Your Jesus Prayer coaches
You’re not doing this alone.
You have coaches - ancient Christian Practice trainers - who’ve been guiding souls for centuries on the practice of lifting hearts to God.
Gym members meet them at Coffee with Coaches live on Wednesdays at 3:30pm Eastern.
Subscribe to Free Range Priest - and follow the directions in your welcome email - to get Trexo posts in your email inbox, and join us for Hearts up! - the oldest practice of Christian worship.
Become a paid Free Range Priest subscriber to join the Trexo gym - participate in all the Practices, join us for Coffee with Coaches, and create a Trexo Workout.
I’d like to introduce you to two of them with particular connection to the Jesus Prayer Practice:
1. Amma Syncletica: Your ‘don’t overthink it’ coach
4th century Egyptian Desert Mother
Amma says:
‘Listen! There is struggling and toil at first for all those advancing toward God; but afterward, my children, inexpressible joy. Indeed, just as those seeking to light a fire at first are engulfed in smoke and teary-eyed, thus they obtain what they seek.’
To you:
Did you just say 10 Jesus Prayers and feel nothing? Good! You’re right on track.
Did you try for 50 and kept getting distracted? Perfect. That’s the smoke before the fire.
Here’s what you need to understand: You don’t have to feel anything for this to be working.
Amma’s fierce encouragement:
Your life striving for the presence of God is like Paradise; it must be guarded by a flaming sword - of prayer and the remembrance of God.
That flaming sword? It’s the Jesus Prayer.
It’s not complicated. It’s just reaching out to Jesus, over and over.
And feeling him reaching back.
The Anonymous Russian Pilgrim: Your “keep it simple” coach
19th century
The Pilgrim says:
‘The continuous interior prayer of Jesus is a constant uninterrupted calling upon the divine name of Jesus with the lips, in the spirit, in the heart...
One who accustoms himself to this appeal experiences as a result so deep a consolation and so great a need to offer the prayer always, that he can no longer live without it, and it will continue to voice itself within him of its own accord.’
I was just like you. I heard “pray without ceasing” and thought: How? I have to work, I have to eat, I have to live my life!
Then my spiritual father gave me the simplest instruction: Say ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me’ 3,000 times a day.
I thought he was crazy. But I did it.
And you know what happened?
At first, nothing. It was mechanical. It was boring. My lips got tired.
But I kept going. And then something shifted. The prayer started saying itself. It became like breathing. Like my heartbeat.
The Pilgrim’s promise:
Eventually the prayer will sink from your lips to your heart. It will pray itself when you’re not even thinking about it. You’ll wake up and realize you’ve been praying in your sleep.
That’s when you’ll know: you’re not praying anymore. The prayer is praying you.
And that is how you pray without ceasing.
Common Struggles & Solutions
As you practice the Jesus Prayer you’re doing something new. You’re building your soul’s endurance. It can feel hard.
This is normal. Here’s how to work through the most common struggles.
‘I can’t count to 100 - I keep losing track’
Get Prayer Beads
33 knots or beads (representing Christ’s 33 years).
You can order them online, make them yourself, or buy them at religious bookstores.
Or use: a rosary, dried beans, pebbles, shells in your pocket.
Or: Don’t Count
Abba Isaac says:
‘It’s not about the number. It’s about consistency’.
Just say it throughout the day. Morning. Noon. Night. In between.
Don’t worry about hitting a specific number. Let it become the background rhythm of your day.
My mind wanders constantly’
St. John Climacus says:
’Fell off 100 times? Get back on 101 times. That’s the whole ladder.’
‘How long before this becomes natural?’
The Pilgrim’s answer:
’Eventually, the prayer will sink from your lips to your heart. It will pray itself when you’re not even thinking about it.’
The timeline:
Week 1: It feels strange and mechanical
Week 2: You start remembering it more naturally
Week 3-4: It becomes part of your day’s rhythm
Month 2-3: It starts praying itself in the background
After 3 months of consistent practice, you’ll wake up one day and realize: the prayer has been running all night in your sleep. And you feel closer to God.
The Complete Jesus Prayer Practice:
You were made for more.
More peace, more direction, more grounding, more purpose. More JOY.
Get started stretching and strengthening your soul.
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