A Christian Epistle on Prayer

But regarding faith—which primarily belongs to prayer—a specific point shall follow later in its proper place. This point also includes adoration as its companion; for a faithful, devout petitioner first kneels before the Lord, then lifts his hands, heart, soul, and mind up to heaven and worships God.

That prayer is an elevation or lifting up of the soul, heart, and mind into God, we find in the Psalms (which are numbered here according to the Hebrew numbering In the 16th century, Protestant and Catholic Bibles often used different systems for numbering the Psalms. The "Hebrew numbering" used here is the one found in most modern English Bibles today.). There the Prophet prays and says: "To you, Lord, I lift up my soul; my God, I hope in you," Psalm 25. And Psalm 121: "I lift my eyes up to the mountains (that is, into heaven), from where my help comes." Likewise, Psalm 123: "I lift my eyes up to you, O God, who dwells in heaven." This should be understood not only regarding physical eyes, but regarding the spiritual eyes of the mind, the soul, or the heart—indeed, the eyes of the inner new person This refers to the "new man" mentioned by St. Paul, representing the spiritual nature of a believer renewed by the Holy Spirit.. This is to be noted from many other Psalms,
Psalm 141. Psalm 119.

as when he says: "My eyes look constantly to the Lord." Likewise: "To you, Lord, my eyes look," and "My eyes long for your salvation, and for the word of your righteousness." These are the eyes of faith, the eyes of the inner new person, which the Lord also calls blessed in Luke 10.

Thus, in Holy Scripture, "to pray" means to lift the eyes, heart, and mind upward to God; to worship God; to speak with Him; to cry out, call, sigh, petition, and entreat Him—indeed, to direct all thoughts fervently and longingly upward