Profoundly praying

Hear my voice when I call, O LORD;
be merciful to me and answer me.
My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"
Your face, LORD, I will seek.

Psalms 27:7-8

David let his heart show in his songs to God. He longed to discover an ever-closer intimacy with God, writing of his passion in Psalm 27. He was zealous for a profound relationship with the Lord.

The motivation for prayer is relationship.

God welcomes prayer- even expects it - and he commands love:

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.

Deut 6:5-6

Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Matt 22:37-40

Prayer naturally flows out of an intimate love relationship. We were created for communication and connection. God spoke the world into being and he placed in us a nature to understand – even if imperfectly – his communication.

So I suggest that when we find prayer difficult and dry, it may be because our relationship with the Lord is distant and stale. To have vibrant prayer, we must love the Lord with all our heart and soul and mind. When our focus is on answers to our own requests, we are seeking our own desires.

David had another idea:

One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

Psalms 27:4