when cut off from email. Participants also reported that a high amount of email is associated with a high level of stress. (Business Insider)

It appears to me that breathing is even more important than I had imagined!

The Breath of the Soul

Here’s a quote that resonated with me.

Prayer is the breath of the soul, the channel of all blessings.
- Maranatha, The Lord is Coming (p. 85). Review and Herald Publishing Association
1976.

In my mind, it makes perfect sense that if physical breathing is important for a healthy and balanced life, then regular prayer must be vital for our spiritual wellbeing. I do not feel like it is much of a stretch to believe that the same way you don’t hold your breath until you feel like you’re going to pass out, we should not be relegating prayer solely to cases of emergency.

Pray unceasingly.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 says that we are to pray constantly.

Literally, “incessantly pray,” with emphasis in the Greek on the idea of continuity (cf. on v. 16). There should be a constant spirit of prayer breathing through the Christian’s life. Never must the connection with Heaven be broken (see on Luke 18:1). Paul labored “night and day” (1 Thess. 2:9); he also prayed “night and day” (ch. 3:10). His many activities did not crowd out his prayers. Active connection with his heavenly Father was always maintained 1. So it should be with us. Compare the prayer life of Jesus (see on Mark 3:13).
- Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1980). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 7, p. 255). Review and Herald Publishing Association.

Why Prayer?

Why did I choose to write about prayer in my first post of the new year? It is because I believe it is the one thing that will have the greatest impact on our lives.

A few years ago I read The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, and the one thing that I took away from that book was the focusing question.

“What’s the ONE Thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”

When I read this it became obvious to me that the one thing that I can do, such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary is prayer!

Therefore if anyone is looking at goals and priorities for your life I believe that prayer should be among the top. I place prayer first because I believe it helps with all other goals.

Personal Journey

I remember taking a class in undergrad where we were asked to write an article as if we were writing for a magazine. I chose to write about prayer, and I did not get the grade I expected. It was not a terrible grade, but it was not what I had expected. The professor told me my topic was too broad and my thoughts were scattered.

I also remember gathering with at least one professor and several students for prayer before vespers. We met in a room at the Collegedale Church and spent usually one hour in prayer. This was the longest time I had ever spent in prayer and it transformed my life. I tried to recreate this experience in my first church district but I failed to get the youth and young adults to join me regularly.

After two years of experience as an associate pastor I went to seminary for my master’s degree, and it was during this period that my interest in prayer grew. I took a class on the history of Christian spirituality and read several books that deepened my personal conviction in the power and necessity of prayer. While in seminary I made a personal decision to never miss chapel, for me this was the equivalent of the midweek prayer meeting. I attended every single chapel service unless I was sick or traveling. I also met with friends who lived near me on Wednesdays and we would spend time praying for one another. These experiences were deeply meaningful and played a significant role in helping me thrive in graduate school.

I met friends who were also passionate about prayer and to this day I call some of them and we pray over the phone. I schedule these times of prayer and I set everything else aside to spend time in prayer with friends.

From seminary, I went back to being a youth pastor for two years, and there I established small groups and always highlighted prayer in all our events and gathering. As I gained experience I continued to learn and be reminded of the power of prayer.

From there I went to pastor a two church district. One of those churches did not have regular prayer meetings, they claimed no one would come, people lived far away and worked long hours, it would be inconvenient to come together for prayer meetings in the middle of the week. I asked the board if they minded if I ran an experiment and started to have prayer meetings. I announced to the church that I was a firm believer in prayer and that I would be there every Tuesday night for one hour and we would be spending time in prayer. The first week I was prepared to be the only one in the building, but people began to come and they told their friends, and soon we had a larger turnout for prayer meetings than we had for Sabbath school. Prayer meetings were the catalyst for revival and church growth. We would make circles with the chairs and just spend time praying in small groups. It was simple, but it was powerful. God moved in a powerful way in the lives of those who came together to spend an hour in prayer in the middle of the week.

After I was ordained I accepted a call to a different conference. This time I would pastor a single church with a school. Before my arrival, there had been an issue and now we were not sure if the church school would remain open. When I arrived there this was my top priority, what were we going to do about the school? There were several challenges and no clear solutions. I invited the church to join me on Wednesdays for prayer and announced we would be praying especially for the school.

One of the things we needed was a fence around the playground, this was a requirement for our school to be able to have a kindergarten program. We began to pray for the fence. I had not told the church this but I had been asking God for guidance and it seemed incredibly difficult to keep the school open. I asked that if God wanted us to move forward with keeping the school open that He needed to make it abundantly clear to me that it was His will. I asked that He would provide us with the fence.

One day, as I was there getting things ready for prayer meeting, I received a phone call from one of my elders saying he would be late for prayer meeting and that he might have found us a fence. After prayer meeting, he excitedly told me the story of what had just happened. He had stopped at a grocery store on his way from work to prayer meeting when a lady called from behind, “Hey amigo, do you want a fence?” My elder was from Puerto Rico, the lady calling him amigo was an Asian lady he had never met before. He turned around surprised and a bit confused wondering if she was talking to him. She waved for him to come closer and asked again if he wanted a fence, he told her that he didn’t but his church did. She told him to follow her and got into her car. He go in his car and followed her to a house, there was a fence, all rolled up, ready to be picked up, it was a great condition and she gave him a price, he countered with about half the value and she promptly agreed. I called the church board and we voted to buy the fence, the next day I came over with some of the elders and deacons and we picked up the fence from her house, it was more than what we needed and it even included a gate and all the posts we would need. Later we had a work bee and together we installed the fence around the playground. The Lord continued to provide for that church school and not only did it stay open we also added a kindergarten and a second teacher.

My friends, I do not have all the solutions. I am not smart enough, rich enough, or strong enough, to face all the challenges that come my way in life. The only way to success that I am aware of begins with prayer, and the best way to learn to pray is by praying.

Life is busy, people get tired, there’s a virus that refuses to go away, it’s dark and cold at night. I get it, I never said it would be easy. What I am telling you is that it is worth it. Showing up for prayer meetings will help fuel your prayer life. Prayer needs to be taking place continually in our lives and I will be sharing tips and we will be studying what the Bible has to say about this topic and most importantly we will spend time in prayer each week, and I would like to invite you to join us.

In case you are reading this post and you live somewhere else, I encourage you to find a place where people are coming together to pray, and if there isn’t one, I encourage you to prayerfully begin one.

Letting Your Soul Breathe

Although there may be a tainted, corrupted atmosphere around us, we need not breathe its miasma, but may live in the pure air of heaven. We may close every door to impure imaginings and unholy thoughts by lifting the soul into the presence of God through sincere prayer. Those whose hearts are open to receive the support and blessing of God will walk in a holier atmosphere than that of earth, and will have constant communion with heaven.
- The Southern Watchman, (p.47). Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association June 25, 1903.

We can get so caught up with the news and social media that we begin to feel angry, hopeless, and even depressed. Why not create a space for your soul to breathe every day?

Could we be suffering from prayer apnea?

Where the stress, exhaustion, and worries of life cause us to subconsciously stop breathing?

Are the cares of the world crowding out our prayer life, is our soul suffocating?

Could we benefit from carving out time in our busy day to let our soul breathe?

What if you were to schedule 10 minutes each day to spend in uninterrupted prayer. 10 minutes will seem like forever at first, but with practice, you will notice that you enjoy it and actually need even more time, but let’s begin with 10 minutes. (If 10 minutes is just too much at first begin with 5 and increase it gradually to 10)

If I may be so bold as to suggest a morning routine, wake up, drink a tall glass of water, and spend the first 10 minutes of your day talking with God.

If you would like some more practical tips on how to do this, join me on Wednesday. I’ll also try to record a podcast episode on this for those of you who do not live in this area (Boise, Idaho).

I believe that as you carve out time for your soul to breathe you will experience a significant improvement in your spiritual health. You will experience a stronger faith and that will impact every area of your life in a positive way.