Identifying and Addressing Inner Vows: Praying Breath Prayers and Lectio Divina for Sustained Transformation of the Soul

There are many Christians today who desire a closer and stronger relationship with God but for some reason have difficulty cultivating such a relationship. While both Christian men and women express this desire, it is the focus of this project for Christian women to assess their inner vows or self-willed determinations that keep them from experiencing spiritual life satisfaction and abundant fruitfulness and providing them with two prayer tools for sustained transformation of the soul. The two prayer methods the women were introduced to were breath prayer and lectio divina.
This project included three separate three-day retreats attended by a total of ten women. In addition, each woman was given a six-week prayer evaluation follow-up to help determine the desired outcomes that included 1) greater awareness of God’s love for them; 2) greater love and acceptance of themselves; 3) increased expression of the fruit of the Spirit; 4) greater ability to trust God’s truth over their inner vow lies; and 5) a willingness to share their God-given gifts. The limitations of the project included limited accommodations, time restraints for one-on-one mentoring, travel restraints, limited representation of women, and a limited time for follow-up.
This was a qualitative study that used pre- and post-retreat questionnaires, two
surveys covering the topics of inner vows and the fruit of the Spirit and a six-week prayer
evaluation follow-up questionnaire. The results of the study confirmed the desired
outcomes, revealing that women experienced greater spiritual life satisfaction and
abundant fruitfulness after recognizing and processing their inner vows and applying the
Word of God through the breath prayer and lectio divina.