God Within Israel
Eliyahu's words 'You are God in Israel' teach that every Jew can pray for the sake of the Divine portion within him, however low he has fallen.
On Har HaCarmel Eliyahu davened: let it be known today that You are God in Israel. The Yismach Yisroel reads the words literally: Hashem is God within Israel, for every Jewish soul is a portion of the Divine from above. This, he teaches, is the root of true prayer. When a person feels that his sins have gone over his head and he is not worthy to ask, he can still ask Hashem to act for the sake of His own portion within him. Eliyahu went on: You turned their hearts backward. The people had come to think of themselves as cast backward, beyond hope. Yet before Hashem there is no difference between the lowest depths and the highest heights, as Dovid HaMelech sang: if I make my bed in the grave, there You are. The Rebbe adds that the word for 'by Your word' is written with an extra yud, the letter of Chochmah, from which miracles beyond nature flow.
Source: Yismach Yisroel, Bereishis, Vayigash, maamar 7 (on Melachim I 18:36–37)
Some days we hold back from davening because we feel we have no right to ask. Next time that feeling comes, try the Yismach Yisroel's words before Shemoneh Esrei: Ribbono shel Olam, I may not be worthy, but answer me for the sake of Your portion that is within me. Say it once, slowly, and then daven as a child speaking to a Father who has never left the room.