🙌 Psalm 150:6 | This week's memory verse

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📧 In today’s email…

• The uniqueness of the Psalms 🤓 

• The Hebrew word for breath 🌬️ 

• A simple form of prayer to try out 🙏 

• Psalm-themed trivia 📊

• A brand new section in the newsletter 🔦 

 🧠 Memorize

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Psalm 150:6

🤓 Book context: The Psalms

The Bible Project has a great overview video of the Psalms, but here are a few things to know:

• The Psalms are a collection of Ancient Hebrew poems, songs and prayers across many periods of Israel’s history

• They are often referred to as “the prayer book of God’s people” 🙏 

• There are a few ways to categorize the Psalms, but here’s one: each of the 150 Psalms generally fits into one of these 6 categories:

  • Lament

  • Praise Hymns

  • Thanksgiving

  • Kingship & Covenant Psalms

  • Songs of Trust

  • Wisdom Psalms

As you might guess from the content of verse 6, Psalm 150 is a praise hymn.

Despite the entire spectrum of human emotion we encounter in the Psalms, Psalm 150:6 (the last verse of the entire book) ends in praise.

Which reminds us that despite the hard things we experience in this life, we know that as followers of Jesus, our story ultimately will end in praise!

 🗣️ The Hebrew word for ‘breath’

The Hebrew word for ‘breath’ in verse 6 is nᵊšāmâ (pronounced nesh-aw-maw').

The first mention of this word for breath is in the creation account in Genesis, where God first breathes life into humanity:

Bible commentator David Guzik once said: “Everything that breathes should give its praise to the One who gave it breath.”

The Psalmist here is inviting us to join the choir of all living things praising the Lord.

Let’s talk about a simple, specific practice you can do to internalize this verse and a heart posture of praise. 👇️ 

Breath prayers 🫁  

One simple way to incorporate this verse is as a prayer that you pair with breathing, aka a “breath prayer.” Here’s how it works..

Try a breath prayer

1. Choose a phrase: This week we’ll use verse 6 → “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!”

2. Inhale: As you breathe in, say the first part of the verse to yourself - “Let everything that has breath..”

3. Exhale: As you breathe out, say the second part to yourself - “..praise the Lord.”

Simply repeat steps 2 and 3 for a few minutes, or do it throughout your day when you have a moment to pause.

Let this prayer prompt you to look at the world around you - people, animals, nature - through the lens of praise.

⌛️ Even 30 seconds of this breath prayer at the start of your day is enough to slow down, calm your nervous system, and spend a moment turning your mind to God.

Trivia 💡 

Click one of the options below. Let’s see how you do..

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Thank you so much for your support and feedback so far, and especially to everyone paying-it-forward to help us keep operating! 🙏 

 🧠 Memorize

_{see if you know what words go in the blanks}

Let __________ that has ______ praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

Psalm 150:6

Here’s how to set up the Malachi Daily App 📱 👇️ 

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This is the #1 way to memorize the verses we’ll be studying via email.