When King Jeroboam’s son was dying, there was nothing in him to tell his wife to pray or even the prophet to pray. He used the opportunity like a fortuneteller.

At that time King Jeroboam’s son Abijah got sick. Jeroboam said to his wife, “Disguise yourself so that no one will recognize you, and go to Shiloh, where the prophet Ahijah lives, the one who said I would be king of Israel. Take him ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey. Ask him what is going to happen to our son, and he will tell you.” – 1 Kings 14:1-3 GNT

How many have I discipled that have sought the same thing.

“It would have been more pious if he had begged the prophet’s prayers, and cast away his idols from him; then the child might have been restored to him, as his hand was. But most people would rather be told their fortune than their faults or their duty.” – Matthew Henry

A good way to start engaging in thinking about praying is by thanking God. Something King Jeroboam would never do – but Paul did.

We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all God’s people. When the true message, the Good News, first came to you, you heard about the hope it offers. So your faith and love are based on what you hope for, which is kept safe for you in heaven. The gospel keeps bringing blessings and is spreading throughout the world, just as it has among you ever since the day you first heard about the grace of God and came to know it as it really is. – Colossians 1:3-6 GNT

Paul had never met those who gathered and called themselves the Colossian church and yet he prays for them. Pray – a present tense, ongoing action – a habit and it comes with thanksgiving.

The rest of Paul’s prayer can be read here in Colossians 1:9-14 GNT

When Paul prayed, he asked God to do what only God could do – take the written word and make it a living epistle in their transformed lives. There is a desire to see followers of Jesus growing up into a mature relationship with Him.

The Lord loves those who hate evil;^[b]
    he protects the lives of his people;
    he rescues them from the power of the wicked.
Light shines on the righteous,
    and gladness on the good.
All you that are righteous be glad
    because of what the Lord has done!
Remember what the holy God has done,
    and give thanks to him.. – Psalm 97:10-12 GNT

Do I not feel that my power is diminished after I sin – do I not feel it more after I sin. If I let it stay at that, sin will have me stop praying altogether. Either that or praying will have me stop sinning.

“Lock up your hearts by prayer every morning and give God the key, so that nothing can get in.” – Dyer

It is principally through the efficacy of prayer that we receive the communications of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is not a mere instinct of a dependent nature, seeking help from the Author of its being: nor is it to be viewed simply as a natural expression of faith and desire, or as a mode of communion with the Father of our spirits; but it is also to be regarded as the appointed means of obtaining the Holy Ghost. ‘If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?’ (Lk. 11.13) Hence we are urged to be constant and importunate in prayer, praying especially for those communications of Divine influence by which the life of God in the soul is maintained and promoted. – Charles Hodge