Personal prayer is the meeting place between the Eternal One and me. That is why I believe in personal prayer, and every day I wait for God in my special place. In prayer, I wait for the God who comes. Every prayer-filled day is a meeting with the God who comes, and when at night I place myself at his disposal, I meet him again. God’s coming and presence are not only the result of my waiting nor are they a prize for my efforts. They are God’s decisions based on his love that is freely poured out to me—and to you.
God’s coming is bound to his promise and not to our works or virtues. We have not earned the meeting with God because we have served him faithfully nor because we have heaped up such pile of virtue that they shine before heaven. God is moved by his love for us. Therefore, the Lord comes even in moments when we have done nothing right, when we have done everything wrong, and even when we have done nothing at all. God still comes.
The point is God does not meet us in the place of prayer based upon who we are or what we have done. We do not earn God’s presence because we have been so good, and God doesn’t withhold his presence because we have not been good. When God chooses to meet us at the place of prayer, it is a “graced moment.” Our place of prayer is then transformed into holy ground where we encounter the great I AM. It becomes the place of our healing, our salvation, our calling, and our hope.
God does meet us in prayer, and when that divine encounter happens, we come away declaring, “Surely the presence of the Lord was in this place.”