Prayer is

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(Hannah More, "Practical Piety", 1811)

Prayer is . . .
  the application of need, to Him who alone can relieve it;
  the voice of sin, to Him who alone can pardon it;
  the urgency of spiritual poverty;
  the prostration of pride;
  the fervency of penitence;
  the confidence of trust.

Prayer is . . .
  not eloquence, but earnestness;
  not the confession of helplessness, but the feeling of it;
  not figures of speech, but compunction of soul. 

Prayer is the "Lord, save me! I am perishing!" of drowning Peter.

Prayer is the cry of faith to the ear of divine mercy.

Adoration is the noblest employment of created beings.
Confession is the natural language of guilty creatures.
Gratitude is the spontaneous expression of pardoned sinners.

Prayer is the earnest desire of the soul. It is not mere conception of the mind, nor a mere effort of the intellect, nor an act of the memory; but an elevation of the soul towards its Maker; a pressing sense of our own ignorance and infirmity. Prayer is a consciousness . . .
  of the majesty of God,
  of His readiness to hear,
  of His power to help,
  of His willingness to save.

Prayer is the outpouring of the heart unto our loving heavenly Father.

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