Prayer is my ultimate reality check.  I can fool some of the people some of the time, I can fool myself some of the time, but I cannot fool God.  Prayer is the place I go to find out how I am doing.  If I am getting into trouble, I can probably get straightened out with prayer.

Sometimes I bring unnecessary problems on myself.  Many mistakes seem like a good idea at the time.  The way that seems right gets me into difficulty over and over again.  I need a periodic reality check to avoid the way that seems right, but leads to disaster.  Prayer is that reality check.  It clarifies my vision.  It’s not asking for a miracle or trying to make my problems disappear.  I pray to discover how things really are so I don’t fool myself and follow the way that seems right, but ends in tragedy.

If I pull on a long rope that connects a boat to shore, I don’t pull the shore to the boat.  Instead, I pull the boat to the shore.  That is the way it is with prayer.  When I pull on the rope that connects me to God, I don’t pull God to my way of doing things.  I pull myself to his way of doing things.  Prayer is the way I align myself with God’s program for my life.  Prayer doesn’t change God.  Prayer changes me.

Excerpt from :

Maximum Strength Positive Thinking : What to Say When You Talk to Your Mind

David J Abbott M.D.