Prayer

It is poor work merely to talk piously to yourself. There is not much that comes of pouring your heart into your heart, praying your soul into your own soul—it is neither an emptying of self, nor a filling with God—it does but stir up what had been quite as well left as dregs at the bottom. Better far is the course prescribed in that hallowed precept, “You people, pour out your heart before Him”—turn them bottom upwards, let all run out before God and so let room be left for something better and more Divine.

Charles Spurgeon, "Essential Points on Prayer"