Gospel Powered Prayer

David McIntyre writes in The Hidden Life of Prayer (p 24),

Moved by a divinely implanted instinct, our natures cry out for God, for the living God. And however this instinct may be crushed by sin, it awakes to power in the consciousness of redemption. (emphasis mine)

In other words, fresh awareness of the realities of the gospel ("in the consciousness of redemption") empowers prayer. For those of us who know the prayer-crushing, prayer-deadening effects of sin, this is good news. Let's run to the cross...and we'll be awakened to run to "our Father, who is in heaven."