Breath is worship.  When we attend to our breath, we acknowledge the Sovereign God who created breath and praise Him for giving us the breath of life.  He alone controls it.  He alone gets to decide our first breath, and our last.  As we deliberately set out each morning to fellowship with God, we start by attending to our breath.  Breathing exercises not only awaken us physiologically, but spiritually as well.  As we begin our quiet time with God, we start by practicing the Big 3:

Big 3

The Big Three is an exercise that will wake us up and get our motors running. The lungs will wake up, the heart will wake up, the blood will oxygenate, and the mind will become more alert. Whenever I perform this exercise, I visualize feeding my brain with the oxygen I’m bringing into my body. The more we practice, the better we’ll become at deepening the inhale and exhale. The deeper we breathe, the more relaxed we’ll become.  Basically, we’re taking deep, more forceful breaths in and then exhaling through or nose; then we do the same through our mouth.

Smooth 7

The “Smooth Seven” breathing practice is calmer and more rhythmic than the Big Three. It’s called “Smooth Seven” because we’ll take longer and less forceful breaths in through our nose for a count of seven seconds, then exhale through our mouth for another count of seven seconds.

In Plan Be, we practice stillness before God so we might fellowship with Him, honor Him, and cultivate a desire to want what He wants. God longs to have a deep personal relationship with us.

The Hebrew word for “be still” is raphah, which means to be quiet and to let go.

As we spend quality time with Him, putting Him first in our day, we will grow in our intimacy together. Quietness before Him stills the soul. Listening fills our hearts and minds with Him. He longs to guide us, instruct us, and teach us in the way we should go, for He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. As we calm our hearts before Him, giving full attention to Him, He will be honored, and God takes pleasure in those who honor Him. He will fill our hearts with His love:

“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:25–26, ESV)

Intimacy, relationship, understanding, knowledge, positivity, enlightenment, spiritual discernment, and joy. All these virtues supplied by God culminate in the greatest of all things: love. By definition, God is love. It’s His identity, His DNA. And it’s the DNA of everyone who has professed faith in Him as well. The greatest goal and the constant lesson in life is this: love. Love is the strongest Be-Attitude. We can love because He first loved us. Love courses through the other Be-Attitudes. It’s the thread that holds the whole tapestry together. As we cultivate intimacy with Him, surrender and rest in Him, expose our hearts to Him, and approach our day with positive eyes wide open to see Him at work in and around us, we cannot help but shine His light on others . . . and His light is love. Love becomes the natural expression of all who belong to Him.

When I was young and needed to be awakened every weekday morning for school, my mom would come into the bedroom that my two brothers and I shared, flick the light switch on, and sing, “Rise and Shine!” Back then, my adolescent self-dreaded hearing that, for it meant another day of classes. But now, whenever I hear the words of Isaiah 60—“Arise! Shine!”—I remember Mom’s attempt to infuse positive words of hope into our young minds. It was just one of the many ways in which she worked to instill optimism in us, and I look back now with great appreciation for that—not the waking up part, but the spirit in which my mom helped us begin our day.

Isaiah had the same intent—speaking positive words to dissipate the gloom because a new hope was coming, a light for the nations that would carry with Him God’s glory to shine upon us and remove the darkness.

Isaiah had spoken words like this to the people already. In chapter 9, he pronounced, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined” (Isaiah 9:2, NKJV); and a few verses later he connects this statement with one of our most familiar Christmas passages, saying, “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulders. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6, NKJV). That Son, that Prince of Peace and Great Light, is Jesus Christ.

Through the presence of Christ, we are exposed to and infused with positive energy. We radiate the beautiful rays of His essence, His glory upon us. We are made light through His spirit. In the light, everything is exposed. God desires that we live transparently, authentically, and sincerely. Darkness is sin; in it lie secrets, shame, and separation. Living in His light is freedom, belonging, purity, and righteousness. Thankfulness, appreciation, gratitude, and kindness are all rays within His light, exposing us to an eternal realm that transcends the negative forces of this world. He is the Light of the world. He offers us His light, that we might become light and be light for others. Goodness, kindness, and mercy are light, emanating from their source—Jesus Christ.

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
– John 20:31

In John 20:31 we see the cadence:

• We read His Written Word.
• We believe. Our faith grows.
• We experience the fullness of life.

Of course, we do not live out a formula, but John 20:31 is a profound statement regarding what happens when we incorporate God’s living Word into our lives. It should flow naturally from our connection with Him, open to receiving His holy, inerrant Word, which is life itself. And once we’ve received His Word, we’re drawn closer and will connect with Him on a deeper level. Knowing His Word will provide us with faith, wisdom, truth, and power. It affirms us and gives us the strength to live in victory, from a position of hope and faith and love. His Word confirms who He is, giving us hope that does not disappoint.
Seeing the Bible as God’s journal, His love story to us, we’re filled with His insight, revelation, and guidance; and when we carry His Word in our hearts, we carry His wisdom and strength, which enables us to face any circumstance and overcome all adversity. In the Believe Be-Attitude, we reinforce our faith and fortify our belief in all that He says He is and does through His holy Word. We focus on Scripture—the very words of God—to instruct us on how to live well in an otherwise broken world.

We need scripture like we need air (the BREATHE Be-Attitude!). God’s Word is life. He is called the Word (John 1:1 NKJV). We cannot acknowledge our need for Him without acknowledging our need for the Word. Let’s live out the truth that “the word of God is living and powerful” (Hebrews 12:1a) and whatever we read in scripture, by the power of the Holy Spirit, “never returns void, but accomplishes what He pleases for it to do and prospers in the thing for which He sends it,” (Isaiah 55:11 NJJV, paraphrased).

Read His word, meditate on it, and know that the power of God works through every verse.

For a more in-depth look at this Be-Attitude and the behaviors that lead to a greater intimacy with Jesus, you can order Plan Be book by clicking here.

When we continually see God at work, in us and around us, and come to know experientially the freedom He offers through Christ, then the door is opened for a life of joy and celebration. We can live as free-spirited, contented people not through some artificial or externally driven means, but by the irrevocable promise of His care and love. He will never leave or forsake us, and He will always work to the good for those of us who love Him. His consistency, His continual presence, His honesty, and unending love should be the catalysts for a happy life. We are free to laugh, sing, think positively, and not be controlled by circumstances:

“But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress.” (Psalm 59:16, NLT)

We can opt for joy in every circumstance because He has ensured us that we will experience the best outcome we could ever ask for—eternity with Him. Because of His promise of everlasting life with Him, we live with hope, and hope fills us with joy. We can experience this even in times of distress. I understand how difficult this can be in the day-to-day grind, but that doesn’t eliminate the fact that we can still find joy. We always have the power to create joyful moments, for ourselves and others. More specifically, we can implement those things which we know bring joy.

The word “behold” is a fascinating word that appears 1,381 times in the King James Bible, 234 times in the New Testament, and four times more often than the word “amen.”[1] On its surface, the Greek word for “behold,” idou (G2400, pronounced ee-do), is a verb that means “to see.” Per Thayer’s Greek Lexicon,[2] it is used in “bidding the reader or hearer to attend to what is said: ‘Behold! See! Lo!’” Thayer’s continues to describe the use of the word “behold” as “the simple exclamation of one pointing out something . . . and calling attention.”

The word behold is not used in modern speech—when was the last time you heard someone say, “Behold!”? There simply isn’t a suitable English word to convey its full meaning and, more importantly, its emphasis. The word itself is a verb—it requires action on the hearer’s or reader’s part! —and whenever used in a sentence, the speaker or author is making a very strong point to the listener or reader to pay very close attention to what they’re about to share. Perhaps today we substitute behold for “Look!” but Behold is much more than that.
“Behold” is also used at the close of a narrative when something new is introduced. It’s used when a specific thing is unexpected yet sure; and when a thing is specified which seems impossible and yet occurs.