In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear. (Hebrews 5:7)

When you finish your prayers, are there tears in your eyes? Usually we "say" our prayers, not "cry" them. We associate prayer with peace, calm, and strength. We may feel weepy when we begin our prayers, but we expect to be comforted by the end of them. Because there are very seldom tears in our eyes when we pray, our prayers are ineffectual. There are no tears if we mechanically say a childhood prayer, "Now I lay me down to sleep." If we doubt the power of prayer, we are not moved enough to have tears. A young woman confessed, "I pray, but I don't think it does much good." Emergency prayers usually do …