PRAYER PRACTICES
PRAYER
“DO NOT FORGET PRAYER - IT IS THE LIFE OF THE SOUL” -ST. NIKON OF OPTINA
“God does nothing except in response to believing prayer” -John Wesley
Prayer is a practice. Something we have to learn. Even Jesus’ disciples ask Jesus, “teach us how to pray” (Luke 11:1). This means that none of us are born masters of prayer, it will take time, we should have grace for ourselves, we should start small, but never give up in this vital practice. Below are a handful of ancient and new practices when it comes to prayer. Practice!
TIMES
The Bible encourages us to pray at “all times,” “continuously,” and “always.” This is the goal. To get there we should start with designated prayer times.
MORNING - we see a consistent pattern scripture and saints praying in the morning.
MEALS - we are encouraged to pray a blessing over our food. It is blessed and sanctified when we receive it with gratitude and prayer (1 Timothy 4:4-5). We see Jesus and his apostles doing exactly this when they break bread together.
THE HOURS - Christians have traditionally tried to pray “the hours”. These are times found all over scripture that have symbolic meaning and are good reminders to pray. They are 6AM (or when you wake up or dawn), 9AM, NOON, 3PM, 6PM, 9PM (Midnight and 3am for monks :D). The traditional names for these hours are:
6AM/DAWN/AWAKE - laud or prime which means “praise” and “first”. Our first time of prayer is praise to God.
9AM is TERCE because it is the third hour of the day (in ancient thinking)
NOON is SEXT because it is the sixth hour of the day
3PM is NONE as its the ninth hour of the day
6PM is VESPERS which is connected to the sun setting & darkness coming
9PM is COMPLINE which are the final prayers of the day.PRACTICALLY one could easily pray most of these, and many do, by praying when you wake up, over meals, and when you go to bed. But if you wanted to practice this time honored tradition - setting reminders on our phone or calendars or timers for 3 hours is a great way to even just stop for a moment and turn our hearts to the Lord.
POSTURE
We have many pictures in our head from culture about what bodies do when praying. Our bodies are important parts of prayer, there are even whole movements known as “embodied prayer.” Hands clasped and eyes closed are our current ideas of prayer, but these are relatively new when it comes to praying. Ultimately the posture of our heart is the most important aspect of prayer, but getting our bodies involved might be helpful in learning the practice of prayer.
ORANS (Or-awnz) - is the most ancient way of Christian praying. It’s standing, eyes and palms facing up, speaking out loud. Christians believed it helped us look like a cross. St. Paul says as much “I desire, then, that in every place the people should pray, lifting up holy hands…” (1 Timothy 2:8).
KNEELING - kneeling is scriptural and encouraged by the ancient teachers. Particularly when repenting, confessing sins, being honest with God about our issues, shortcomings, asking for forgiveness. Again, God doesn’t need or require this, but this is a powerfully embodied way to both understand our sin and forgiveness. When we stand from kneeling to pray it helps us to know in our soul and body that God forgives us thoroughly and fully. We are free.
ANYWHERE/ANYTIME - we can pray anywhere, anytime. Beds. Cars. Doctor’s offices. Church pews. The advice about standing, eyes open, palms up is the ancient way, but it’s not the only way. Prayer is prayer; doing it is the best way to do it.
LOCATION
Just like with posture, Jesus loves to hear prayer anywhere and everywhere. A good heart is the best place to pray from and that can be done anywhere. Jesus does have a lot of advice in Matthew 6 about location. “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
PUBLIC vs. PRIVATE PRAYER - public prayer needs to happen with care. Praying to impress others is deadly. Ultimately Jesus encourages private prayer. Jesus says the Father meets us there and honors our prayer.
BASIC HOW TO:
Just know that prayer is just talking to God. More than talking “to God,” though, it’s talking with God. Which means we can and should make room for conversation - letting there be some speaking and some silence so God can speak if God chooses.
MEMORIZED PRAYERS
Scripture and the Church has given us many prayers that can be memorized and said throughout the day. The Psalms were often used this way as we see in numerous places like Jonah in the fish’s belly or Jesus on the cross. The two most well-known memorized prayers are what we call “The Lord’s Prayer” and “The Jesus Prayer”.
THE LORD’S PRAYER - Rabbis were well-known for crafting prayers for their disciples that summarized their teachings and beliefs. The Lord’s Prayer is Rabbi Jesus’ summary of the faith. Which is exactly why the disciples ask Jesus to “teach us to pray like John [the Baptist] taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1). Christians have been saying the Lord’s prayer every day. In fact, from very early on Christians were encouraged to pray it multiple times a day. An early letter to the Church called “The Didache” (which means “The Teaching”) said Christians should pray the Lord’s prayer “three times in the day”.
THE JESUS PRAYER - or simply “the prayer” is a combining of scripture from Luke 18. The Church crafted this short but powerful prayer that Christians have been praying regularly since at least the 400’s AD but probably sooner. The prayer is:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner
Many ancient Christians connected this to breathing. Two examples:
(1) INHALE: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God”EXHALE: “have mercy upon me, a sinner”
(2) IN: “Lord Jesus Christ” OUT: “Son of God” In: “have mercy upon me” OUT: “a sinner”
GUIDED/STRUCTURED PRAYERS
Many tools for prayer have been helpful to many Christians as they learn the practice. These have included acronyms or simply structures to aid in praying. Some helpful ones are below. They aren’t found in the Bible, but they contain biblical ideas to include in prayer.
A.C.T.S. - is a acronym that gives a good structure to prayer.
A is for ADORATION: Spend time praising God for who God is and what God has done.
C is for CONFESSION: Excellent time to kneel, but this is the time to bring our sins, shortcomings, and brokennesses before the Lord, asking for forgiveness and healing.
T is for THANKSGIVING: take time to give Jesus thanks for the good gifts you have been given (including the full forgiveness you have just received).
S is SUPPLICATION, which is an old word requests. This is where we bring our concerns and requests and cares to the Lord.
FINGER PRAYER
Thumb - Closest - Pray for our loved ones
Pointer - Instruction - Pray for our teachers and leaders
Middle - Tallest - Pray for our government an its leaders
Ring - Weakest - pray for the sick & weak
Pinky - Smallest - Prayer for ourselves
LORD’S PRAYER - Many use the Lord’s prayer to provide themes or an outline for their prayer life.
Adoration: Begin your prayer by praising God for who God is what God has done
Submission and alignment with the mission: Pray for God’s kingdom to be established in the world, and for His will to be done in your life, your family, your community, and the world.
Provision: Ask God for the physical, emotional, and spiritual things you need for the day, and express gratitude for God’s sustenance.
Confession & Forgiveness: Confess your sins and ask God for forgiveness. Also, reflect on how you need to forgive others and ask God for strength to extend forgiveness.
Protection: Pray for spiritual protection against temptation and evil. Ask for God’s guidance and help in resisting sin.
Praise & Trust in God’s reign and rule over all: Close your prayer by declaring God’s eternal reign and power. Reaffirm your trust in God and acknowledge that everything belongs to God.
“THE COLLECT”: WRITTEN || SCRIPTURE || TRINITARIAN || EXPERT LEVEL
The collect (call-ehkt) is an old way of praying that grounds all prayer in the Triune God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) and scripture. Very powerful way to prayer and it makes for excellent written prayers in a journal. The simple classic formula is:
YOU — WHO — DO — THROUGH
While that is simple and fun to say, it takes a little getting used to. The steps are outlined below.
STEP ONE: Connect the situation you are praying about to a Biblical story. Lack of faith? I think of Abraham being sent out (Gen 12). Fever? I think of Peter’s mother in law in Mark 1. Grief? I think of Jesus with Mary and Martha as their brother Lazarus just died (John 11).
STEP TWO || YOU: start the prayer by calling upon the name of the person of the Trinity connected to that story.
Example with fever/sickness and Mark 1: “JESUS….”
STEP THREE || WHO: recall the faithfulness and action of God in the story.
Example with fever/sickness and Mark 1: “…who healed Peter’s mother in law by taking her by the hand and lifting her up….”
STEP FOUR || DO: ask God to do it again in this situation
“…come and take the hand of ___________________ who is suffering from a fever now so they may healed…”
STEP FIVE || THROUGH: name the rest of the Trinity who wasn’t mentioned in the YOU part
“do this by the power of the Holy Spirit who proceeds from God the Father. Amen ”
The whole prayer looks like: Jesus, you are the one who healed Peter’s mother in law by taking her by the hand and lifting her up, come and take the hand of this daughter of yours who is suffering from a fever now so she may healed, we pray through the power of the Holy Spirit who proceeds from God the Father. Amen.”
DAILY EXAMEN
The Daily examen is actually a 500 year old prayer practice that takes place in the evening. Laying in bed is the perfect place to do it. The overall goal is to invite Jesus to walk through the day you just had to teach and train you, and to invite Jesus into your tomorrow as a good way to start the day.
STEP ONE || PAUSE AND PREPARE FOR PRAYER: settled your heart and mind as you ready yourself for the presence of God in prayer
STEP TWO || GRATITUDE: give God thanks for any and all things for that day.
STEP THREE || REVIEW THE DAY: Ask Jesus to walk with you through the day. Think about the people you were with. Emotions are vitally important here. Ask Jesus if your actions demonstrated his love. Honored him. Loved and honored others. Ask if the things you did with your time brought you closer or took you further from him. Give Jesus room to answer.
STEP FOUR || CONFESS AND REPENT: situations and actions where you were convicted, ask God for forgiveness. Ask God if you need to seek forgiveness from others. Or if there are things you can do to make situations right. Pray for the help, power, and transformation needed to make better, more Christ-honoring, more loving choices.
STEP FIVE || INVITE FOR TOMORROW: finish the prayer of examen by inviting Jesus into your tomorrow, asking for the help to be more aware of his presence, and to love God and neighbor more fully.
We pray these tips and tools are helpful aids to you as you begin your practice of prayer or seek to strengthen the practices you already have. Please know we at The Table are always here to help. God’s blessing on your journey.