“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” (Jeremiah 33:3)

In the stillness of the early morning with the world still slumbering around me, I am made aware all over again of the privilege and intimacy of prayer. I am no impostor or stranger demanding attention but you view me as a valued beloved child.

I am discovering that prayer is a sacred invitation into the throne room of God where we are allowed to experience a living, breathing connection to our Father who is completely in control of it all. It’s as if prayer escorts us into his presence where ritual and obligation have no place, and we are granted intimate access to the God who cradles the world completely!

We move toward him to place our troubling thoughts, inadequacies, and deepest longings into his hands and echo what the psalmist recommended so long ago: “In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me” (Psalm 86:7). We do the calling out, and God alone is responsible for the answering. We reach for him, and he responds as the only One ever described as “Good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon him” (Psalm 86:5).

The power to transform us from the inside out is unleashed through prayer. When we make time to be in his presence and communicate with him, he begins the process of aligning our thoughts and reshaping our desires. As we continue to pray, we will start to see the world through his eyes – with compassion, with wisdom, and with a clearer sense of hope in his unequivocal goodness.

In prayer, the God of the universe bends to listen closely to our voice. In the sanctuary of prayer, we find the strength and courage to keep moving forward, no matter what. He asks us to trust that as we faithfully come to him, he will meet us there and do far more brilliant work in us and through us than we ever imagined possible.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20).

Amen.

Elizabeth A Mitchell

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