Prayer…is a confessing of impotence and need, an acknowledging of helplessness and dependence, and an invoking of the mighty power of God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves… God means us… to recognize and confess our impotence, and to tell Him that we rely on Him alone, and to plead with Him to glorify His name.

It is His way regularly to withhold His blessings until His people start to pray.

–J.I. Packer, Evangelism & the Sovereignty of God