"I got it, Dad."
My kids said this constantly during their toddler years, even when they clearly didn't have it. Childhood development demands autonomy. Kids want to do things before they can actually do them. My job was letting them try without letting them get hurt.
Decades later, I still do the same thing. I insist I've got capacity I don't have, confidence that exceeds my ability. I'm still trying to breathe life into things with too little air!
Which is why Tauren Wells' new song "Breathe On It" hit me so hard. Wells sings about his longing for God to breathe on various aspects of his life and community, grounded in his awareness of his own limits and capacity.
In a caption to an Instagram post from a couple of weeks before the song’s release on Air1, Wells wrote, “Can I offer you a prayer for the new year? It’s simple but I believe it’s powerful. I’m asking God to BREATHE ON IT💨. Nothing done out of my own striving or strength but carried along by the wind of His spirit. I have a holy expectation that it could change…everything.”
Wells wrote that caption a couple of weeks before Air1 released the song, and the track itself carries that same posture throughout. He's not asking God to bless his hustle or rubber-stamp his plans. He's asking God to do what only God can do—bring life where Wells can't manufacture it. The song builds around this simple, repeated plea: "Anything can change when You breathe on it."
That confidence isn't misplaced. Scripture shows us exactly what God's breath accomplishes.
I love Wells’ attitude in that caption. Instead of beginning a new year by striving or relying on his own strength, Wells is seeking God’s strength and the blessing of God’s Spirit. He knows what the breath of God can do in a given situation.
From Genesis to the New Testament, we see the power of God’s breath.
In Genesis 2, God's breath gave the first human life: "He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person." Our lungs work because His breath came first.
Centuries later, that same breath brought renewal to Ezekiel's valley of dry bones. God told the prophet to speak to the wind itself: "Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again." And they did—an entire army standing where there had only been death.
Jesus himself breathed on the disciples in John 20, his final act before ascending: "Then he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" Commissioning. Empowering. Sending.
A few pages later in Acts 2, that breath arrived like a windstorm, filling the house where the early church gathered. Tongues of fire. New languages. The Spirit poured out on everyone present.
Even Scripture itself is God-breathed. The word Paul uses in 2 Timothy 3 to describe Scripture literally means that. The Hebrew word ruach and the Greek word pneuma both carry this dual meaning of spirit and breath, reminding us that God's word on the page is as alive as His breath in our lungs.
All of these passages reinforce Wells’ choice to seek God breathing on his life and priorities this year rather than seeking his own agenda and strength. If God breathing on something is truly that powerful, we would be foolish to try to breathe life into something with our lungs. Like children saying “I got this” to parents who know they do not, we must sound the same to God when we make plans and seek to achieve them in our own power rather than tapping into His.
Rather, through prayer, fasting, and worship, we ought to be pleading with God to breathe on the dreams and desires of our hearts. “Breathe On It” offers a great way to seek God’s movement in our lives and to remind ourselves, in the process, that His power is so much greater than our own.
Scott Savage is a pastor, author, and speaker who loves tacos, matcha, and sneakers. With more than twenty years of ministry experience, he teaches with a blend of Biblical truth, emotional awareness, and the compassion shaped by his own struggles.
Scott’s writing has impacted over six million readers through trusted platforms such as the YouVersion Bible App, Air1 Radio, and Our Daily Bread. Whether speaking on a stage or writing on a page, he offers a steady, empathetic voice that reassures people they are seen, loved, and not beyond God's healing reach. Tens of thousands of subscribers from over forty countries are excited to read his free newsletter every Tuesday morning. You can join here today!
