Whenever our Lord the Holy Spirit invites you to appear before God (you will hear the invitation in your spirit), a Kingdom event is about to unfold... just for you. You are about to receive a loving foretaste of the joy of being with your God. How do you know our Lord the Holy Spirit is asking you to come before God? Because the invitation to be with God has come to your consciousness. You hear a “knock” at your heart's door. Our Lord the Holy Spirit is calling you to give praise and glory to God. God is calling you to God. We must not and cannot be indifferent to such an invitation. We must never cause heartbreak to He who has called us forth and loves us so much, that He sent His only Son to die for our redemption, for our return home. One must stop, acknowledge and respond, in accordance with what circumstances permit.
As you awaken to these invitations, as you grow in your childlike relationship with God, as you become more conscious of the Holy Spirit's presence in your life, such occasions will be more and more frequent. The time will soon come when you will be with God all day, "naturally." Being with your Creator, your King and the Holy Spirit is as natural as is being with ones’ own family. The day will come when you will truly be living in the house of the Lord, “... to enjoy the sweetness of Yahweh and to consult with Him in His Temple.” (Psalm 27:4.)
(3) Realize what is about to happen. It is imperative to fully realize what will happen when in prayer, in dialogue with God. You and God, the Persons Who made you and gave you life, Who made you in Their Image, Who made this incredible universe for YOU, Who in spite of eternal differences, recognize you and cherish you as Their child... the four of You are going to spend some time TOGETHER. The four of You are going to talk. The four of You are going to share with One another. You will be schooled, counseled, enlightened. Repeatedly, the treasures of Heaven will be showered upon you. As one marked with Christ's Love, you will minister to Them. Their loving Presence will overwhelm you. Their Peace will embrace you. Your brothers and sisters in Christ will glorify God because of you. Because of the time you are spending with God, you will leave knowing more about your Father, His Son and your King and our Lord the Holy Spirit. This day, you will know more about yourself as God's child than you did yesterday.
(4) When and where can one have this intimacy with God? The "meeting" format suggested here, is simply a first step to help you get started. To help you be with and have a real dialogue and an intimate meeting with the Holy Trinity. Prayer is an opportunity for a real "Family" get-together, (Father, Son Holy Spirit and you). It should take place at least once a week, on a day when you can spend 2 -3+- hours with Them. As far as daily prayer is concerned, this format can and will be abbreviated as the Holy Spirit will suggest to you. Once a week however, one should be intimately united with the Holy Trinity and one's brothers and sisters, in a loving salvific prayer, in one long loving "hug," along the lines suggested here as a guideline. I know from experience the closeness one comes to God through prayer, so all I can do is share with you some of the good things that have happened to me. There was one time, when I thought it was impossible to stop praying, when I was so full of God's Peace in His blessed presence through prayer, that I thought I would never be able to pray again, for nothing else would possibly equal that particular time we had together. (I was well into four hours of "walking and talking and listening and being loved by God.")
Where can you pray? You can be with the Holy Trinity anywhere... right in your own home. “For this Law that I enjoin on you today is not beyond your strength or beyond your reach. It is not in heaven, so that you need to wonder, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it down to us, so that we may hear it and keep it?’ Nor is it beyond the seas, so that you need to wonder, ‘Who will cross the seas for us and bring it back to us, so that we may hear it and keep it?’ No, the Word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your Heart for your observance.” (Deuteronomy 30:11-14) Wherever you are, God is.
I favor being at home (or at some other peaceful area) because once you begin, you really do not want to stop. (If I am inside, I usually have some light background music to help me "set the stage." Taizé songs, Beethoven, Corelli, Handel ... (I have tinnitis –a ringing in the ears– and music helps to "camouflage" this noise. I may walk the hallway, or the living room, often the recreation room. Be comfortable. After all you're going to be with your Father, your Savior and the Lord Holy Spirit Who is making all this happen for you.) Would you leave a guest's table halfway through dinner? Would you get dressed up in your best clothes for a 15 minute meeting? Would you accept an invitation from an ambassador only to suddenly leave just when you were going to be treated royally? Of course not. Once you take this first step to be with your Father who made you, His Son your one and only Light and the Holy Spirit who reveals all these things to you, there can be no turning back without causing a lot of terrible heartbreak. You can be with God in an intimate and loving relationship, once a week (or every two weeks or every three weeks or once a month). This is a wonderful time in your life.
At a park... You can have your day with God at a park, or walking on a lakeshore, or in some other peaceful, scenic country setting using the format suggested. What is very necessary, is that you be in a place where there is peace and quiet, where you can be alone with God.
I like to take a slow walk while our Lord the Holy Spirit prepares me to be with God. The first part of my prayer is to look and see the sky and the trees, the clouds and the flowers. I listen to the birds and feel the wind. I marvel at that my Father, His Son and my Lord the Holy Spirit has done all this for me and are now at this moment revealing this to me. All They ask in return is that I see what They have done and love Them with all my heart and my neighbor as myself. (Matthew 23:37-38.)