Graeme Goldsworthy, Prayer and the Knowledge of God

Having now finished the book, I stand by what I said after reading the first few chapters: this is some of the best stuff I've ever read on prayer. What makes this treatement of prayer so good is that Goldsworthy grounds everything he says about prayer in both the gospel and the Trinity. I'll leave you with some final quotes:

"One of the most sinned-against biblical principles is that of the grace of God in the gospel as the pattern, motive, and power for Christian living.""A wrong perspective on prayer may well come from thinking of it as playing a part in establishing our acceptance with God.""Can we readily explain our personhood, and our ability to interact personally using speech, without recourse to a God who is Trinity?""...if we change the biblical perspective by mainly praying to Jesus or to the Spirit, we will confuse the reality of prayer because we will confuse the persons of the Trinity.""Jesus, then, shows us that to be created in the image of God is to be created to pray.""However we might discipline our day to include Bible-reading and prayer, it is important to not reduce this habit to the level of the fulfilment of a legal obligation. It is always a privilege for the children of God and, as such, it is an expression of our being saved by grace alone.""The very nature of the gospel as the work of the incarnated Son of God requires that, in Christ, we become praying people. The dimension of prayer is perhaps one of the most astonishing aspects of God's plan, in that he allows redeemed sinners actually to ask him to do his will. This is no cynical exercise giving us an illusion of being important when all the time we are being manipulated like clockwork toys. It is rather the gracious expression of his Fatherhood and of our beloved sonship. It is fellowship of the most profound nature. It is a foretaste of eternity with God."