A Christian Epistle on Prayer

...direct toward heaven; to recount God’s benefits; and to give Him praise and thanks for them. Therefore, prayer is compared to an incense offering that rises upward, Psalm 141. Indeed, it is the spiritual incense offering
Prayer is the incense offering of the saints. Revelation 5:8.

of the saints, which rises from their golden bowls or censers—that is, from their faithful, new, reborn hearts—which are filled from the altar of Christ with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Its smoke, rising from the hand of the Angel—that is, through the mediation of Christ our High Priest A title for Jesus emphasizing His role as the mediator between humanity and God, reflecting the ancient Jewish temple rituals.—reaches the face of God like a sweet, lovely fragrance of all kinds of spices, Revelation 5 and 8.

To pray also means to lament one's own condition, to judge oneself, and with a repentant, humble heart, as well as with tears and bended knees, to ask for the forgiveness of
Ephesians 3. Philippians 2. Daniel 6. Acts 9.

sins; to spread out or lift up one’s hands to God; indeed, to present oneself to God both inwardly and outwardly, with heart, mouth, and gestures. For true prayer desires to possess the whole person, and above all the heart, spirit, and soul. For God is a spirit, and those who wish to pray to Him or worship Him must worship and pray to Him in spirit and in truth if they are to be heard—just as the Lord Christ himself says, that the Father also desires those who worship Him in this way, John 14 While the original text cites John 14, this famous teaching on worshipping in spirit and truth is found in John 4:23-24.. Without this spirit, no prayer can please God, about which more shall follow later. Therefore, a true, heard, and God-pleasing prayer is an exceedingly precious, powerful, and potent thing, which is also a special gift of the Holy Spirit.