Prayer is salutary because it establishes the harmonious co-operation of man’s will with God’s will. Man’s created energy surrenders to God’s uncreated energy, and his merely human existence is totally transformed by prayer, inasmuch as prayer is the expression of his repentance. In the world around us, nothing helps us in the work of prayer and repentance. Inspiration can only spring from man’s consciousness of sin and the sense of his spiritual poverty; both are perceived in the light of his relationship with God, which is founded on man’s faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ.
~Archimandrite Zacharias
Prayerful Life 