“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” That’s one form of the Jesus prayer. Memorize it. Now repeat it a thousand times or so. Well, there’s more to it than that, but that’s the basic method.
 

The Jesus prayer has been around since at least 600, and probably a few centuries before that. It’s a practice that comes from the Eastern Orthodox Church so until recently is was largely unknown to Roman Catholics and Protestants. The notion behind it is to achieve the state called for in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” The usual technique in to say the words “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God” while inhaling, and “have mercy on me a sinner” while exhaling. Orthodox Christians count the repetitions on a prayer rope, a knotted chord. A common form of the prayer rope has 100 knots with a bead every 10 or 25 knots. I find it easier to use a string of 50 beads separated in 10s. I usually say 150 repetitions of the prayer every night. Orthodox monks pray thousands of repetitions every day.

The purpose of the repetitions is not to show God how pious we are by saying so many prayers, but to allow the prayer to become internalized so that it itself. It sometimes happens after praying the Jesus prayer that we discover the prayer still running in our minds minutes or even hours after we thought we had stopped praying. We come to pray without even being aware that we are praying. It’s a help in making life itself prayer.

Read 1Thessalonians 5:11-28 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

 Wayne

Today’s reading: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1Thessalonians+5%3A11-28+&version=NRSV