Problems of Spontaneous Prayer
I know the difficulty of being prayerful. Before learning fixed-hour prayer, my prayers were ad hoc: made up without paying attention to the Christian year or the priorities of the church and God’s Reign or the needs of the wider world. They were self-directed: deciding on my own what I should pray rather than having help, support, or direction from others with maturity or experience, not to mention the wisdom of Christian tradition. They were disconnected: prayed in isolation from other believers, both nearby and around the world. They were subjective: praying what I “feel” like, freely abandoning important ways of prayer such as confession, praise, and intercession. Besides that, when prayer relied totally on my initiative and invention, it was easy to set aside when the mood did not suit me or if life circumstances were overwhelming.
Many problems of prayer could be addressed by a common discipline of daily morning and evening prayer. — Arthur Paul Boers, The Rhythm of God’s Grace, 3-4.