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Matthew 2:9 NLT

'After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was.'

Prayer has been described as “Standing face-to-face with God with undivided heart, mind and will”. It’s here that we are made complete and that we are completed as children of God.

Like the Magi, the first step in prayer is to respond to God’s invitation. They observed and correctly analysed the purpose of the star, yet if they had never responded to the invitation to follow, they would never have discovered the Messiah. Our life of prayer is the pursuit of the reality who is God. In our information age, where knowledge is simply a keystroke away, we can become highly informed yet remain inexperienced. Prayer is to enlarge the heart, the core of who I am, not simply to swell my head.

Response demands I journey in pursuit of God’s invitation. Following God always demands journeying from where I am to where I know not. It will lead me through a variety of landscapes and emotions. Much of the journey is discovering who I am even as I seek to discover more of God. Where once I relished travel, I now hanker to sit at home and engage in the Oratory rhythm of work and prayer. Yet, my spirit responds to the invitation to test the substance of the claims of the ancients that the inner light who is God might be knowable at ever deeper levels. I must stir myself, face discomforts of the road and travel as and where God’s leads.

Like the Magi I arrive, I kneel, I worship. There is nothing else I can do when I encounter God. My gaze is captivated by God, my prayer an expression of love, amazement and praise for the Lord of all of creation.

QUESTION: How might you breathe fresh life into your prayers?

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I love, worship and adore you.