Prayer is kind of boring. I know I’m not supposed to say that in a post about prayer. For most of my life, though, this is how I thought of prayer.
It is simply that thing some people do before they eat. It is part of a transition in a Sunday service so the next person can get on stage while everyone else closes their eyes. It is a long list of requests we make to Santa, I mean God, when we are desperate. Prayer is a one way conversation.
If you are like me, you did not grow up with a big emphasis on prayer in your life. Perhaps you also have thought of prayer as boring, unnecessary or even unhelpful. Yeah, you should do it, but not too much.
Well, it is fascinating, for such an unimportant (to me at least) activity, the Bible challenges us to “pray without ceasing” in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. I know what you are thinking, “You can’t be serious right?” “We don’t actually have to do that do we?” “Maybe this is one of those verses we can ignore. It’s a small one after all.”
Well, plenty of us Jesus followers have ignored this one. However, others have not. Some have taken it quite seriously.
What does it look like to pray continuously?
One of the most famous prayers in the history of Christianity is called “The Jesus Prayer.” Some say it may be over 1500 years old! It goes like this:
“Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Then you repeat it. You repeat it a lot. In fact, you repeat it over and over throughout the day. The idea here is to center you on Jesus, to bring you back into his presence throughout the day.
Some will criticize this type of prayer because it is pre-written (rather than original to the one praying) and it is repetitive (rather than spontaneous). You have a valid point. Original and spontaneous prayers are wonderful gifts to God. However, if you take this view, my guess is on Sunday you will be in a worship service singing a song you did not write, perhaps repeating the chorus over and over…and over. Don’t get mad. Pray about it.
Many followers of Jesus have found The Jesus Prayer to be a wonderful addition to their prayer life. It is an intentional way of refocusing on the Lord. The Jesus Prayer allows us to put our attention on first things first.
PS: There may be a good bit of sarcasm in this post. I hope you found it helpful.
