Thoughts on Prayer

The brethren asked Abba Agathon: "Amongst all our different activities, father, which is the virtue that requires the greatest effort?" He answered: "Forgive me, but I think there is no labor greater than praying to God. For every time a man wants to pray, his enemies the demons try to prevent him; for they know that nothing obstructs them so much as prayer to God. In everything else that a man undertakes, if he perseveres, he will attain rest, but in order to pray, a man must struggle to his last breath."

— Sayings of the Desert Fathers


Now, if it was part of the sacred discipline of the Incarnate Son that he should observe frequent seasons of retirement [for prayer], how much more is it incumbent on us, broken as we are and disabled by manifold sin, to be diligent in the exercise of private prayer! ...

In the morning we should look forward to the duties of the day, anticipating those situations in which temptation may lurk, and preparing ourselves to embrace such opportunities of usefulness as may be presented to us. In the evening we ought to remark upon the providences which have befallen us, consider our attainment in holiness, and endeavor to profit by the lessons which God would have us learn. And, always, we must acknowledge and forsake sin. Then there are the numberless themes of prayer which our desires for the good estate of the Church of God, for the conversion and sanctification of our friends and acquaintances, for the furtherance of missionary effort, and for the coming of the kingdom of Christ may suggest. All this cannot be pressed into a few crowded moments. We must be at leisure when we enter the secret place.

 —David McIntyre, The Hidden Life of Prayer: The Life-blood of the Christian