Thus saith the Lord God;
I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel,
to do it for them.
Ezekiel 36:37
"Prayer is the forerunner of mercy.
Turn to sacred history, and you will find that scarcely ever did a great mercy come to this world unheralded by supplication. You have found this true in your own personal experience.
God has given you many an unsolicited favour, but still great prayer has always been the prelude of great mercy with you. .......
...when God piles up
a hill of mercies,
He Himself shines
behind them,
and He casts on our spirits the shadow of prayer,
so that we may rest certain,
if we are much in prayer,
our pleadings are the shadows of mercy.
Prayer is thus connected with the blessing to show us the value of it. If we had the blessings without asking for them, we should think them common things; but prayer makes our mercies more precious than diamonds. The things we ask for are precious, but we do not realize their preciousness until we have sought for them earnestly."
Charles Spurgeon