We require an alert theologian at our right hand. Peter Taylor Forsyth is just such a theologian. A British Congregationalist, he was dead before I was born, but I have kept him at my side for thirty-five years as a friend and ally in my own life of prayer and the lives of my friends. I find him utterly trustworthy and immensely energizing. We petition a God in whom all things are fundamentally working together for good to such a congenial cry.
Prayer is the salvation of prayer.
In prayer we do not so much work as interwork. Love loves to be told what it knows already. Cast yourself into His arms not to be caressed but to wrestle with Him. Maybe the thing that I like best about Forsyth is that he is a theologian who stays a theologian. He cannot be distracted, will not be diverted.