Will anyone say this Prayer believing?

Fascinating! This gives such an insight into the nature of people who would mouth such words.

As for me, there is no way I would subscribe to such masochistic sentiments.

I know many will. I believe it is unnecessary as we are all children of God no matter what we say, or do. I don't believe that Jesus had to die in order for us to be forgiven our sins. I believe that man needed him to in order for us to believe him. I mean God is...well God. God can do as he pleases, he could have forgiven us long before The Christ came to us if S/He so chose. However if we remember the time when this happened it puts it into clearer focus. Folks back then were not only used to performing sacrifices, it was law. Why would they believe God unless there was a sacrifice connected to it? It's like if Jesus had been a woman just as capable of doing what Jesus did, who would have believed in her? Same thing here. This is my belief, and I think it should be considered, but I do not expect anyone to agree with me.

May peace be with you

Amen

This prayer is very good. I have already prayed this type of prayer, but I do have to say something about it. A person can say this prayer a thousand times a day but if it isn't sincere, then it won't do them any good. I believe before this prayer is said, that there has to be a drawing spirit to bring you to the LORD.

I did a long, long time ago.

To TheWanderer: The death and resurrection of Jesus was foretold long before it happened by the prophets of old. God alomst always uses the happenings in this world to work in. That is in fact the purpose of us Christians having to accept the notion of "service". He works through us. I am not syaing that He doesn't also work "supernaturaly". But I noticed that you only mentioned the way He died. The power or "proof" is in the fact that He rose again. There is truely nothing better in all the universe than to believe this and accept Him as your Savior.

Thank you Lord for inspiring Victor7707 to relay this pray to us.Especially tonight when I was down. God you do work in mysterious ways.

Oh shut up. I love the way the Christian religion right from the start of the pray makes you feel guilty. OOOOO yes, I am a sinner.

The Jesus Prayer, also called the Prayer of the Heart by some Church Fathers, is a short, formulaic prayer often uttered repeatedly. It has been widely used, taught and discussed throughout the history of Eastern Christianity. The exact words of the prayer have varied from the most simple possible involving the name "Jesus," such as "Lord have mercy," to the more common extended form: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

The Jesus Prayer is, for the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics,[citation needed] one of the most profound and mystical prayers and it is often repeated continually as a part of personal ascetic practice. Its practice is an integral part of Hesychasm, the subject of the Philokalia, a collection of texts on prayer compiled in the late 18th Century. There have been a number of Roman Catholic texts on the Jesus Prayer, but its practice has never achieved the same popularity as in the Orthodox Church. Moreover, the Eastern Orthodox theology of the Jesus Prayer, enunciated by St Gregory Palamas (1296–1359), has never been fully accepted by the Roman Catholic Church (see, e.g., Pope John Paul II's Angelus Message, August 11, 1996).

Origins

The prayer's origin is most likely the Egyptian desert, which was settled by the monastic Desert Fathers in the fifth century.[1]

The practice of repeating the prayer continually dates back to at least the fifth century. The earliest known mention is in the Gnostic Chapters of Saint Diadochos of Photiki (400-486), a work found in the first volume of the Philokalia. The Jesus Prayer is described in the Gnostic Chapters in terms very similar to St John Cassian's (d. 435) description in the Conferences 9 and 10 of the repetitive use of a passage of the Psalms. St Diadochos ties the practice of the Jesus Prayer to the purification of the soul and teaches that repetition of the prayer produces inner peace. The use of the Jesus Prayer is recommended in the Ladder of Divine Ascent of St John of Sinai (523–603) and in the work of St Hesychios (?8th Century), Pros Theodoulon, found in the first volume of the Philokalia. The use of the Jesus Prayer according to the tradition of the Philokalia is the subject of the Russian spiritual classic The Way of a Pilgrim. It is mentioned in passing in J.D. Salinger's novel, Franny and Zooey.

Though the Jesus Prayer has been practised through the centuries as part of the Eastern tradition, in the twentieth century it also began to be used in some Western churches, including some Roman Catholic and Anglican churches.

Practice

Eastern Orthodox prayer rope.

Theologically, the Jesus Prayer can be considered to be an extension of the lesson taught by the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, in which the Pharisee demonstrates the improper way to pray by exclaiming: "Thank you Lord that I am not like the Publican", whereas the Publican prays correctly in humility, saying "Lord have mercy on me, the sinner." (Luke 18:10-14.)

In the Eastern tradition the prayer is said or prayed repeatedly, often with the aid of a prayer rope (Russian: chotki; Greek: komvoskini), which is a cord, usually woolen, tied with many knots. The person saying the prayer says one repetition for each knot. It may be accompanied by prostrations and the sign of the cross, signaled by beads strung along the prayer rope at intervals. The practice of the Jesus Prayer is integrated into the mental ascesis undertaken by the Orthodox monastic in the practice of hesychasm. This mental ascesis is the subject of the Philokalia.

Monks often pray this prayer many hundreds of times each night as part of their private cell vigil ("cell rule"). Under the guidance of an Elder (Russian Starets; Greek Gerondas), the monk aims to internalize the prayer, so that he is praying unceasingly. St. Diadochos of Photiki refers in On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination to the automatic repetition of the Jesus Prayer, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, even in sleep. This state is regarded as the accomplishment of Saint Paul's exhortation to the Thessalonians to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

The monk's goal is also, in advanced practice, to bring his mind into his heart so as to practice the Jesus Prayer as a "prayer of the heart". It can be used as a means of finding contrition and as a means of bringing about humility in the individual (hence the words "the sinner", as if no other sinner existed but the person praying—cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:15), but in its more advanced use, the monk aims to attain to a sober practice of the Jesus Prayer in the heart free of images. It is from this condition, called by Saints John Climacus and Hesychios the guard of the mind, that the monk is raised by Divine grace to contemplation.

In a modern context this continuing repetition is regarded by some as a form of meditation, the prayer functioning as a kind of mantra. However, traditional users of the Jesus Prayer emphasize the invocation of the name of Jesus Christ that St Hesychios describes in Pros Theodoulon which would be contemplation on the Triune God rather than simply emptying the mind.

you do believe but not like me you hold truth with what you but just out of cureosity(sorry for the spelling)does it really say that jesus came here to die for us on the cross didnt he die becuase a bunch of jews didnt feel what he was sayin didnt he live to take lie from true and bring it to light so that light can shine clearly for all to understand

Yes and I have. That was good thing you just ask because you never know how God will reach someone. He works in many ways to reach people. God Bless