Ancient Prayer Patterns

Nothing of eternal value will ever be accomplished apart from prayer. This means prayer is the primary key to our discipleship. That is, if we are to truly learn to follow the words and ways of the Christ, then we will primarily do so through the power to change that comes from prayer.

Still, a deeper reason to pray is that this is the path to authentic fellowship with the God who is there. Prayer practice, especially the ancient prayer practices commonly called "contemplative" prayer and another called the "Jesus prayer," presents to us a door to the Father that cannot be opened in any other way. To pray the prayer of silence, or to offer ourselves to God through the prayer of the quiet, is to enter the silent land of relationship with God, and it is to be touched and changed at a level we have not known before. 

Along this line, allow me to recommend these books:

Gifts of the Desert: The Forgotten Path of Christian Spirituality

The Mountain of Silence: A Search for Orthodox Spirituality

Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel

Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation