Whoever calls upon the name of the LORD will be delivered.
Why are you depressed, O my soul? and why are you disturbed within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. — Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble: you will prepare their heart, you will cause your ear to hear. — For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; and full of mercy for everyone who calls upon you.
Jacob said to his household, ... Let us arise and go up to Bethel; and there I will make an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my trouble, and who was with me wherever I went.
I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my prayers. Because he has inclined his ear to me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The sorrows of death surrounded me, and the pains of hell took hold of me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord.
Call upon me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.
Prayer takes us places we cannot go alone, because prayer takes hold of both the power and willingness of Almighty God to change us and our circumstances. Prayer not only calls to the God who is in heaven, it recognizes His continual presence in our lives, and in our circumstances. Many times, when we talk to God, we think we have to tell Him our situation. It's fine if we do, but He already knows. Jesus said, "Your Father in heaven knows the things you need before you ask Him," and so it is. He knows everything about you--your problems, both external and internal, your needs, your desires, what you enjoy, what you love, hate, become angry at, everything. He is the most intimate Friend you have. It is a good idea to invite Him into every part of your life, and that is actually what the Bible recommends: "Pray without ceasing..." in other words, hold an internal conversation with God, and let Him be as a Friend who always walks beside you. In this way, prayer is not an "act," but a "life," and in this way, your intimacy with God will grow closer every hour. When you pray, listen. It's a two-way conversation. If you talk with God, and bring Him all things, and then listen to Him, before long your life will become suffused with God's presence, and He will be as an intimate friend to you, as well as the mighty Creator of the universe and Director of history. You will not make Him small by praying this way. You will be participating in His "bigness."
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