The best counsel on prayer I ever received was from a pastor who spoke about prayer at a spiritual retreat. It is wrong to think that we have to get in a "holy" mood before we can pray to God, he said. God wants honest conversation from us.
So if we don't feel like praying, let that be our prayer: "Lord, I don't feel much like praying now, and this is what is going on in me."
I do that kind of praying on a regular basis. The biblical Psalms are a good model in this regard. The writers of those psalms did not just praise God--they also complained to God about stuff that they were seeing around them, and they even on occasion told the Lord that they were not sure he was listening to their prayers.
Actually, though, my best prayer exercise is singing the old hymns, especially when I am driving to work in the morning. I'll suddenly turn off NPR and start belting out: "How Great Thou Art" or Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me."
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