Thoughts on the Jesus prayer




If you are not familiar with the Jesus prayer I would go here before reading my article. I am not trying to give instructions on the Jesus prayer that my friends would be the blind leading the blind. I am only trying to make a very simple argument for the validity for the prayer in Protestant life.

The prayer of the heart or the Jesus prayer as is more commonly known is considered to be an art by the Orthodox monks and laity who practice it, in the orthodox world prayer as a whole is considered to be an art, and worship. This thought alone profoundly changed the way I perceived prayer. The Jesus prayer is a corner stone of there mystical belief structure and monastic practices. As a Christian who got saved and went to a church that was sprung out of the 1970’s Jesus movement one thing I was taught, and taught again is Matt 6:7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. This verse rolled around in my head as I learned more and more about the Jesus Prayer. It brought some serious questions up in my mind. Like is this prayer useful to day or is it just tradition, and if I am practicing this repetitive prayer how it can be pleasing to God and it is useful in my spiritual life? Just to name a few. So I started reading The way of a pilgrim, then On the prayer of Jesus By St. Ignatius Brianchaninov(here is a web site the has the whole book in audio format), and now The Art of Prayer by Ingmen Chariton.

These are the conclusions I have drawn from the little, but prayerful studying I have done. The prayer is a very powerful tool for mediation due to its completeness and the simplicity of the prayer. People in the early church were quite often illiterate and bibles were not common place for the obvious reasons of printing. So with the prayer you could teach a lot with very little. It is easy to learn and the prayer is totally solid in thought and theology. This would keep partakers safe from false mysticism. The prayer brings together the essentials of Christian devotion, veneration and contrition. God’s glory and the sinful nature of man are represented. It is Thanksgiving for our salvation and repentant sorrow for our sinful nature.

Due to the simplicity of the prayer any one can learn this way of praying. You do not need special training or knowledge. Only to know that Jesus Christ is God and savior of all who believe on him. Before you start praying you need to collect your thoughts and establish calm in your heart and ask for guidance from the Holy Spirit.

Now back to Matt 6:7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. I had a hard time with the prayer in the beginning because I was taught that this is what you were doing if you prayed in this manor. I however had a realization that the people who practice this prayer had been saying all long. In this prayer it is not the words that are the most important it is the heart that matter most. As a musician and some one who plays music in my church it made sense to me in this way. When you are singing your favorite song at church and worshiping God you know the words because you have learned them memorized them and internalized them. So have the worship leader and the band. They have also learned the cords, and depending on the instrument and player there could be various licks and sols that go along with that song. Yet while the congregation sings and the worship team plays God still moves and touches people it is memorized but it is not empty, this is the key of the Jesus prayer. If your heart is not in it then it is just vain emptiness.