Thursday, December 3, 2015

About prayer

Prayer is something that has befuddled my mind for many years.  As a Protestant, prayer never made any sense to me.  If God is absolutely sovereign, then prayer makes no logical sense.  Why ask for anything if everything is already mapped out.  After a former pastor recommended a book on prayer by John Bunyan, and I found the book seriously lacking, I gave up trying to figure it out.
Becoming Orthodox initially didn't help.  I still approached prayer with a Protestant mindset, and found myself running in circles.  It wasn't until I really began to get a beginning grasp on the Jesus Prayer that things began to fall into place. 
Summarily speaking, we are far too small and sinful to have any idea, at all, about how to pray.  Our sight and understanding is so limited, our minds so corrupted by sin and our hearts so darkened by selfishness, that any prayer that we could fabricate would most likely be ridiculous.  The Jesus Prayer, on the other hand, is perfect.  Handed down for centuries, within the church, we pray, "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."
In this we rightly acknowledge the nature and person of God, we rightly acknowledge our own sinful nature, and we rightly, only, ask for mercy.
It really is that simple.  Because we know our sinfulness screws us up, we cry out to God and ask for mercy. In whatever situation we find ourselves, whatever our need, perceived, imagined or otherwise, we ask God to have mercy on us.  In this we are submitting to God's will.  We are saying, "I don't know what is best, so please just have mercy on me and help me submit to your will."

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