Prayer is communion with God. It’s standing in the presence of the Holy Trinity, praying in the Spirit, through Christ the Son, to the Father. We’re not just sending requests upward or having a nice spiritual conversation. We’re entering into relationship with the living God who transforms us by His grace.
If you grew up Baptist or non-denominational here in Southeast Texas, you probably learned that prayer is “talking to God.” That’s not wrong exactly. But it’s incomplete. Orthodox Christianity teaches that prayer is more than talking. It’s union. The Church fathers say prayer is “lifting the mind and heart to God,” which means gathering your whole self, thoughts, emotions, body, into His presence. When we pray, we’re not trying to inform God of things He doesn’t know or convince Him to change His mind. We’re opening ourselves to be changed by Him.
This is why Orthodox Christians pray so much with the Church’s words rather than making up our own prayers on the spot. The liturgy, the services, the prayers written by saints over centuries, these form us. They teach us how to pray and what to pray for. They keep us from wandering off into whatever we happen to feel like saying that day. Fr. Thomas Hopko used to remind people that God already knows what we need before we ask. Prayer isn’t about informing God. It’s about remembering God.
The Divine Liturgy and the other services of the Church are where we learn to pray. Everything in Orthodox worship is Scripture and the fathers woven together. When you stand in church and hear the deacon say “Let us complete our prayer to the Lord,” you’re praying the Bible. You’re praying with the whole Church across time and space. Personal prayer at home grows out of this. Your morning and evening prayers, your own words to God in the car or at your kitchen table, these make sense because you’ve been formed by the Church’s prayer.
The Jesus Prayer
One of the most important prayers in Orthodox tradition is also the shortest. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” That’s it. The Jesus Prayer. You can say it in five seconds. People have been saying it for fifteen hundred years.
The Jesus Prayer isn’t magic. It’s a tool. You repeat it throughout the day, while you’re driving to the plant, while you’re waiting in line at Brookshire Brothers, while you’re lying in bed at night. The repetition isn’t vain. It’s training your heart to remember God constantly. St. Paul said “pray without ceasing,” and this is how Orthodox Christians have learned to do that. The words sink down from your head into your heart. Over time, the prayer starts to pray itself.
This is what the Church calls “prayer of the heart.” It’s not emotional. It’s deeper than feelings. Your heart in Orthodox teaching means the center of your person, the place where you meet God. The Jesus Prayer gathers your scattered thoughts and brings you back to Christ. It’s especially helpful when you’re tempted or anxious or angry. One sentence, and you’re back in His presence.
Prayer Changes Us, Not God
Here’s something that surprises people coming from Protestant backgrounds. We don’t pray primarily to get things from God. We pray to be united with God. Yes, we ask for things, healing, help, daily bread, safety during hurricane season. The Church’s services are full of petitions. But the goal isn’t the stuff. The goal is theosis, which means becoming by grace what Christ is by nature. We’re being transformed into the likeness of God.
Prayer is one of the main ways this happens. When you stand before God regularly, when you confess your sins, when you receive the Eucharist, when you say the Jesus Prayer five hundred times a day, you’re being changed. The passions lose their grip. Your heart softens. You start to see other people as icons of Christ instead of obstacles or objects. This is salvation. Not a one-time decision, but a lifelong healing.
The Holy Spirit does this work in us. We can’t transform ourselves. When we pray, the Spirit prays in us “with groanings too deep for words,” as St. Paul says. God speaks to God within your heart. You’re participating in the life of the Trinity. That’s what prayer is.
Starting a Prayer Life
If you’re new to Orthodoxy, don’t try to do everything at once. Start with the services. Come to Liturgy on Sunday. Come to Vespers on Saturday evening if you can. Let the Church’s prayer soak into you. Get a prayer book and say the morning and evening prayers, even if you don’t understand everything at first. You’ll grow into them.
Learn the Jesus Prayer. Say it ten times. Then fifty. Then whenever you remember during the day. Don’t worry about doing it perfectly. Just do it.
Ask your priest for guidance. Prayer isn’t something you figure out alone. The Church has two thousand years of wisdom about this. Your priest can help you develop a rule of prayer that fits your life, your work schedule, your family situation, your spiritual state. If you work rotating shifts at the refinery, your prayer rule will look different from someone who works nine to five. That’s fine. God meets you where you are.
One more thing. Be patient with yourself. You’ll forget to pray. You’ll get distracted. Your mind will wander during the Liturgy. This happens to everyone. When you notice you’ve drifted, just come back. Say the Jesus Prayer. Start again. Prayer is a discipline, which means it’s something you practice over a lifetime. The goal isn’t perfection next week. The goal is still standing in God’s presence fifty years from now, being transformed bit by bit into His likeness.
That’s what prayer is. Communion. Union. The work of a lifetime. And it starts with one sentence: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.
