Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), who wrote the masterpiece, “The Prophet”, also wrote a prayer poem titled, simply “Love,” which spoke to my heart more than five decades ago. I discovered it shortly after I first encountered God and within a week met the woman who would become the love of my life. Prior to these two yoked events, I had been an agnostic “man of the world,” having been in relationships with other women. Now I sought in earnest to clean up my life in every sense, so as to become a better man, and above all to remain true to love and fidelity for the remainder of my life.

Gibran’s prayer poem to Love, and to the God who is love, addresses the true power and goodness of love, together with the vowed commitment of one who has finally found true love to faithfully serve it. I have returned to this prayer at least yearly, to recommit myself to Love, as to God:

Gibran’s prayer poem gave me the words I could and did commit myself to carrying out, day in and day out. I also vowed never to sacrifice a greater value for a lesser one. While I have had my temptations, my trials and tribulations, I have nevertheless continued to honor God, love, and my beloved wife.

God can get through to us what God wants to get through, at any time. You can of course seem to close off from God, or turn away in disbelief, anger or despair. Yet if God wants to get your attention, God will. That being said, it is important to understand how God communicates with us during prayer, usually in subtle and unexpected ways.

There are seven essential entryways in us through which God may stealthily make God’s presence and will known during prayer. The better you understand these, the more readily your apparent prayer monologue can be grasped as an actual prayer dialogue, as a “with” rather than “to” God. It is vital to patiently wait upon, and listen for the Lord around these entryways. And also to take on faith that God addresses you daily, in a variety of elusive ways, though most importantly in prayer.

So what exactly is prayer? Prayer is communication with God in all its forms. This includes intimate as well as seemingly distant communication, from monologues to dialogues, from written texts to mystical touch, from speech to silent communion. Prayer establishes the bridge between God and humanity. It is as vital to your personal well-being to develop a flourishing prayer life, as it is to learn how to communicate love to human loved ones.

My purpose in these prayer podcasts is to teach you how to pray to God, so that you can actually come to sense the presence of God, the subtle but significant response of God to your prayer. What I will offer you are time tested ways of praying that will at some point bring you into direct connection with God. Everything is at stake in the long overdue return to the focus on knowing God directly. Such knowledge permeated the Bible and the medieval mystics. I want you to encounter the ultimate beauty, goodness and truth: God.