A group of believers in Jesus our Messiah unite in prayer before the throne to stand in the gap for others.

 

© Desireofmysoul.faith (.com and .org) & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

 
 

Please join us before our King . . .

Email your prayer requests or questions: prayer@desireofmysoul.faith

 
 

NEW AUDIO FORMAT CONTINUES:

a TARGETED SHORTLIST sent twice a month or as led.

 

Once again, we are blessed that you’re standing with us, interceding on behalf of others. May our King’s heart be moved by our prayers for these THREE individuals.
 
 
 

GOT 4 MINUTES?

 

Click on the audio link below to pray along as you listen to the three S.O.S. prayers.

 

We’ll be praying for Donny D., Hoom [Huang Van Tran], and S.D.

 

 
 

PREFER TO PRAY AS LED ON YOUR OWN?

Here are the three needs with a prayer/scripture prompt.
 
 

Blessed be Your Name, Adonai. You are Great, clothed with splendor and majesty. May the Glory of your Name endure forever. And may these prayers please you . . . and may you hear from Heaven and move in each need for the sake of Your Name.

 

#1. DONNY D.

Request Brief A 60-something unbeliever—the brother of one of our prayer partners—is in dire straits with prostate cancer, possible lung tumors as well as cancer in his bones and blood.

Prayer prompt: Abba, You know Donny’s childhood—the rejection, the loneliness, being left behind. You know the walls he built to shield his sorrow. And the drinking to form a protective moat around himself. Woo him, Lord, reveal the power of your love that is pure, holy, embracing, healing, eternal.

Please step into his soul and sit with him, let him know he is accepted in your sight through the blood of Jesus, our Messiah. Share your glory message, your Good News of what awaits him if he says yes to you and bows down to your gift at the cross. As Nehemiah 8:10 says, Let joy in you be his strength . . . and may your steadfast Presence be his comfort and bring spiritual, emotional, and physical healing. Spread your wings and please rise, my King, covering Donny’s heart with your Name. In Jesus’s holy name.

 

#2. HOOM [HUANG VAN TRAN]

Request Brief:Hoom is the dad of one of our precious prayer warriors. Unfortunately, he is back to drinking and driving, egged on by anger and personal relationship issues.

Prayer prompt: Abba, you know Hoom is doing life fueled by his own strength, his emotions, his blurred understanding. Please send your Light of Truth, Your Word, in the power of Hebrews 4:12 to pierce his broken soul, penetrating through the hardness that’s built up between his soul and spirit, drill down through the joints and the marrow, revealing to him his wayward thoughts and intentions.

El Shaddai, Mighty One, lead him to your thoughts, your ways . . .unshackling this captive from himself, from the darkening of his soul, from the sway of others, and from the weight and the stench of the lies the enemy has fed him for years. We pray John 8:36 for him because if the Son of God, Yeshua, sets Hoom free, he will be free indeed, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. All to your Glory, our King Yeshua.

 

#3. S.D.

Request Brief: Personal Request.

Prayer prompt: S.D. weeps before you, needing Your hand to calm the storm . . . and steer her life ship to your safe harbor, sheltering her from errors made and in your mercy realigning everything with favor spoken from your lips, released from your heart on your daughter who loves and serves you. May whatever is lost be found . . . whatever others attempt to take, may you protect . . . and whatever needs changing, may you guide her gently in your righteousness and goodness.

Wrap your daughter in your sweet garments of love. . . whispering words to uplift her . . . singing over her Psalm 62:6 and 8: “Trust in Him at all times . . . pour out your heart to Him.” Holy King, help precious S.D. know you’re listening and cupping every tear—the ones shed and the ones her soul has hidden—because you, Adonai, are her refuge, always and forever. You are Ha go’el, ha gadol, the Great Redeemer who rescues and saves. May her soul remember, rejoice, and not be shaken.In the name above all names, Yeshua.

 
 

HEY, GOT A FEW MORE MINUTES TO PRAY?

SALVATION, DELIVERANCE & PRODIGAL LIST

 
 

Acts 26:17b. This Acts verse is our continual prayer for deliverance: God’s commission to Paul . . . “Open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”

 

We pray that because of Romans 1:16. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.”

 

#1. B’nai Israel throughout the world and those Jews caught up in New Age/Buddhism and those not knowing or unwilling to know the truth of Yeshua. Special mentions for salvation and deliverance:

√ all hostages (released and those still captive) and their families, Bibi Netanyahu/family and all Israeli leadership, every facet of the Israeli military forces/IDF, Israeli Intelligence forces/Shin Bet/Mossad/Aman, and for unity in the nation—and for their enemies to turn to the Lord and be saved

√ Yad L’Achim, a Haredi Jewish organization focusing on countering evangelical “missionary” work in Israel

 

Jewish friends and/or rabbis:

√ the extended Katz family, Marc, Bill, Rabbi Mendy Deitsch/family, Bobbi/Neil, Edie/Hal, Ellen B., Nancy E., Doug B., Dale G., Judith L., Ruth M., Ira P. and wife, Carolyn S., and the family of Ellen R.

√ The Chosen’s Jewish actors Shahar Isaac, Noah James, Elijah Alexander.

√ Rabbi Richman, the Temple Institute, Aish.com, Pardes Institute rabbis/teachers, Rabbi Mintz/family & her longtime Torah study group, Rabbi Fohrman, Rabbi Wyne, Rabbi Goodman, Rabbi Herlig/Chabad, Rabbi Hecht and family, Rabbi Goodman, Rabbi Cohen, Rabbi Goldbart, Tovia Singer

 

#2. Deliverance from Persecution

√ The demonic realm is at work, stirring hatred, swaying hearts and souls. Even infiltrating churches disguising themselves—wolves in sheep’s clothing—to perform spiritual attacks up close and personal against believers, thwarting their faith, health, marriages, families, jobs, more. May we STAND shoulder-to-shoulder in unity with the Word, holding fast to God’s promises and His holy, faithful character. Psalm 121:7-8—The LORD shall preserve you from all evil. He shall preserve your soul. In Yeshua’s Mighty, Mighty, Redeeming Name.

√ Believers in Vietnam who are under heavy persecution for their faith–some are beaten, ostracized, enduring hostility, violence, surveillance, and driven from their homes and villages.

 

#3. US Government Officials & Families: Salvation.

May our governmental leaders and citizens humble themselves before our LORD GOD. May their power-lust, bitterness, envy, jealousy, anger be replaced with unity and the love of God and righteous decisions for the good of the nation and its people.

√ President Donald Trump/family, VP J.D. Vance and wife Usha Vance (she’s Hindu), and all unsaved members of the new administration and the House/Senate and their families.

 

#4. Prodigals

√ all those we know/love who once walked with our Messiah but have gone rogue, become compromised, blinded by the enemy’s sway

√ special mentions: Rachel, Grant & Shannan, Chippendale-ish performer who is a believer/works at Fremont Experience, Emily S., Austin, Lisa, Heather, and all those in the film/music/entertainment industry who knew the LORD but compromised and fell under the enemy’s beguiling ways.

 

#5. Salvation for the spiritually lost and/or demonically troubled or bound:

√ Michael

√ Mary’s cousin in Vietnam who is possibly a Buddhist (other family members in the area are Muslim)

√ Landon, Lisa, Alexander, Lindsay, Mary, Leah, Daniel, Oren

√ E. Davis.

√ Cin H.

√ Bryan H. & family, Jesse S. & family, Ted W. & family

√ Lindsay G., Emily D., K. & Z., Nicky W.

√Christina, Dr. Jacks, Greg & his wife

√ the unsaved family members of the late Ed Honore, a believer who now is with our King

√ Luigi

√ Erica

√ Bruce

√ The Chosen’s unbeliever actors/crew, with a heart-focus on Paras Patel (Matthew) and Erick Avery (Nicodemus)

√ Unsaved dancers, buskers, performers, and Chippendale dancers working the Fremont Street Experience

√ Anthony & Lilly (following New Age)

√ Donny D.

√ Benjamin, Cliff, J., Gary

√ Bob K, Paul P., Michael, Tim C.

√ Erica & Richard, Susan R., Erica M.

√ Cynthia and her family

√ James J., Alexandria, Cole, Joe D., Mercedes, Bob, Michael, Alexander

√ all our family/friends/loved ones who are still unwilling to disengage from prior demonic agreements, humble themselves, surrender their souls and lives/lifestyles to our LORD JESUS

 

#6. Deliverance and salvation for those under gender confusion/gender bending and homosexuality:

√ Bob & Don (male partners)

√ J. & his male partner

√ Joey (dresses as a woman), “Joan” (biological male), and “Hannah” (biological male)

√ Emily, Barb, Annie, Abbie, Barbara E.—all need freedom from lesbian hold

 
 
 

PHOTO CREDIT: Wrecking ball photo only was purchased from iStock.com (my text was inserted onto the photo afterward).

 

Connected upward, yet pulled downward.

That is the battle within your soul.

But it’s for a purpose. And it’s good.

 

© desireofmysoul.faith & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

 
 

SUGGEST READING THIS FIRST. COMBAT ZONE SERIES: PART 1—YOUR SOUL

 

READING TIME: 3 MINUTES.

 

Ancient Israelites as well as those in the Second Temple period—including the first century with Jesus (Yeshua, his Hebrew name)—have long embraced a soul-body perspective.

 

Even philosophers from Homer to Plato and Socrates and onto the Hellenistic period and beyond have peered into this mysterious soul-body relationship.

 

This series explores that spiritual-physical interplay in daily life and pulls from the Bible’s Hebrew wording as a gateway to deeper understanding of biblical text.

 

And because film/literature can help visualize the human-soul story, I later on (in a linked post) lightly explore a character in a Fellini film, Nights of Cabiria, via this soul lens. An unconventional approach? Maybe.

 

So let’s roll up our sleeves and get to it.

 

 

DISSECTING YOUR SOUL

Looking deeper, inward

 

The first stop: three revealing Hebrew words for soul that are used interchangeably throughout scripture.

 

The words that I’ll discuss in a moment—neshama/nishmat, ruach, nefesh—magnify things for us in certain Bible passages, when considering the context.

 

And they do something else. They’re a tutor teaching us that the soul . . .

 

(1) is breathed from God
(2) is unseen like a breath or wind
(3) can rise (to the things of God) and descend (away from His goodness)
(4) houses understanding and thought
(5) has emotions
(6) has a desire to cleave (negatively or positively)
(7) has an awareness of self
(8) is eternal and shares responsibility with the body for its actions/decisions (thus one of the needs for a bodily resurrection—more on that in another post)

 

Now let’s unpack it.

 

Soul Nuance #1: Breath of life, soul, attached to God

 

Neshama [neh-shah-mah ]—soul, God’s breath of life [in Hebrew, nishmat chayim נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים] that He breathed into Adam per Genesis 2:7. That divine breath animated, enlivened the body and sparked the soul’s dimensions. It gave Adam’s body—as it does yours and mine—life.

 

Think of it. That breath is your closest contact with God, His soul to your newly breathed soul. It’s His holy breath (nishmat) residing within you. How miraculous. A profound, loving gift from the King of Kings, the Ruler of the Universe. The One who sits High and lifted up on His mighty throne.

 

Soul Nuance #2: Wind, breath, spirit, and also used for feelings/emotions, inner feelings

 

Ruach [roo-akh] rises and descends—designed to move (like the wind) with the flow of God’s divine presence, His Shechinah, dwelling within. You hear the wind, feel it, but can’t see it. In Genesis 6:17, God brought the flood upon all flesh having the “spirit/breath of life” (ruach chayim, ר֣וּחַ חַיִּ֔ים).

 

Genesis 7:22 uses ruach again to speak of the breath of life: Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life in its nostrils (nishmat ruach chayim be’apav, נִשְׁמַת רוּחַ חַיִּים בְּאַמָּיו) died.

 

And in Psalm 33:6: By the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and with the breath (ruach) of His mouth, all their host.

 

Since ruach is also used for feelings/emotions and inner thoughts, consider this: As your life goes this way or that, upwardly seeking Him or not, so this ruach (spirit/wind/breath) rises, descends. So . . .

 

The question then is, will you hear His voice and follow Him, drawing the entire soul-body upward, aligning your inner thoughts with His, surrendering to Him and His leading?

 

Or will your flesh—which is tethered to this world, made from the earth, dust to dust—run the show and derail your soul destiny with God?

 

Soul Nuance #3: Life force, soul, self, a person, rested breath, living (breathing) being

 

Nefesh [neh-fesh], taken from the Hebrew root nafash meaning to rest, similar to Exodus 31:17 where God tells Moses what to say to Israel about the Shabbat and how He rested (nafash) after six days of creation.

 

Genesis 2:7 reveals that God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the soul of life/breath of life (nishmat chayim), so man became a living soul (nefesh chayim).

 

Want other scriptures? Read these after this post: three more scripture examples.

 

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Like a glassblower, God’s action of exhaling a soul is like
the breath [neshama/nishmat] leaving His lips,
traveling as wind [ruach/spirit],
coming to rest [nefesh/nafash] in the vessel [our body].

 

—A poetic image about God breathing the soul into Adam (my inserts in red)—from the 18th century Italian-Jewish philosopher/writer, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto.

 

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The nefesh is often translated as self, suggesting it has an awareness of the physical world and of the body. It also has a yearning, a desire, appetite, and a cleaving (attaching itself either negatively or positively), per some rabbinic thinking.

 

That self-factor with a desire to cling is an important characteristic. Especially if the soul (nefesh) cleaves to things/desires mirroring those of the downward-focused, earth-tethered body, because it can wind up blocking the soul’s upward call (God’s desire).

 

Now add in what Rabbi Pinchas Winston (a lecturer/author on Torah philosophy) basically describes about the nefesh in his teaching of Exodus 35-38: it [nefesh] sets out to control and manipulate its physical surroundings in an attempt to “create a sense of self-reliance and security.”

 

No wonder that globally-and-generationally-known rabbi (who was so much more)—Jesus, the Messiah—taught this 2,000 years ago about dying to that negative self and turning your soul and body to God, surrendering to Him, serving Him, loving Him:

 

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“Truly, truly, I say to you,

unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,

it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

—John 12:24

 

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READ PART 2b NEXT:

COMBAT ZONE SERIES: PART 2b—THE BODY FACTOR
 
 

RESOURCES

Hebrew wording based on Tanakh Hebrew for text and Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon.

 

Greek word for soul and spirit from Strongs on https://biblehub.com/greek/5590.htm

 

PHOTO CREDIT

Quirky man with magnifying glass photo by Marten Newhall on Unsplash.com

 
 

Combat Zone is the foundational post for soul basics. The original article was created/posted in 2009, but for easier reading, later divided into more posts.

 

Connected upward, yet pulled downward.

That is the battle within your soul.

But it’s for a purpose. And it’s good.

 

© SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

 
 

READING TIME: 1 MINUTE.

 

Take a sec to read three quick examples of how the translated word “soul” is synonymously used for those three Hebrew words used in the COMBAT ZONE SERIES: PART 2—SOUL NUANCES (neshama/nishmat, ruach, nefesh) and even their equivalent in the New Testament Greek.

 
 

1. Job said, “As God lives, who has taken away my right,
and the Almighty has established my soul (nefesh, my life force, rested breath).
For as long as my soul (nishmat, breath of life attached to God) is within me
and the spirit (ruach, breath, wind) of God is in my nostrils,
my lips will speak no injustice and my tongue will utter no deceit.
—Job 27:2-4

 

2. The spirit (ruach, breath, wind) of God made me, and the breath (nishmat, breath of life, attached to God) of the Almighty keeps me alive.—Job 33:4

 

3. There also are poetic uses of these synonyms, like the metaphor in the New Testament’s letter to the Hebrews (4:12) that vividly underscores the laser-like intensity of God’s Word (active, alive, sharper than any two-edge sword) to expose our thoughts and intentions . . .

 

It can divide the “soul”—(Greek is psyches like nefesh for self, human person, the consequence of God’s blowing life into a person)—from the “spirit” (Greek is pneumatos, like ruach for breath, wind, spirit).

 

Meaning: The razor-sharp sword of God’s Word slices through (divides) the intricately connected nuances of the soul much like it can slice through our physical joints from its innermost part, the heart-of-the-matter marrow.