"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."
— St. Theophan the Recluse
Perhaps the most popular and basic
definition of prayer is that it is a conversation with God. While this is
essentially true, Orthodox Christianity looks upon prayer as something deeper
than "conversation".
Prayer is understood as an intimate
encounter with God. When we pray, we meet with God in our hearts, in the
sanctuary of all our thoughts, motivations, dreams, emotions and concerns. This
is a place where we can share our inner selves with no other human person as completely
as we can share ourselves with the Lord.
To enter into this very personal and
intimate place with God, full of faith and love, is to feel His presence in our
lives in the most profound and life-giving of ways. In this place in our
hearts, we no longer perceive God as being "out there", looking down
on us. Rather, we sense His presence inside us, stirring our hearts, guiding
our actions, enlightening our minds.
Our Orthodox Christian Faith teaches us
that prayer is the most natural thing a person can do, it is what we are
created for. In Paradise Adam and God converse frequently. It is only after the
Fall that we hide from God and choose not to speak openly with Him.
Human beings were made for prayer, not
because God needs us to pray to Him, but because we need to connect with Him
who made us, saved us from sin and death, and showers His sanctifying grace
upon us. Without prayer there is no life, not in its fullest sense. As human
persons we are created for prayer just as we are created to breath or to think.
Prayer is part of our unique nature; of all God's creatures, only human beings
are able to perceive and interact with both the visible (physical) and
invisible (spiritual) realities.
Prayer is so important in our lives that
St. Gregory of Nazianzus instructs us to, "remember God more often that
you breath". At first, this task might seem daunting, perhaps impossible.
In truth, we find that often the greatest obstacle to our developing prayer
life is our own lack of trust in ourselves, and in what God can do for and with
us.
Often we "psych" ourselves out
when it comes to prayer. We think that it is only for the spiritual
"specialists" to engage in prayer -- clergy, monks, nuns. We feel
that if we need to struggle with our prayer life we must not be "doing it
right". In truth, it is only when we struggle with prayer that we are
approaching it in a healthy way.
But even though prayer is -- or at least
should be -- a natural part in our human make-up, prayer is a discipline, it is
a spiritual exercise. An analogy commonly used by the Saints is that prayer is
like a fire. Initially, it starts out only as a small spark in our soul;
eventually though, if we fan the flames with a constant effort to pray, this
spark grows into a spiritual flames — these flames are the burning bush in our
souls, where we, like Moses, speak with God.
To feed the fire of prayer in our soul, we
must work ourselves into a regular pattern — or "rule" — of prayer.
Like a fire, if our prayer life is left untended, it will die away and turn
cold. The more we pray, the more meaningful and nourishing our prayer life
becomes, and the more of a desire we have to enter into prayer…
By Fr. Andrew Jarmus
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