Deepen Your Friendship with Jesus with the Bible and Prayer - Darren Rowse
On Sunday Darren Rowse continued our Deeper series by exploring the importance of reading scripture and prayer in the deepening of our friendship with Jesus. He used the metaphor of breathing to reflect on this topic.
Below you’ll find a summary article of his message, video and audio recordings of it and some questions for personal reflection and small group discussion.
Breathing Deep: Cultivating a Deeper Friendship with God
Our breath is something we rarely think about—until it is restricted. Last year, Darren’s mother became unwell, struggling to breathe due to a lung condition that gradually impacted her entire body. What started as tightness in her lungs soon affected her heart, energy levels, appetite, and even her mental health. The transformation was startling, but thankfully, with proper treatment, she was able to recover. The ability to breathe freely restored her health, energy, and joy.
This experience serves as a powerful metaphor for our spiritual lives. Just as our bodies rely on breath for survival, our souls need the rhythm of spiritual inhaling and exhaling—the intake of God's Word and the outpouring of prayer—to thrive. When we neglect these, we become spiritually suffocated, weak, and disconnected from God.
The Importance of Spiritual Breathing
The concept of breathing as a metaphor for spiritual health is not new. In his book Deeper, Dane Ortlund describes how reading Scripture is like inhaling, and prayer is like exhaling. This simple but profound idea helps us see how essential these two practices are to sustaining and deepening our friendship with Jesus.
Breathing is automatic, but good breathing habits can drastically improve our health. Similarly, while faith is a gift, spiritual health requires intentional practice. Studies show that breath control impacts everything from lung capacity to mental clarity. Spiritually, engaging in the practice of breathing in through Scripture and breathing out through prayer strengthens our faith and allows us to walk more closely with Christ.
The Role of Scripture: Inhaling God’s Truth
Dane Ortlund describes the Bible as “your greatest earthly treasure.” He challenges us with the idea that “you will stand in strength and grow in Christ and walk in joy and bless the world no further than you know this book.” If we long to deepen our relationship with Jesus, we must immerse ourselves in His Word.
The Bible does three essential things for us:
Reconstructs Our Thinking
Our natural tendencies—seeking success, earning approval, believing we must work for God’s love—are challenged by Scripture.
God’s Word deconstructs worldly mindsets and reconstructs them in truth. (Romans 12:2)
Oxygenates Our Souls
Just as physical breath fills our lungs with life-giving oxygen, Scripture fills our souls with God’s presence, bringing peace, wisdom, and refreshment. (Psalm 19:7)
Points Us to Good News
The Bible isn’t just a book of rules or advice—it’s good news. It declares that Jesus has already done what we could never do for ourselves. (John 5:39)
The Role of Prayer: Exhaling in Response to God
Prayer is our response to God’s truth. If reading Scripture is inhaling, prayer is exhaling.
Dane Ortlund puts it plainly: “If we do not pray, we do not believe God is an actual person. We may say we do, but we don’t really.”
True friendship requires communication. Without conversation, no relationship can grow. When we read the Bible but don’t respond in prayer, we treat God as a concept rather than a personal, living presence.
By learning to pray through Scripture, we transform our Bible reading from an academic exercise into an active conversation with God. This allows us to not only learn about God but to engage with Him in a real and personal way.
The Psalms: The Ultimate Guide to Spiritual Breathing
One of the most practical ways to combine Scripture reading and prayer is to pray through the Psalms. The Psalms are unique because they are both God’s words to us and our words to God. They model how to praise, lament, rejoice, and seek God in every circumstance.
Jesus himself regularly prayed the Psalms. On the cross, he cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1). The Psalms shaped his prayers, and they can shape ours too.
When you read the Psalms, ask yourself:
Where is Jesus in this Psalm?
Is he the one praying it?
Is he the fulfillment of its promises?
Is he the answer to its cries?
This approach transforms how we engage with the Psalms, allowing us to encounter Christ personally in the words of Scripture.
Are You Holding Your Spiritual Breath?
If breathing is essential to life, why do we try to live spiritually without it? Many of us unknowingly hold our breath spiritually—we rely on a Sunday sermon to sustain us for the week, rarely engaging in God’s Word or prayer until the next service.
Just as physically holding our breath weakens us, spiritually neglecting Scripture and prayer leaves us gasping for God’s presence. But God’s breath is always available—we simply need to inhale.
Practical Steps to Spiritual Breathing
Inhale: Read Scripture Daily
Even 5-10 minutes a day can reshape your heart and mind.
Start with the Psalms or the Gospels.
Exhale: Pray Through Scripture
Respond to what you read in prayer.
Turn verses into personal prayers.
Create a Rhythm
Set a consistent time each day.
Morning and evening moments with God keep your soul oxygenated.
Reflection Questions
When was the last time you felt truly connected to God? What helped you feel that way?
In what ways might you be “holding your breath” spiritually?
How could regularly reading Scripture and praying transform your relationship with Jesus?
Small Group Discussion Questions
What stood out to you most from this message?
How would you describe your current relationship with Scripture and prayer?
Have you ever experienced a time of “spiritual suffocation”? What happened?
How does thinking about prayer and Bible reading as “breathing” change your perspective on their importance?
What are some practical steps you could take to make Bible reading and prayer a daily rhythm?
How have the Psalms shaped your prayer life, if at all? How might you begin incorporating them?
Jesus often prayed the Psalms—why do you think they were so central to his prayer life?
How can this group support one another in committing to a deeper practice of Scripture and prayer?
Conclusion
God’s breath is always available to us. We don’t need to hold our breath, gasping for spiritual oxygen. Instead, we can inhale his Word and exhale in prayer, deepening our friendship with him each day.
Take a deep breath today—physically and spiritually—and let God’s presence fill you anew.