The passuk praises Yisrael amongst the nations by saying ומי גוי גדול אשר לו אלקים קרובים אליו כה' אלקינו בכל קראנו אליו there is no greater nation than Am Yisrael who possess a G-d that is closer to them whenever they daven to Him. The act of davening to Hashem manifests our choosiness to Him. This is alluded to in the words אשר לו which is gematriah עה"כ to זו תפילה. Our name ישראל also hints to this uniqueness with which we identify our supremacy above all the nations. ישראל עה"כ is gematria אשר לו including its five letters and also gematriah היא תפילה. Being so, the topic of this mamar is to reveal a new source of the word daven which is used to describe this three times a day ritual that expresses our special relationship with Hashem. (the Chidah writes that it stems from the Aramaic word דאבונהון of our fathers the Avos who established tefillah Berachos 26b).
Bilam gave a bracha to Am Yisrael הן עם לבדד ישכון Behold Am Yisrael is set apart from all the other nations. As we mentioned above our uniqueness is found in our davening. This is also hinted in these words עם לבדד ישכן which is gematraih התפילה.
Why is it that when we daven Hashem answers us more than any other nation? The basic answer is that our relationsip with Hashem is one that includes a father and son bond בנים אתם לה' אלקיכם which is in contrast to all the other nations who relate to Hashem only in the role of a servant before the king. The Sefarim tell us that the Halacha is that a King cannot forgive someone who shames him but a father can be מוחל on his kovod. When we have sinned against Hashem we daven in order to arouse His rachmanus upon His children which is a parent's natural response to a child who cries before his father כרחם אבל על בנים כן תרחם עלינו. The meforshim learn that the word for womb רחם shares the same letters as רחם compassion because carrying and giving birth to a child creates a bond of rachmanus from parent to child.
This father and son relationship is alluded to in the seemingly unnecessary word הן which introduced the concept of עם לבדד ישכון. The word הן is gematriah 55 the same as אב בן and because of this unparalleled relationship Hashem answers our tefillos.
Now we can understand the etymology of the word daven whose origin is really Lashon Hakodesh. On the word אבן found in the passuk (Bereishis 49,24) Rashi comments that this word is split into two אב בן the letter ב serving both the end of the word אב and the beginning of the word בן. The word דאבן therefore means "of father and son". When one davens he must understand that the more effort he invests in realizing that he relates to Hashem as a son pleading before his father, the more compassion your Father will bestow upon you.
Chazal say on the passuk (Bamidbar 19,14) אדם כי ימות באהל that the title אדם refers specifically to a Jew אתם קרויים אדם. We suggest that this passuk is alluding to davening. The sefarim bring that the inner letters of אדם which are אלף דלת מם spell מתפלל to daven. Our uniqueness amongst the nations is our davening. The words כי ימות באהל עה"כ adds up to .תפילה this conveys to us that we must be moser nefesh, to "kill" ourselves in order to ensure that we daven properly, both in the halachos of tefillah and with one's heart and concentration even though at times it might be an overwhelming challenge and struggle.
With this we can understand the passuk (Tehillim 44,230 כי עליך הורגני כל היום every day I am killed on your behalf. That it is referring to tefillah. Afterwards I found that this interpretation on this passuk is in the Tikunei Zohar
בתקו"ז ואם מתקרבין בצלותין (תפלה) לקודשא בריך הוא וסבלין כמה מכתשין (צער) הדא הוא דכתיב תהלים מ"ד כ"ג כי עליך הורגנו כל היום נחשבנו כצאן טבחה הרי דעל ענין התפלה כתיב נחשבנו כצאן טבחה ללמדך כמה צריך האדם למסור נפשו על ענין כוונת התפלה אף אם הדבר עולה בידו בקושי רב עד כדי כך שהוא מרגיש כצאן טבחה וללמדך כמה יקר עבודה זו לפניו ית' (פי כהן) ע"כ.
A support to the Zohar's interpretation is the gematriah of כי עליך הורגנו כל היום equals .תפלה The word באהל refers to "light" as the passuk says (Iyuv 29,3) .בהלו נרו עלי ראשי One's davening experience if executed correctly, should bring about the spread of spiritual neshama light throughout one's body. This could be the reason why the minhag is to light candles by the amud for davening in order to awaken a consciousness to the segulah of a proper tefillah from beginning to end. This concept is alluded to in the beginning and end of Shemoneh Esrai. The Shemoneh Esrai begins with the letter א from the name of Hashem אדני and ends with the letter ם from the word שלום together the gematriah of 41 which is the same as הלו.
The halachick requirement before the beginning of the Shemoneh Esari is to connect the beracha of גאל ישראל to אדני without interruption even with the answering of אמן to the beracha of the Shatz. The inner reason for this is that one should realize that a sincere davening which characterizes a mesiras nefesh, brings the geulah by arousing rachmanus of the אב בן relationship. The geulah at Kerias Yam Suf was because Nachshon jumped into the water with mesiras nefesh and then the sea split for all of Yisrael. Likewise through a devoted concentrated tefillah we bring the geulah. This is also hinted in the first and last letters of the Shemoneh Esari אם. These two letters are the acronym of our redeemers from galus. אהרן משה, אסתר מרדכי, and finally אליהו משיח who will spread the light of Hashem throughout the world that we live in אכי"ר.