A.W. Pink on prayer

"Prayer is not so much an act as it is an attitude— an attitude of dependency, dependency upon God. Prayer is a confession of creature weakness, yea, of helplessness. Prayer is the acknowledgment of our need and the spreading of it before God...Because prayer is an attitude of dependency, the one who really prays is submissive, submissive to the Divine will; and submission to the Divine will means, that we are content for the Lord to supply our need according to the dictates of His own sovereign pleasure. And hence it is that we say, every prayer that is offered to God in this spirit is sure of meeting with an answer or response from Him."

D.A. Carson on praying for grace

“We become fruitful by grace; we persevere by grace; we mature by grace; by grace we grow to love one another more, and by grace we cherish holiness and a deepening knowledge of God…The Savior cannot be glorified in our lives, nor can we be finally glorified, apart from the grace that He provides.” D.A. Carson

Thomas Boston on prayer

"Be busy with God in prayer, when thou art thinking on dealing with the souls of men." Thomas Boston

Spurgeon on Prayer

If in prayer I come before a throne of grace, then the faults of my prayer will be overlooked. In beginning to pray, dear friends, you feel as if you did not pray. The groanings of your spirit, when you rise from your knees are such that you think there is nothing in them. What a blotted, blurred, smeared prayer it is. Never mind; you are not come to the throne of justice, else when God percieved the fault in the prayer he would spurn it,- your broken words, your gaspings, and stammerings are before a throne of grace. When any one of us has presented his best prayer before God, if he saw it as God sees it, there is no doubt he would make great lamentation over it; for there is enough sin in the best prayer that was ever prayed to secure its being cast away from God. But it is not a throne of justice I say again, and here is the hope for our lame, limping supplications. Our condescending King does not maintain a stately etiquette in his court like that which has been observed by princes among men, where a little mistake or a flaw would secure the petitioner's being dismissed with disgrace. Oh, no; the faulty cries of his children are not severely criticized by him. The Lord High Chamberlain of the palace above, our Lord Jesus Christ, takes care to alter and amend every prayer before he presents it, and he makes the prayer perfect with his perfection, and prevalent with His own merits. God loks upon the prayer, as presented through Christ, and forgives all its own inherent faultiness. How this ought to encourage any of us who feel ourselves to be feeble, wandering, and unskillful in prayer. If you cannot plead with God as sometimes you did in years gone by, if you feel as if somehow or other you had gfrown rusty in the work of supplication, never give over, but come still, yea and come oftener, for it is not a throne of severe criticism, it is a throne of grace to which you come.

John Calvin on prayer

"We know that whenever the fathers prayed under the law, their hope of obtaining whatever they asked was founded upon their sacrifices; and, in like manner, at this day our prayers are acceptable to God only insofar as Christ sprinkles and santifcies them with the perfume of His own sacrifice...
Whenver our minds come to be occupied by carnal confidence, they fall at the same time into a forgetfulness of God. The inspired writer, therefore, uses the word remember, to show, that when the saints betake themselves to God, they must cast off every thing which would hinder them from placing an exclusive trust in Him. This remembrance of God serves two important purposes to the faithful. In the first place, however much power and resources they may possess, it nevertheless withdraws them from all vain confidence, so that they do not expect any success except from the pure grace of God. In the second place, if they are bereft and utterly destitute of all succour, it notwithstanding so strengthen and encourages them, that they call upon God both with confidence and constancy." (John Calvin)

Valley of Vision

"I adore thee that thou art God and long that others should know it, feel it, and rejoice in it." Valley of Vision

Misc. On Piper

Jesus and the apostles have shown us what to do. Why pray? Because now is the time to pray. The kingdom has come. The new age is the age of prayer. Jesus brings the new age, and he brings it with prayer. The apostles carry the gospel of the kingdom forward with prayer. So as we engage in the work of the kingdom we must pray. Now is the time of prayer not because we cut out fifteen minutes for “prayer time” during “quiet time.” Now is the time of prayer because the new age has dawned in Jesus Christ - a new age that entails the advance of the kingdom and the prayers of the kingdom. Because it is Kingdom Time, it is Prayer Time. (Jason Kirklin)

Bridges on Prayer

Prayer assumes the sovereignty of God. If God is not sovereign, we have no assurance that He is able to answer our prayers. Our prayers would become nothing more than wishes. But while God’s sovereignty, along with His wisdom and love, is the foundation of our trust in Him, prayer is the expression of that trust…Psalm 57:2, ‘I cry out to God Most His, to God, who fulfills his purpose for me.’ That is (John) Flavel says to us, because God is sovereign, we should pray. God’s sovereignty does not negate our responsibility to pray, but rather makes it possible to pray with confidence. (Jerry Bridges)

‘but we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat’ (Nehemiah 4:9). Prayer is the acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty and of our dependence upon Him to act on our behalf. Prudence is the acknowledgement of our responsibility to use all legitimate means. We must not separate these two. (Jerry Bridges)

Piper on Prayer

“Christian hedonist, above all be people devoted to earnest prayer. Just as the thirsty deer buckles down to drink at the brook, so the characteristic posture of the Christian Hedonist is on his knees.” (John Piper)

“Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need. Prayer humbles us as needy, and exalts God as wealthy.” (John Piper)

“The folly of not waiting for God is that we forfeit the blessing of having God work for us. The evil of not waiting for God is that we oppose God's will to exalt himself in mercy.
God aims to exalt himself by working for those who wait for him. Prayer is the essential activity of waiting for God: acknowledging our helplessness and his power, calling upon him for help, seeking his counsel. So it is evident why prayer is so often commanded by God, since his purpose in the world is to be exalted for his mercy. Prayer is the antidote for the disease of self-confidence that opposes God's goal of getting glory by working for those who wait for him.” (John Piper)

“The way to serve God so that he gets the glory is to look to him for mercy. Prayer prevents service from being an expression of pride…Good service is always and fundamentally receiving mercy, not rendering assistance. So there is no good service without prayer.” (John Piper)

Watson on Prayer

“As soon as grace is poured in, prayer is poured out; ‘ but I give myself to prayer’ (psalm 109:4). In the hebrew it is, ‘but I prayer’. Prayer and I are all one. Prayer is the soul’s traffic with heaven. God comes down to us by His Spirit, and we go up to Him by prayer.” (Thomas Watson).

“A godly man cannot live without prayer. A man cannot live unless he takes his breath, nor can the soul, unless it breathes forth its desire to God…A godly man is on the mount of prayer every day; he begins the day with prayer; before he opens his shop, he opens his heart to God.” Thomas Watson

“A spiritual prayer is a believing prayer: ‘whatever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive’ (Matthew 21:22). The why so many prayer suffer shipwreck is because they split against the rock of unbelief. Prayer without faith is shooting without bullets. When faith takes prayer by the hand, then we draw near to God. We should come to God in prayer like the leper: ‘ Lord if thou wilt, make me clean’ (Matt 8:2). It is a disparagement to deity to have such a whisper in the heart, that ‘God’s ear is heavy and cannot hear’ (Isa. 59:1). what is said of the people of Israel may applied to prayer – ‘They could not enter in because of unbelief’ (Hebrews 3:19). (Thomas Watson)

“A Spiritual prayer is when we pray in the name of Christ. To pray in the name of Christ is not only to name Christ in prayer, but to pray in the hope and confidence of Christ’s meditation. As a child claims his estate in the right of his father who purchased it, so we come for mercy in the name of Christ, who has purchased it for in his blood.” (Thomas Watson)

“A Godly man is carried on wings of delight. He is never so well as when he is prayer. He is not forced with fear but fired with love. ‘I will make them joyful in my house of prayer’ (Isa. 56:7).” (Thomas Watson)

“Jesus Christ prays over our prayer again. He takes the dross out and presents but pure gold to his Father. Christ mingles his sweet odours with the prayers of the saints (Rev. 5:8). Think of the dignity of his person- he is God; and the sweetness of his relationship – he is a Son. Oh then, what encouragement there is here for us to pray! Our prayers are put up in the hands of a Mediator. Though, as they come from us, they are weak and imperfect, yet as they come from Christ, they are mighty and powerful.” (Thomas Watson)