Sing to our God, sing; sing to our King, sing, for God is the King of all the earth; Sing everything wisely.
Ps.46:7-8
The soul is not strengthened by the variety of prayers, but by repetition and implementation of them in our thoughts and in our will, or in activity - throughout our entire life.
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt
(From the book: Invisible Warfare. Elder Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain of blessed memory. Translation from the Greek Bishop Theophan. 5th edition. M., 1912. Reprint: M., 1991. P. 194-201.)
You must pray not only with words, but also with your mind, and not only with your mind, but also with your heart, so that your mind clearly sees and understands what is being said in words, and let your heart feel what your mind is thinking at the same time. All this together is real prayer, and if your prayer lacks any of this, then it is either an imperfect prayer or not a prayer at all...
How to learn such prayer? Here is your answer: learn to always pray in this way, that is, not only in words, but also with your mind and heart - and you will learn. How did you learn to read? I started working on it and learned. How did you learn to write? I started writing and learned. So you will learn to pray, as shown, if you begin to pray in this way.
You know the words of the prayer, of course. They are contained in our prayer books and church service books. They are outpourings of prayer poured out from the hearts of holy men and women when, moved by the Spirit of God, they expressed the desires of their hearts before God. They contain a spirit of prayer; You will be filled with the same spirit if you read them as you should, just as the spirit of some writer is communicated to those who read him with full attention. Everyone experiences this; I think you too have experienced...
So, have a prayer book and at certain times for prayer, usually in the morning and evening, read the prayers there, delving into every word, thinking as it is stated there, and trying to reproduce the same feelings in your heart that move in the prayer you read. That's all the wisdom! That's what everyone usually does.
That’s what everyone usually does, it’s true, you’ll say. - But why doesn’t everyone have the right prayer?
Because they do this, they do it, that is, they take a prayer book, stand in front of the icons and read, but they don’t put their mind and heart here: the mind wanders not knowing where, and the heart delights in its own interests, not in prayer. And you, while praying, enclose your mind in the words of prayer, and perceive with your heart what they say - and you will immediately feel the fruit of such prayer.
So, you have prayer words, what it means to understand and feel them - you know, and this is in your power. Therefore, prayer and success in it are in your hands. Work relentlessly and you will achieve success. I will, however, offer something as a guide to the surest success.
1. Try, not during prayer time, but at other free times, to think about and feel the prescribed prayers. Having done this, during prayer you will not encounter any difficulty in reproducing in yourself the content of the prayer being read; Even as soon as you begin a prayer, its thoughts and feelings will appear to your consciousness, and you will pronounce the prayer word as if it were your own and came from your heart, being generated in it, and not being put into it.
2. Try to think and feel the prayers and memorize them. Having done this, you will carry prayers within you. While they are in the prayer book, they are outside of you, and when you memorize them, they will become inside you, and you, no matter what the circumstances, will always have your prayer book with you. In addition, by memorizing prayers, you will more deeply imprint prayer thoughts and feelings in yourself than by simply discussing them and feeling them. From such study, a prayerful structure will be formed in you, if you not only memorize the words, but also be in the thoughts and feelings that are contained in prayer. And this is the best path to success in the skill of worthy prayer.
3. When the time comes for prayer, do not immediately, as soon as you break away from your usual affairs, begin to pray, but prepare in advance for this: “stay in silence for a little while until your feelings calm down,” as the prayer book teaches you, and remember what you are about to do and what you have to do, who you are who is starting to pray - and who is the One before whom you will say your prayers, and what exactly you must say it and how. Such preparation is made necessary in the morning - the relaxation of the soul from falling into sleep and the attack of worries about the upcoming affairs of the day, immediately upon awakening, and in the evening - the diverse impressions of the day, and especially cases of outstanding and amazing, pleasant and unpleasant. Try to get everything out of your consciousness so that the matter of prayer then takes up all your attention and you can devote the upcoming time to it alone. Amazing cases, if you don’t have time to deal with them, turn them into the subject of prayer: either thanksgiving, or asking for help and deliverance, or surrendering them and yourself and everything you have to the will of God.
4. Before the very beginning of prayer, place yourself in the presence of God to the consciousness and feeling of Him with reverent fear, and raise in your heart a living faith that God sees and hears you, that He does not turn away from those who pray, but looks at them with favor - and at you at this hour of prayer, and be inspired by the hope that He is ready to fulfill and will actually fulfill your request, if it is spiritually beneficial for you.
5. Having set yourself up in this way, say your prayers, deeply delving into them and taking every possible care that they come from your heart as your own, although they are memorized. Do not allow your attention to deviate and your thoughts to fly to the side. As soon as you realize that this has happened, return your thoughts inside and begin your prayers again from the point from which your attention deviated to something else.
Notice that attention does not dissipate when the heart is in prayerful feelings. Therefore, take care of these feelings most of all. Do not allow yourself to rush into prayer, but carry it all out reverently, as a sacred task, and bring it to the end with patience.
6. If, in the midst of prayer in such a mood and order, some subject of prayer especially falls on your heart, captivates your attention as if close to you by circumstances, and evokes in you your own word of prayer, do not let this opportunity pass by, but stop in it and pray with your word until the prayerful feeling or need that has arisen is satisfied.
7. If you take the trouble to pray in this way, you will take away from it a prayerful mood, which you take care to keep as strong as possible. To do this, do not immediately rush into ordinary affairs and never think that, having completed your prayer rule, you have finished everything in relation to God and that you can now give free rein to your thoughts and feelings. No, you should try to behave the same way throughout the day as you followed the prayer rule. To support this, do not forget that you walk with God and are held by His right hand over the abyss of non-existence - and, keeping this in mind, do every thing you do, both big and small, as God wants, ask Him for all blessings and turn everything to the glory of His name. By doing this, you will reach your evening prayer in a good prayerful mood. Having completed the evening rule in the same way, you will sleep well at night. And now you have a day of good prayer mood!
Spend this day after day - and in a few months, and maybe even weeks, you will become a strong prayer book, and prayer, like an unquenchable lamp, will begin to constantly glow in your heart.
8. I’ll add one more rule: namely, the continuity of such prayerful work, from its beginning to success in it... If now you pray well and maintain yourself in a prayerful mood, and tomorrow you give yourself free rein and spend the day dissolutely, then acting like this, you will never succeed in prayer. It will be the same as building and destroying... And you can get to the point where prayer completely dies out and the soul becomes useless for it. Having begun, one must patiently remain in prayer, without weakening and without giving oneself concessions and liberties.