If we remind ourselves that prayer is—as the Westminster divines believed—pleading with God, we remind ourselves of our own desperate spiritual need and the urgency of our walking closely with the Lord every day.
A friend once told me about something that happened to him in a meeting of his church’s prayer committee, which had gathered to consider ways of encouraging greater participation in their Wednesday evening prayer meetings. After the committee had discussed for some time the obvious reluctance that many in the congregation felt with regard to a prayer meeting, a well-respected older member interjected and said: “I don’t understand why we are having this discussion. We are acting like prayer is something complicated. Prayer is not that big of a deal.