When we meet friends and loved ones we show so much joy and happiness to see them and when they leave we miss them. However, when we go to pray we hardly show any emotion whatsoever and when we finish the prayer we feel nothing. 

How do we feel something when we pray? What is the key? It is the key of raja’, the key of hope. We should have the feeling of hope before we enter the prayer. We should feel that Allah will have mercy on us in that salah. When we go into the prayer with his emotion it will change everything.

The prayer should not be mechanical. We must remember we are meeting with the One we love the most! We can get this feeling of hope by knowing Allah more and more. We have to think well of Allah and He is as we think of Him.