Jesus prayer

[arcanum]

Does anyone here practice the jesus prayer?I know this is a popular practice in the orthodox tradition though not limited to orthodox.It would appear to be a powerful practice and was initiated in attempt to live up to Paul's statement to pray without ceasing.

 

[3.14]

no


Jesus Prayer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[ayani]

i don't.

as a Christian, i seek to pray without ceasing as Christ did- in personal ways to the Father, rather than via repeated prayers or phrases. when Jesus taught His followers the Lord's prayer, He gave a template for personal prayer, teaching them to "pray in this manner" (Matthew 6:9). the prayers of Jesus we have recorded in the Gospels were personal, spontaneous, and arose from situations Christ was facing. for example, John 11:41-42, Matthew 11:25-26, and Matthew 26:39.

Christ wants us to share in the joyful, living intimacy with God that He enjoys. through Him, by faith, we have access to a walk with the Father. personally, i feel that Christian prayer should first reflect that personal and open nearness to God that Jesus gives us, rather than a learned format or liturgical pattern.

 

[Heneni]

i don't.

as a Christian, i seek to pray without ceasing as Christ did- in personal ways to the Father, rather than via repeated prayers or phrases. when Jesus taught His followers the Lord's prayer, He gave a template for personal prayer, teaching them to "pray in this manner" (Matthew 6:9). the prayers of Jesus we have recorded in the Gospels were personal, spontaneous, and arose from situations Christ was facing. for example, John 11:41-42, Matthew 11:25-26, and Matthew 26:39.

Christ wants us to share in the joyful, living intimacy with God that He enjoys. through Him, by faith, we have access to a walk with the Father. personally, i feel that Christian prayer should first reflect that personal and open nearness to God that Jesus gives us, rather than a learned format or liturgical pattern.

Good post! Frubals

 

[DallasApple]

Yes...prayer with Jesus is a conversation..

Love

Dallas

 

[arcanum]

i don't.

as a Christian, i seek to pray without ceasing as Christ did- in personal ways to the Father, rather than via repeated prayers or phrases. when Jesus taught His followers the Lord's prayer, He gave a template for personal prayer, teaching them to "pray in this manner" (Matthew 6:9). the prayers of Jesus we have recorded in the Gospels were personal, spontaneous, and arose from situations Christ was facing. for example, John 11:41-42, Matthew 11:25-26, and Matthew 26:39.

Christ wants us to share in the joyful, living intimacy with God that He enjoys. through Him, by faith, we have access to a walk with the Father. personally, i feel that Christian prayer should first reflect that personal and open nearness to God that Jesus gives us, rather than a learned format or liturgical pattern.

I understand your point,but I think one of the aims of the repeated phrase is to turn off the inner chatter and enter into a deeper or higher level of consciousness.Then you can enter more earnestly in a deeper heart connected prayer state.I don't believe in formulaic prayers as and end all....say five hail mary's etc,but the jesus prayer serves a different purpose and goes far beyond formulaic prayer.

 

[ayani]

I understand your point,but I think one of the aims of the repeated phrase is to turn off the inner chatter and enter into a deeper or higher level of consciousness.Then you can enter more earnestly in a deeper heart connected prayer state.I don't believe in formulaic prayers as and end all....say five hail mary's etc,but the jesus prayer serves a different purpose and goes far beyond formulaic prayer.

but here is a point to consider- what is meant by "higher consciousness"? that's a kind of terminology used in many, many religious philosophies, as well as by many New Age groups.

no where in the Gospels does Christ use such terminology. while He speaks of the Kingdom of Heaven often, He teaches us that we must humble ourselves to be like children. He teaches us to pray in simple, trusting, meaningful words to our Father. He teaches prayer that is vocal and personal, which points to a personal relationship with God. He does not, in the Gospels, point to meditative or mystical states as the apex of communion with the divine. His most intimate moments with God in Gethsemane are not spent in a stilling of His inner chatter, but in fervent, emotional, personal prayer to His Father- prayer so intense that he wept and sweated blood.

Jesus teaches us something wonderful- to bring our human, broken selves to God. Jesus wants us just as we are- tears, mistakes, emotions, everything. He wants our joy to be complete- it's a personal and transforming joy, not a state of abstract understanding. the Gospels teach us to pray without ceasing- yet here is what the whole context states :

Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:11-18)

prayer without ceasing is tied to vocally giving thanks for and in specific circumstances, and is also tied to real joys and sorrows and community concerns.

quite seriously, there are very real spiritual dangers in equating mantra / prayer recitation with Godliness, or with the fullness of knowing and walking with God. many practices which seem to produce a spiritual / mental state of heightened awareness or devotional zeal are not beneficial, nor do they really bring us close to the Living God. the Bible is clear that God is Someone, rather than something to be merged with, or a state to be attained.

consider finally the words of Christ in Matthew 6:7-13 as rendered in the NLT.

 

[Dunemeister]

I wouldn't dismiss the Jesus prayer. It has been used to great effect by about a third of the world's Christians. We would do well to at least "come and see" whether anything good can come from it, especially when so many of our brothers and sisters say so.

 

[ayani]

I wouldn't dismiss the Jesus prayer. It has been used to great effect by about a third of the world's Christians. We would do well to at least "come and see" whether anything good can come from it, especially when so many of our brothers and sisters say so.

yes, but.... the Jesus prayer says this :

"Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner".

knowing that God hears and knows what we need before we even saying it, and seeming as how in the Gospel narratives, Jesus hears and answers prayers for help after one cry, why would it be necessary for a Christian to ask God's forgiveness in Christ multiple times, as a repeated prayer?

we know that God is faithful and just to forgive our sins. we know that we are sinners- we are saved by Jesus' mercy and brought into His body by faith and grace, by willfully deciding to take up our cross, and follow Him. it's a singular, life-changing choice, which Christ Himself calls being "born of the Spirit". it's not something that is absorbed by cultural osmosis, nor earned by worshipful acts. after one believes and follows, the walk of discipleship begins. as James says, faith without works is dead, and Christ gave some very clear commandments on what His followers should be *doing* in the world.

the issue i'm considering is not whether the words of the prayer are of good or not-good content, or whether the practice is traditional or practiced by many- but whether the practice of Christian mantras is Christian, in the sense of being Christ-taught or Biblical.

 

[lunamoth]

yes, but.... the Jesus prayer says this :

"Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner".

knowing that God hears and knows what we need before we even saying it, and seeming as how in the Gospel narratives, Jesus hears and answers prayers for help after one cry, why would it be necessary for a Christian to ask God's forgiveness in Christ multiple times, as a repeated prayer?

we know that God is faithful and just to forgive our sins. we know that we are sinners- we are saved by Jesus' mercy and brought into His body by faith and grace, by willfully deciding to take up our cross, and follow Him. it's a singular, life-changing choice, which Christ Himself calls being "born of the Spirit". it's not something that is absorbed by cultural osmosis, nor earned by worshipful acts. after one believes and follows, the walk of discipleship begins. as James says, faith without works is dead, and Christ gave some very clear commandments on what His followers should be *doing* in the world.

the issue i'm considering is not whether the words of the prayer are of good or not-good content, or whether the practice is traditional or practiced by many- but whether the practice of Christian mantras is Christian, in the sense of being Christ-taught or Biblical.

Yes, God does know what we need without us asking, but the practice of the Jesus prayer is, I think, not so much pleading over and over, but an act of giving the mind and mouth something to do while we clear out the rest of our thoughts and listen to God's answer.

 

[ayani]

that's a good and respectfully open way to understand it, yet... in a monastic setting, it's a prayer used repeatedly for contemplative prayer / focus, and to work out one's sins through asking for His mercy. pratices of repeated prayers meant to focus the heart on a certain image / "burn away" sin are very common to monastic communities, and very ancient.

at the heart of many monastic contemplative practices is the funneling of one's spirtual energy through a daily liturgy, and specific repentant acts of worship. at the heart of the issue is many of those issues that Martin Luther raised to himself while living as a monk, and as he left monasticism. how does Christ teach us to pray, and what truly rids us of our sins / seperation from God?

so far as our prayer lives and how we live out our discipleship, is hesychasm what Christ demonstates, commands for us, or asks us to do? peronally, it is not a pactice i would take up, or would recommend a Christian to take up. i say so also because i do know that chanting repeated prayers can lead to feelings of calm, understanding, and focus, and yet not bring us nearer to God. chanting many things can lead to similar feelings, and mantras are practiced by many faiths.

however Christ-centered, traditioal, or devotedly practiced, a mantra can really not be said to illustrate Christian (as in Christ-taught and demonstarted) prayer.

 

[Charity]

I believe that prayer is straight, open and sincere conversation between the believer and God. The Lord's prayer is an example to teach us how to set our priority when praying.
In all reality it would be impossible to literally "pray without ceasing" since we have jobs, attend school, and live in a society where it would be virtually impossible to stop, and enter into a lengthy and somewhat wordy prayer. To me this means to be in a prayerful attitude. One should always have the line of communication open and ready to be in the presence of God when a prayer is needed. God knows our heart and with just a few quick words we are in His presence......

 

[Mister Emu]

I love the Jesus Prayer... I say it all the time...

 

[Delamere]

I use the Lord's Prayer as part of my prayer life. It is an outline prayer showing the elements of good prayer. It is not the totality of prayer which is ultimately inspired by the Spirit of God. Much truth and wisdom has been said here already except to add that Jesus did say, "When you pray, say....." - it was the Lord's command!

 

[Beaudreaux]

Have any of you ever asked God for something in prayer that was clearly good, yet God did not grant your request? For instance, if you knew a child who was dieing of cancer and prayed for God to cure them and the child died.

 

[Renji]

I pray the Our Father if I'm so tired and sleepy because those, times, I can't simply think of anything or even utter some words on my mouth. But, everyday, when I'm praying, I'm making a personal prayer to Him. Actually, I pray to Jesus like He is my Brother ( Like I can see Him visibly, but only in my mind. I can see my self sitting in front of Him on a table, having coffee while talking to Him) because I don't have a brother or a sister:sad4:. But I'm contented to Him for He is my Strength and my Mentor.

 

[ayani]

Have any of you ever asked God for something in prayer that was clearly good, yet God did not grant your request? For instance, if you knew a child who was dieing of cancer and prayed for God to cure them and the child died.

i have asked God for what seemed right in my own sight, many times. what the Christian understands of God is that we are to pray for His will to be done, even as we make our requests and hopes known to Him. what seems good or right in our eyes, even if its being granted would spare us suffering, may not be within God's plan for us, and we trust that His plan is good and right.

Christ prayed to be spared the agony of the crucifixion- yet at the end of His prayer, He prayed "not My will, but Yours be done..." it was a horrible thing to go through, but withot the crucifixion, there would be no resurrection, no hope for eternal life, no Living Saviour, and no clear and wonderful triumph over hatered, death, and suffering.

we trust that the dark and diffcult things He leads us through have a brighter purpose, and even hough He may seem far at those moments, He is wth us even in great difficulty.

 

[arcanum]

Have any of you ever asked God for something in prayer that was clearly good, yet God did not grant your request? For instance, if you knew a child who was dieing of cancer and prayed for God to cure them and the child died.

I no longer pray for god to grant me things or change things in the material world.I do pray for him to help me to know him and to help with my spiritual development and to help me both see and work out my flaws and defects of character or things that hinder my spiritual walk.God often does not interfere in human affairs and events,but i think you can pray for help in your spiritual development.

 

[Renji]

Hello to all of you! I want to share a personal prayer with you guys in my thread. http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/same-faith-debates/75153-christians-only-any-prayers.html

 

[Smoke]

Does anyone here practice the jesus prayer?

I did when I was a Christian. The brief introduction by Mother Alexandra of Ellwood City is excellent:

The Prayer is held to be so outstandingly spiritual because it is focused wholly on Jesus: all thoughts, striving, hope, faith and love are outpoured in devotion to God the Son. It fulfills two basic injunctions of the New Testament. ...

Between the ascetic life, that is, the life in which human action predominates, and the mystical life, that is, the life in which God's action predominates, there is the same difference as between rowing a boat and sailing it; the oar is the ascetic effort, the sail is the mystical passivity which is unfurled to catch the divine wind". The Jesus Prayer is the core of mystical prayer, and it can be used by anyone, at any time. There is nothing mysterious about this (let us not confuse "mysterious" with "mystic"). ...

The Jesus Prayer can be used for worship and petition; as intercession, invocation, adoration, and as thanksgiving. It is a means by which we lay all that is in our hearts, both for God and man, at the feet of Jesus. It is a means of communion with God and with all those who pray. The fact that we can train our hearts to go on praying even when we sleep, keeps us uninterruptedly within the community of prayer. This is no fanciful statement; many have experienced this life-giving fact. We cannot, of course, attain this continuity of prayer all at once, but it is achievable; for all that is worthwhile we must " …run with patience the race that is set before us…" (Hebrews 12:1).
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