I am drawn to Elisha’s cool demeanor and calm responses.

“Don’t be afraid,” Elisha answered. “We have more on our side than they have on theirs.” – 2 Kings 6:16 GNT

Then, to encourage the one with him, he prayed that his eyes would be open to see the unseen spiritual world. I am also encouraged for I see the all-sufficiency of God can meet any crises I face and prayer is my means of connecting with Him. Pray and not panic.

Daniel experienced something similar – while praying, the curtain dropped and he saw the invisible spiritual kingdom – the One to whom he had been speaking to in prayer.

On the twenty-fourth day of the first month of the year I was standing on the bank of the mighty Tigris River. I looked up and saw someone who was wearing linen clothes and a belt of fine gold. His body shone like a jewel. His face was as bright as a flash of lightning, and his eyes blazed like fire. His arms and legs shone like polished bronze, and his voice sounded like the roar of a great crowd. – Daniel 10:4-6 GNT

This is what could happen when I pray and I am not too sure I would ever expect it.

Then he said, “Daniel, don’t be afraid. God has heard your prayers ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in order to gain understanding. I have come in answer to your prayer. The angel prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief angels, came to help me, because I had been left there alone in Persia. I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the future. This is a vision about the future.” – Daniel 10:12-14 GNT

What an encouragement to me to pray and never give up believing for a response.

I believe that God answers my prayer as soon as I begin to pray. I believe He hears them and responds to them and that humbles me.

Calvin too believed it was crucial to engage the heart and mind in prayer, and like Luther, he counsels to do it with disciplined meditation on the meaning of the Word and what is being said. He writes: “A fault that seems less serious but is also not tolerable is that of others who, having been imbued with this one principle—that God must be appeased by devotions—mumble prayers without meditation. Now the godly must particularly beware of presenting themselves before God to request anything unless they yearn for it with sincere affection of heart, and at the same time desire to obtain it from him. Indeed, even though in those things which we seek only to God’s glory we do not seem at first glance to be providing for our own need, yet it is fitting that they be sought with no less ardor and eagerness. When, for example, we pray that ‘his name be sanctified’ [Matt 6:9; Luke 11:2], we should, so to speak, eagerly hunger and thirst after that sanctification.” – Timothy Keller