Making God's Day When We Pray

"... the prayer of the upright is His delight."
~ Proverbs 15:8

What's your prayer time like? Here's a thought for you: God loves it when you pray. That's right! When Y-O-U pray!
That's what the Bible says. But that's not how many of us feel, is it? For many of us, prayer has been hard work. It's become a chore to be endured rather than a pleasure to be savored. More of a "got to" than a "want to." Many approach prayer with a sense of foreboding and dread; a necessary time to be sure, but far from desirable.
Some say they just don't know what to say in prayer. After all, prayer is talking to God. Why would God care what I've got to say? (He does)
Other are afraid when they pray. There's a tension when we go to pray: as if ... maybe ... what if God is mad at me? (He's not)
For still others, prayer is nothing more than dragging our load of requests before the Lord each day. "God I need this, and I need that, and please help me with the other, and bless so-and-so. Amen."
But the Bible says that my prayers (and yours) are His delight. When we pray it makes His day! He loves it! It shouldn't look like what we've made it out to be. From God's perspective, our prayers are a blast. So what does that look like?

In Exodus 33, Moses was praying. The Bible says he was in "the tent of meeting" where "the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend." No tension. No fear. No apprehension about what kind of a mood the Lord might be in. Just two friends talking.
Now let me paraphrase. God was honked-off at the people because of their sin. (Remember the golden calf?) He just wanted to cut them loose; to send them out on their own to find their way to the Promised Land.
Moses told God he didn't want to go on leading God's people if God's Presence wasn't going to be with them. (Remember, this is two friends talking.) So God said to Moses, "Alright, Moses. I hear you. I'll go with you and lead you." (That's where most of us stop. "Here's what I want, God.")

But not Moses. He was talking to his friend, God. Friends can tell friends anything, or ask anything of their friends, right? So Moses said, "Show me Your glory!" "Let me see what no one else has ever seen. Let me know You like no one else ever has, Lord"
And God did it. (What a Friend, huh?) As Moses stood there on a precipice on Mt. Sinai, God's glory passed by. As He passed, God put Moses in the cleft of the rock and covered him with His hand. And Moses heard the Lord proclaiming Himself as He passed by.
That's prayer that goes beyond the mundane. Prayer that exceeds the trivial. It's a man and his God enjoying their time together. It's a picture of the delight God finds in the prayers of one that He has called.

Arduous. Exhausting. Grueling. Hard. Laborious. Punishing. Taxing. Toilsome. Wearisome. Those words should never describe our time with the Lord. Prayer shouldn't be a chore like laundry or taking out the trash. God never meant for it to become that for anyone. Our prayers are His delight.