“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”-Psalm 91:1

There is no short cut to the life of faith, which is the all-vital condition of a holy and victorious life.  We must have periods of solitary meditation and fellowship with God. It is as indispensable as food for our bodies, that our souls should have their mountains of fellowship, their valleys of quiet rest beneath the shadow of a great rock, their nights beneath the stars, when darkness has veiled the world and silenced the stir of human life, and has opened the view of the infinite and eternal. Thus alone can the soul to obtain and possess the sense of God’s presence, enabling us to say repeatedly, with the psalmist, “Thou art near, O God.” -F. B. Meyer

Conscious nearness to God, entering into the inner sanctuary where His glory shines, is both the inestimable privilege and the indispensable essential of true prayer.  To pray without a consciousness of God, without fellowship with Him is to make prayer empty and powerless.