The Master of Prayer’s People

The words of prayer that become the spiritual vessels for Divine abundance are not necessarily the words of personal prayer only. Even the prescribed prayers, the recitation of Psalms, and any other prayer creates vessels for Divine abundance. Remember, that whenever you pray, you are bringing gratification to Hashem and stimulating the flow of Divine abundance. Such knowledge will help us all pray with more incentive and intent.

It’s not enough to open our mouths and pray. In effect, we have to pray for the privilege of prayer. There are so many internal and external hindrances to prayer that we must ask Hashem’s help in succeeding to pray in an earnest, sincere, and directed manner. Even more, we should pray to Hashem to help us feel happiness and spiritual stimulation, and enable us to sing our prayers and praises in the way that the Master of Prayer’s people did. This should be our role model – we should strive to be one of the Master of Prayer’s people.

Prayer in effect is a person’s personal redemption. When a person succeeds in getting close to Hashem by way of prayer, for all practical purposes he is a redeemed person since his soul is no longer in exile. So, when we pray for Hashem’s assistance in helping us pray, we are actually praying for our personal redemption.

Here’s an example of how we should pray for Hashem’s assistance in helping us pray: “Master of the World, please grant me the privilege to pray properly. Help me take my prescribed prayers seriously. In Your loving grace, help me say all my prayers – Shacharit, Mincha, Maariv, Psalms, Tikkun Klali, Tikkun Chatzot or whatever else I’m praying – with proper intent and with all my heart. Let me understand that my prime mode of connection to You is by way of prayer. Help me say my prayers in moderation, word for word, without rushing. Let me feel that I’m standing before You, my magnificent, loving, and all-powerful Father and King. Enable me to cling to You. Help me overcome the evil inclination that does everything in its power to obstruct my prayers and distract me from praying. Save me from foreign and extraneous thoughts, grant me pure thoughts, and help me think only of You when I’m praying. Help me believe in prayer and that my prayers reach the Heavenly throne. Give me complete emuna, so that I’ll have the incentive to pray with all my heart and with all my might.”

The evil inclination’s hindrance to our prayers is tangibly apparent. Everyone knows that there’s nothing better than Hashem and nothing sweeter than clinging to Hashem. The Jewish soul yearns to cling to Divine light, and seeks it always. Then – all of a sudden – when a person has the opportunity to pray and to cling to Hashem, he rushes through his prayers, mumbling them in a perfunctory manner. What could be more ridiculous or illogical? In such a manner, the evil inclination ruins the prayers of the entire world.

Once a person believes in the power of prayer and is convinced that prayer is the key to his personal redemption, he’ll have the incentive to strive for pure and sincere prayer. Once a person becomes accustomed to prayer, he won’t be able to live without it. We can now understand what Rebbe Natan of Breslev meant when he said, “My Mashiach has already come,” since he invested so much time and effort into prayer. Any person that does likewise will ultimately feel that his or her personal Mashiach has arrived too.