The opening word of the Jesus Prayer takes some guts to pray with authenticity..."Lord Jesus Christ..."
The greek word for Lord is kurios. It implies absolute master, the equivalent of the Hebrew YHWH name for God. (YHWH is the name God gave Moses which is translated as LORD in the NIV - see Ex 3:14).
To have an absolute master means to have someone who is always in charge of you, always right, and always in control. To have an absolute master means to be an absolute servant - one who submits, surrenders hands over control to that master. Praying "Lord..." these past few days has highlighted how much I am not a servant who submits.
Submission is hard! I don't like submitting and I think many people don't like submitting either. We pride ourselves on being self-sufficient and independent.
But, the Jesus Prayer begins with the posture of submission. As I pray that word my mind fills with all the times I have not submitted, I have not made or kept him Lord. It's hard to pray the Jesus Prayer when you spend more time asking for forgiveness after the first word, than it takes to pray the entire prayer.
My heart's desire during this Lent season is that Jesus would be Lord in my life. Not just Savior, but Lord.
Jesus, Be Lord of my mind; Lord of my body; Lord of my soul; Lord of my family; Lord of my life; Lord of my past, present and future - Jesus be Lord over me and guide me in submission.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
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