September 2026
One of my favorite authors is Henry Nouwen. Every morning, I receive a devotional on my phone from the Henry Nouwen society that I use as part of my morning worship. A few days ago, I read, “Prayer is not about finding God, but awakening to the God who is already present.” Later that day, I came across a quote by an author I didn’t know. His name is Sadhu Sundar Singh and he said, “The essence of prayer does not consist in asking for things but in opening one’s heart to God. Prayer is continual abandonment to God. It is the desire for God himself, the giver of life. Prayer is communion with God, receiving him who is the giver of all good gifts, living a life of fellowship with him. It is breathing and living in God.” These two quotes resonated with my spirit, and I would like to invite you to unpack them with me.
We know God has promised to always be with us and we believe it, but sometimes we get so busy being sure we cover every person on our prayer list in prayer, we lose focus on God. Or we come to God in prayer because we are overwhelmed with worry, disappointment, exhaustion, but He doesn’t seem present. Or maybe our prayer practices are limited to a brief recited prayer before a meal. In any of these situations and many more, we can lose the acute sense of the presence of the Holy Majestic God who cherishes us as His children. We need to periodically remind ourselves what the essence of prayer is all about. So, let’s get “unpacking.”
As Sadhu Sundar Singh says, prayer is:
Abandonment to God – when we abandon ourselves to God, we allow ourselves to become completely vulnerable. We come with no masks, no pretense, no expectations. We simply trust God is who He says He is. We trust His promises are true. We trust He is faithful. And we trust God enough to let go of whatever we are holding (fear, mistrust, anger, bitterness, etc.) and abandon ourselves to His providential care as we pray.
Desire for God, the giver of life – when we come to prayer feeling broken and weak, we need God, the giver of life. He gives us a life that assures us we are loved by Him and worthy of being loved by others. His presence in prayer assures us that our lives matter and this gives us hope (which is also life-giving). The more we experience this kind of life, the more our love for and trust in Him grows.
Communion with God – we humans long for intimacy, for a relationship that is so trustworthy that we can share our deepest, most heart-felt needs without fear. We find that relationship with God in prayer. In God’s presence in prayer is where we can find the community and intimacy that meets all those heart-felt needs. We need to learn to quiet our minds and souls and just “be” with God – not talk or praise – just BE and receive joy of communion with God, our Almighty Father.
Receiving Him who is the giver of gifts – sometimes we come to God unsure if we are worthy of receiving gifts. As we spend time communing with Him in prayer, abandoning ourselves to His care, we begin to grasp the scope of His grace and the depth of His love for us. He longs to give us “good and perfect” gifts, but we need to be in a position to receive them. In pray we can open our arms wide to receive gifts of peace, contentment, hope, joy and all the other “good and perfect” gifts He longs to give.
Living a life of fellowship – Prayer prepares us to live a life of fellowship. We can only do this with God’s help. Fortunately, He is always present, but the noise of everyday responsibilities and expectations can block our awareness of His presence. Prayer gives us an opportunity to shut down the noise and become totally aware of God’s presence and prepares us to live a life of “breathing and living in God.”
I encourage us all to be more awakened “to the God who is already present” as Nouwen says. God still wants us to bring our requests to Him as He delights in blessing us. And we need to spend time in thanksgiving and praise for He is worthy to receive them. But to experience the “essence of prayer” as Singh says, we need to also develop a prayer life that is characterized by abandonment to God, a desire for God himself, enjoying the intimacy of communion with God, receiving God’s blessings, and living a life of fellowship with him. When we do, we become fully awakened to the “God who is already present.”
