Do I pray to keep something bad from happening or do I pray to make something good happen? Is one motive better than the other?. With all the books and tools available to us, prayer should be the most widely understood and most universally practiced discipline of the Christian life. So why isn't it? Because prayer is work. Few authors dare to make this startling statement, but Oswald Chambers does. He doesn't make promises God won't fulfill. He says it plainly, simply, and directly: Prayer is work. It's an act of the will, an act of obedience, a holy occupation. If that is so, what does the job require? According to Chambers, it requires: boldness; childlikeness; communication; concentration; discipline; faith; honesty; Intimacy; obedience; patience; power; purpose; silence; simplicity; wonder; worship."--Jacket.