One thing I continually come back to.
A conversation that truly never ceases.
An ongoing discussion.
A time of wrestling. A pouring out of pain.
A place of refuge. A sanctuary. A place of peace.
Cries for courage. Pleas for help. Appeals for justice.

Invocation.
Petition.
Intercession.
Supplication.
Call it what you will.

Prayer.

The thirst, the longing, the yearning, the hungering.
For more. For life. For mercy. For blessings. For gifts.
For He who is all in all. He who is our everything. He who is all we need.

It seems the more we consider, explore, study, learn, and practice,
the more we discover how much more there always is.
For prayer is not the thing. But the means, the method, the vehicle, to know
He who is beyond all knowing (Ephesians 3:18-19),
He who is unsearchable (Romans 11:33),
He who is beyond comprehension (Psalm 147:5),
He who is inexpressible joy (1 Peter 1:8).

Yet we are invited in.
To step behind the veil into the most holy place (Hebrews 6:19)
To confidently enter his presence (Ephesians 3:12)
To boldly approach his throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16)
To seek his face (1 Chronicles 16:11)
To pray about all the time and in every occasion (Ephesians 6:18)

He tells us to call to Him
and he will tell us unsearchable things we do not know (Jeremiah 33:3)
How great is that? How awesome? How unfathomable.
That our God desires our company and our conversation.

May our discussion with our Father, our Creator, our Author, our Perfecter,
continue
Pressing in, pressing on, to consider, explore, study, learn and practice.

Let us fall in step with the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us.
The Psalmists, of course, in their poems, prayers, and songs in the book of Psalms
and so many others…
Prayer: Does it make any Difference (Philip Yancey)
Speak, Lord (Vic Black)
Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer (Max Lucado)
Fervent (Priscilla Shirer)
Power of Praying series (Stormie OMartian)
Draw the Circle (Mark Batterson)
Prayer (Timothy Keller)
Method for Prayer (Matthew Henry)
How to Pray (C.S. Lewis)
Prayer (A.W. Tozer)
Breakthrough Prayer (Jim Cymbala)
Power through Prayer (E.M. Bounds)
Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers (Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrave)
Sacred Pathways (Gary Thomas)

And let us pray, because our Savior did and does (Romans 8:34 and Hebrews 7:24-25))

Our Father in heaven,
    may we keep your name  holy in all we say and do
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth, in our lives, in our hearts
    as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need, 
and forgive us our sins,
    as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation,
    but rescue us from the evil one
for yours is the power and glory and the honor forever
Amen