"I am Ground of thy beseeching: first it is my will that thou have it; and after, I make thee to will it; and after, I make thee to beseech it and thou beseechest it. How should it then be that thou shouldst not have thy beseeching?"
Julian of Norwich (Ch. 41)
Our prayer, or beseeching, is something we can feel anxious about. We may worry that our prayer isn't 'good enough' or that we don't have enough faith and trust to 'get' an answer. We may feel barren or dry or have no feeling at all. So God wants to reassure us that prayer isn't 'up to us.' God Himself is the ground or source of our prayer, for He draws us inwardly to incline to pray for something, and He draws us to pray. And after that, He answers the prayer. So He is over the whole process of prayer, from desire to prayer to answer. If God gives us the desire to pray for something and moves us to pray for it, then obviously He will give that very thing in answer! He has set it all up so that we don't have to truly originate or be ultimately responsible for anything in our prayer. He must love to have us participate in His work that He is doing. He must love to have us see the needs and talk to Him about them and then see how He meets those needs. What a loving and kind Dad He is, bringing His children along to be a part of His work so we can feel involved and part of things, when all along the responsibility is His, the work is His, the results are up to Him to accomplish and 'make happen.' So we don't have to worry that we don't 'feel' spiritual enough or have enough faith or say the right words. The important thing is that God is doing the work and He has brought us along with Him. He is spiritual enough, strong enough, does and says all the right things. He is accomplishing His beautiful will of love, peace and joy. And we get to be there to see it! And since God is the very ground of prayer as well as its fulfillment, the prayer is really already answered even before we pray! Prayer is truly a work of grace, not self-effort. This takes all the pressure off of us and puts all the praise on our heavenly Dad!
"I will provide for their needs before they ask."
Isaiah 65:24 (NCV)
A Prayer: You are the reason I want to pray.