The Jesus Prayer is a prayer that helps me connect to Jesus when nothing else does, when I am speechless, my mind is blank and I cannot focus. It is basically the prayer of the tax collector in Luke 18:13-14 addressed to Jesus, God’s Son, rather than God the Father. Here it is.
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Now the beauty of this prayer is that Jesus said in the very next verse that this man went home justified. Wow! That gives me hope! Jesus said it works!
The first time I prayed the prayer was when I was being tormented by all my shortcomings as a human being. Satan the accuser was working me over for a couple of months. I couldn’t focus enough to pray anything else or to get into the Scriptures.
Some people won’t like the prayer because you have to admit you are a sinner in need of the mercy of Jesus. But we are in good company if we are willing to admit it. Here’s what the Apostle Paul said about Jesus and about himself. “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.” 1 Timothy 1:15. And the Apostle Paul is using the present tense here in regard to him being a sinner. That also gave me hope that Jesus would answer the prayer if I prayed it because He came into the world to save people like me.
And then I thought of Him seeking the lost, like in the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. He really searches for us and that means for me. More hope.
So Jesus did come and help me hang on during that time as well as many times before and after.
I suffer from anxiety and sleeplessness sometimes and the Jesus Prayer calls Jesus into my situation where He can help me. The anxiety passes and I fall asleep in His presence.
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