Prayer is standing in the presence of God with the mind in the heart that is at that point of our being where there are no divisions or distinctions and where we are totally one. There Gods Spirit dwells and there the great encounter takes place. There heart speaks to heart because there we stand before the face of the Lord all-seeing with us.

For many of us prayer means nothing more than speaking with God. And since it usually seems to be a quite one-sided affair prayer simply means talking to God. This idea is enough to create great frustrations. If I present a problem I expect a solution if I formulate a question I expect an answer if I ask for guidance I expect a response. And when it seems increasingly that I am talking into the dark it is not so strange that I soon begin to suspect that my dialogue with God is in fact a monologue. Then I may begin to ask myself To whom am I really speaking God or myself

When we say to people I will pray for you we make a very important commitment. The sad thing is that this remark often remains nothing but a well-meant expression of concern. But when we learn to descend with our mind into our heart then all those who have become part of our lives are led into the healing presence of God and touched by him in the center of our being. We are speaking here about a mystery for which words are inadequate. It is the mystery that the heart which is the center of our being is transformed by God into his own heart a heart large enough to embrace the entire universe. Through prayer we can carry in our heart all human pain and sorrow all conflicts and agonies all torture and war all hunger loneliness and misery not because of some great psychological or emotional capacity but because Gods heart has become one with ours.