Daily Chizuk #0099

The Mahram Shick writes that prayer is one of the nine mitzvot that a person can fulfill constantly. It is important for us to remember that tefilla is a mitzvah like any other. Each time we ask Hashem for help, we are credited with a mitzvah that will provide us with eternal bliss, regardless if we received what we asked for. Having our prayers answered is a side bonus. If what we are requesting from Hashem is good for us, it will be the tefila that enables Hashem, kavayachol, to give it to us. But if, at the moment, it's not good for us to have, our tefila still provided us with eternal benefits.
Sometimes people are embarrassed to pray. They feel that because of the way that they acted, Hashem doesn't want to hear from them. We need to know, Hashem always wants to hear from us, no matter what we have done.
We don't always act the way we should and it creates a debt with Hashem. That debt can easily be settled with some words of teshuva and regret. Hashem is merciful. He gives us so much time to repent. He's not rushing to collect that debt, but what He does want is to hear from us. He wants to have a relationship with us. We should never hold back from coming to him. Every tefila we pray is valuable - it humbles us, it brings us closer to Hashem and it gives us eternal reward.