Prayer

Prayer

In this battle to restore our life and relationship with God, the single most important activity we must undertake is prayer. This is our air defense system, and ground artillery against the demons. It is the sword that cuts through all harmful thoughts and the way to subdue treacherous desires, and leads the fighter through the fog of spiritual warfare to the victory. 

Although it seems that prayer is entirely antithetical to modern life, in reality everyone prays. Everyone wishes and thinks. For some this is a devotion to one’s desires, ambitions, ideas and wishes. For others, prayer is a devotional state oriented towards God and His divine plan. Ultimately our entire life is a prayer to self or to God, or a mixture of the two.  

So, what then is prayer? We often think that this is when we ask God for something—a gathering of one’s thoughts into a petition or a request that is presented to God. In basic terms this can be true, but there is much more to prayer than this. Let us put aside our preconceived ideas about this activity and start with a fresh understanding. Let’s start with some words from St. Theophan the Recluse:

Prayer is the test of everything; prayer is also the source of everything; prayer is the driving force of everything; prayer is also the director of everything. If prayer is right, everything is right. For prayer will not allow anything to go wrong.

Prayer is the activity by which we discover and develop our relationship with God. As Evagrius the Solitary put it: “Prayer is communion of the intellect with God.” It is also the way we nurture virtue within and develop the Kingdom of heaven that is within (Luke 17:21). According to the St. John Climacus, absolutely everything hinges on prayer:

Prayer, by reason of its nature, is the converse and union of man with God, and by reason of its action upholds the world and brings about reconciliation with God; it is the mother and also the daughter of tears, the propitiation of sins, a bridge over temptations, a wall against afflictions, a crushing of conflicts, a work of angels, the food of all the bodiless spirits, future gladness, unending activity, a source of virtues, a means of obtaining graces, invisible progress, food of the soul, enlightenment of the mind, an axe against despair, a demonstration of hope, a cure for sorrow…

According to the Church Fathers, there are three kinds of prayer: prayer of the body, prayer of the mind and prayer of the heart. Physical prayer, or prayer of the body, would include standing, reading and making prostrations. Also included here is prayer with the mouth or lips. Although prayer with the lips and physical prayer is a good starting point it is not the end goal. 

Next is prayer of the mind which is prayer with attention. The mind becomes accustomed to collecting itself in the moment or hour of prayer and prays consciously. The mind is focused upon the written or spoken words to the point of speaking them as if they were its own. This prayer comes from the part of the soul that is the intellect or mind. 

Prayer may start physically, and then develop in the intellect, but should end up in the heart. However, this is no easy task. As the old saying goes, “The world’s longest journey is the twelve inches from the mind to the heart.” Prayer of the heart, also known as spiritual prayer, is the absolute goal of everything. In this third stage, there is a profound and deep inner connection to God. Here the heart is warmed by concentration so that what originated in words or thoughts now becomes a higher experience of divine peace. Grace then settles into the soul. What started as a contrite phrase becomes contrition itself, and what was once a petition becomes the realization of the necessity of God’s presence. This prayer of the spirit, which is the higher form of prayer, is often referred to as communion with God. 

The author of the classic book Unseen Warfare goes into detail describing the relationship between these three forms of prayer:

You are sure to have heard of these expressions: prayer with words, prayer with them mind, prayer with the heart, and maybe you have heard explanations of each of them separately. What is the reason for this division of prayer into its component parts? The reason is that owing to our negligence it sometimes happens that the tongue says the holy words of prayer, while the mind wanders away somewhere: or the mind understands the words of prayer, but the heart does not respond to them with feeling. In the first case prayer is merely words, and is not prayer at all; in the second case, prayer with words is connected with mental prayer, and this is in perfect and in complete prayer. Full and real prayer is when praying with words and praying thoughts are combined with praying feelings. 

The author simplifies it even further:

One should pray not only in words but also in mind, and not only in mind but also in the heart, so that the mind sees and understands clearly what is said in words, and the heart feels what the mind thinks.

This higher form of prayer is difficult to attain and requires much patience and practice so as to gain experience. St. Theophan goes on to explain that:  

Feeling of prayer reaches the point where it becomes continuous, then spiritual prayer maybe said to begin. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit praying for us, the last degree of prayer which our minds can grasp.

Here he shows us that the Holy Spirit connects with and guides our spirit. The thought of this is truly mind blowing. This is why they say prayer is the way to have communion with God. God dwells within the one who prays in the manner. 

Although the higher form of prayer is the end goal, for most of us the activity of prayer is something we end up forcing ourselves to do. Our lower nature calls us to be lazy, distracted, or preoccupied with “more important things.” This is why establishing even a small daily prayer rule and sticking to it as best as is possible will help improve one’s prayer life. We must be encouraged to know that, even when we don’t want to pray, forcing ourselves to have a single thought or a couple words of prayer is still a noble achievement. Of this the Russian St. Ambrose of Optina († AD 1891) said:

If you do not feel like praying, you have to force yourself. The Holy Fathers say that prayer with force is higher than prayer unforced. You do not want to, but force yourself. The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force (Matt. 11:12).

It is better to pray with even a few words than to not pray at all. This is because if we just simply show up a say “yes” in these small efforts, God’s grace will nudge us forward to mental prayer, which will eventually help us to achieve spiritual prayer. In one’s prayer life, perseverance leads to divine grace!

If one persists overtime with these efforts, something unusual can develop. What we are referring to here is found in the directive from St. Paul in the New Testament to “Pray without ceasing” (I Thess. 5:17). Monks and nuns throughout history have taken this teaching very seriously. With this method prayer is not just a scheduled activity, but it grows into a continuous feature of life. St. Peter of Damaskos said is best: 

“Pray without ceasing” (I Thess. 5:17), that is, be mindful of God at all times, in all places, and in every circumstance. For no matter what you do, you should keep in mind the Creator of all things. When you see the light, do not forget Him who gave it to you; when you see the sky, the earth, the sea and all that is in them, marvel at these things and glorify their Creator; when you put on clothing, acknowledge whose gift it is and praise Him who in His providence has given your life. In short, if everything you do becomes for you an occasion for glorifying God, you will be praying unceasingly. And in this way your soul will always rejoice, as St. Paul commends.

St. Basil the Great († AD 379), an influential early saint who was also the pioneer of the idea of the hospital, said this:  

The strength of prayer lies rather in the purpose of our soul and in deeds of virtue reaching every part and moment of our life. Whether you eat, it is said, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31) …. Thus you will pray without ceasing; if you pray not only in words, but unit yourself to God through all the course of life, your life will be one ceaseless and uninterrupted prayer.

Here St. Basil is telling us that prayer is actually a state, or a way of living. In order to practice this, we have been given what is called the Jesus prayer. This is a short and simple prayer that can be recited at any time, situation and location. You can be doing mundane things such as making coffee, getting dressed for work, on a walk, driving to an appointment, walking through the market, in the middle of work, and this prayer can be on edge of your thoughts and nested in your heart. There are a few versions of this prayer. The most common form is: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” The shorter version is simply: “God have mercy on me a sinner.” The early Church most likely derived this from the parable of the publican and the pharisee as told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 15:13). 

The amazing thing about the Jesus prayer is its meaning. Here we acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord and the Son of God, and we ask for His mercy. The word “mercy” in the original Greek is the word ἐλέου, which means olive oil, which was commonly used by doctors for healing. Therefore, the word “mercy” is a word for healing. This is precisely what we who are practicing unseen warfare are seeking. We want to be healed from our afflictions, addictions, anxieties, and all the wounds that that we have.  St. Theophan the Recluse said of this prayer:

Make it your habit to pray these words with your mind in your heart: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” And this prayer, when you have learned to use it properly, or rather, when it becomes grafted to your heart, will lead you to the end which you desire: it will unite your mind with your heart, it will quell the turbulence of your thoughts, and it will give you power to govern the movements of your soul.

This prayer, along with any prayer, should be one’s first response when a temptation arises. As we mentioned before, every temptation starts with a thought. Once this thought is presented, whether fleeting or a real provocation, we must resort to prayer as if drawing a sword. If this habit is established, real progress, buy God’s grace, will be achieved. The author of Unseen Warfare said that: 

A single raising of your mind to God, and a single humble genuflexion to His glory and in His honor has infinitely more value than all the treasures of the world.

As mentioned before, prayer is the essential task in unseen warfare. When the struggler is tempted, the struggler must quickly retreat to prayer as a default. Even when one is wounded on the battlefield, we should neve shy away from prayer but approach the Lord in contrition and ask for the strength to get up and continue the fight. 

In conclusion, we should keep in mind the words of one of the great mystics of The Philokalia, St. Gregory of Sini:

Prayer is the preaching of the apostles, and action of faith or, rather, faith itself, ‘that makes real for us this things for which we hope’ (Hebrews 11:1), active love, angelic impulse, the power of the bodiless spirits, their work and delight, the Gospel of God, the heart’s assurance, hope of salvation, a sign of purity, a token of holiness, knowledge of God, baptism made manifest, purification in the water of regeneration, a pledge of the Holy Spirit, the exaltation of Jesus, the soul’s delight, God’s mercy, sign of reconciliation, the seal of Christ, a ray of the noetic sun, the heart’s dawn-star, confirmation of the Christian faith, the disclosure of reconciliation with God, God’s grace, God’s wisdom or, rather, the origin of true and absolute wisdom; the revelation of God… Why say more? Prayer is God, who accomplishes everything in everyone…

The last word goes to St. John Chrysostom who said: 

Prayer and converse with God are a supreme good: it is partnership and union with God. As the eyes of the body are enlightened when they see light, so our spirit when it is intent on God, is illumined by his infinite light.  I do not mean the prayer of outward observance but prayer from the heart, not confined to fixed times or periods but continuous throughout the day and night. Our spirit should be quick to reach out toward God, not only when it is engaged in meditation; at other times also, when it is carrying out its duties, caring for the needy, performing works of charity, giving generously in the service of others, our spirit should long for God and call him to mind, so that these works may be seasoned with the salt of God’s love, and so make a palatable offering to the Lord of the universe. Throughout the whole of our lives we may enjoy the benefit that comes from prayer if we devote a great deal of time to it. Prayer is the light of the spirit, true knowledge of God, mediating between God and man.  The spirit, raised up to heaven by prayer, clings to God with the utmost tenderness…

This is when prayer bring us to its highest intended purpose, which is communion with God.