Here
is the amazing reality of prayer: It exists because God wants to have
a relationship with you. Prayer begins with God moving your heart to
seek his heart. We don’t initiate prayer; God does. This means that
our prayers are always responses to God’s promptings.
The
scene in today’s Bible reading portrays this fact beautifully. By
knocking on the door to our hearts, the Lord invites us to enjoy a
deep, lasting friendship with him. We would never have known that
Jesus was at our doorstep without his knocking at the door.
The
fact that prayer is a response to God’s initiatives is reassuring.
But this should also motivate us, when possible, to spend time
preparing to pray before actually doing it. It need not be long, but
some recognition of God’s grace, the ground of all prayer, is a
good way to begin. Before we speak, we should listen to the voice
that calls to us. Before knocking on God’s door, we should hear God
knocking on ours. When we prepare to pray, we gratefully acknowledge
that what we are about to do has originated in the heart of God.
So
before you pray, bow before its mystery. Savor the Lord’s grace and
love. Then open the door.