E.M Bounds on "Prayerless Praying"

EM Bounds from the chapter Hindrances to Prayer from the book The Complete Works of EM Bounds on Prayer

"We once heard an eminent and saintly preacher, now in heaven, come abruptly and sharply on a congregation that had just risen from prayer, with the question and statement, 'What did you pray for? If God should take hold of you and shake you, and demand what you prayed for, you could not tell him to save your life what the prayer was that has just died from your lips.' So it always is, prayerless praying has neither memory nor heart. A mere form, a heterogeneous mass, and insipid compound, a mixture thrown together for sound and to fill up, but with neither heart nor aim, is prayerless praying. A dry routine, a dreary drudge, a dull and heavy task is the is prayerless praying.

Prayerless praying is much worse than either task or drudge, it divorces praying from living; it utters its words against the world, but with heart and life runs into the world; it prays for humility, but nurtures pride; prays for self-denial, while indulging the flesh."