Calm Your Mind, Body, and Spirit with God’s Truth

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” — 1 John 3:16

Today I want to give you something. It’s a tool. We are always teaching you how to memorize verses, right? Well, today you are going to practice a technique for reciting those verses as you calm your body too. It’s something we cover in this month’s free digital Bible study (Get yours here!). And we think it’s so practical and helpful and good, that we just had to put it here too. Give it a try!

Calm your mind, body, and spirit with the truth in our verse.

Today we will focus on the first half of our memory verse.

What does it mean to breathe a verse?

Quite simply, you recite a verse in sync with your breathing. It’s a way to slow down your body and simultaneously refocus your mind and spirit on God’s truth.

Here’s how it works:

You will slowly build the verse into your breath—adding on just one word with each new breath. By the end you’ll be saying (to yourself) the first half of the phrase as you breath in, and then saying (to yourself) the second half as you breath out, like this:

Inhale: This is how we know what love is:

Exhale: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

Before you begin, take a moment to close your eyes, and calm your mind.
Invite God to meet you. Lord, would you be present with me in my mind, spirit, and body right now?
Become aware of your breathing. Feel the air fill your lungs as you breathe in, and let it out in a slow exhale.
Check out the step-by-step process (below), and then give it a try.

Finish with this short prayer: Lord, help me live my life like this is true. Help me align my thinking and my actions to the truth that you love me.

More Tips:
1. Personalize the verse using “I” and “me.” THIS IS HOW I KNOW WHAT LOVE IS. JESUS CHRIST LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR ME.
2. Try it in reverse! Remove one word at a time until you are just breathing again.
3. Set an alarm on your phone and breathe the verse throughout the day.
4. Use this practice to start your morning, finish your day, or help you sleep at night.
Love this practice?! Get it and 11 more sessions in this month’s free Digital Bible Study!

Natalie Abbott

Natalie Abbott is the co-founder and chief content officer of Dwell Differently. She’s the co-author of the Dwell on These Things Bible study and Dwell Differently: Overcome Negative Thinking with the Simple Practice of Memorizing God’s Truth. Natalie loves reading fiction, drinking hot tea, going on dates, and hanging out with her five growing kids. Natalie’s husband Jason is the pastor of Central Church in Jefferson City, Missouri where they currently reside.