Hahn Daily Prayer

 

Traugott Hahn was an Estonian pastor and a martyr of the Russian Revolution. Hahn went to sleep in Christ on 14 January 1919, joining 18 other prisoners who were shot one by one in a basement in Tartu, Eesti for their refusal to yield their faith to the rule of the Red Terror. Hahn chose to continue preaching in the underground church after most had fled. Once arrested, he did not despair but gave himself to the Word of God and prayer. Those who witnessed his final days were astounded and strengthened by the steadfastness of his silent, prayerful vigil, which continued even as he took his final, untroubled steps toward the peace of the grave. 

A couple months ago, I posted about Gerhardt Daily Prayer, a daily prayer discipline that I had developed and begun to use. With very slight modification, I rebranded it as Hahn Daily Prayer, and have now been, quite frankly, blessed beyond words by it. I want to use this space to update my time in this discipline, and thoughts and insights gleaned along the way.

24 Days In - This is now the second-longest I've stuck with a devotional plan in my life, behind only the summer of 2023 when I was praying 24 Psalms a day, with Psalm 143 as my "Hidden Blade." HDP uses a similar strategy, but with a higher total volume of the Word of God, song, and prayer during the day (to keep me from losing focus for an extended period of time) and a slightly expanded Hidden Blade, which I call 40 (143+957+434). My priorities have entirely shifted, with prayer taking the absolute top priority in terms of things that I cannot and will not forsake, each and every day. It's the first thing we pray in the Lord's Prayer: Hallowed be thy name. And it's happening during a time of life for me that is much busier, much less relaxed, and much more challenging and stressful than the summer of 2023 was. And yet the Lord is able to provide, protect, and fight for me. I would say a good summary thought / insight right now is from Martin Luther, a quote that is included in the HDP table:

"But now our enemies may confidently ridicule prayer and make a mockery of it. However, we shall still be a match both for them and the devil by prayer alone, if we only persevere diligently and do not become slack.” Luther, LC III

Or again, "All our shelter and protection rest in prayer alone." Luther, LC III

I am still incredibly weak, but I'm realizing that the solution to the weakness is continual crying out to God, not self-discipline through willpower, desire through goal-setting, or really any effort on my part. Our Lord simply wants us to ask him, trust him, despair of ourselves and trust him - first and foremost, through prayer. It helps to do so in a regular, structured, Scripture-driven way, and that's what HDP is doing for me. It doesn't have to be any specific structure.