The Discipline of Prayer

Prayer catapults us onto the frontier of the spiritual life. Of all the Spiritual Disciplines prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the Father. Meditation introduces us to the inner life,
fasting is an accompanying means,
study transforms our minds,
but it is the Discipline of prayer that brings us into the deepest and highest work of the human spirit. Real Prayer is life creating and life changing. "Prayer-secret, fervent, believing prayer---lies at the root of all personal godliness," writes William Carey.

To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we see our need and the more we desire to be conformed to Christ. William Blake tells us that our task in life is to learn to bear God's "beams of love." How often we fashion cloaks of evasion---beam-proof shelters---in order to elude our Eternal Lover. But when we pray, God slowly and graciously reveals to us our evasive actions and sets us free from them.

Intoduction to Chapter 3 of the "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster
This book is again rocking my world! I hope you will take the time to get it and read it as well! Believe it or not it is so encouraging and says that all these disciplines are a life long process! What a breath of fresh air!