on Prayer and Grace

I've been reading an interesting book called Worshiping with the Church Fathers by Christopher A. Hall.  In it I ran across this tidbit on prayer and grace that I found helpful.

Hall writes -

God's grace is always surrounding, supporting and empowering us as we pray; even when we err in our prayers, imagining things about God that are far from true, God still accepts our feeble offerings, mumble though we may.  We do not have to pass a theology exam before we dare to pray.  God knows our hearts better than we and accepts the offering of the heart, even when the mind's thoughts expressed in prayer are foggy.  We are called to think ever more truly of God, but God accepts us where we are-delighting in our mumbles-and slowly teaches us the grammar and content of prayer...

...We should never forget that all prayer is grounded in the grace of God.  Prayer starts with God and ends with God, undergirded at every moment by God's grace.  Likewise, we should never presume against God's gentleness and patience.  The truth offered to us in Jesus Christ can never harm us; God calls us to holy, clear, discerning, loving thinking about himself and about the world he has created.

Grace covers all of our sins, even the mistakes we make in our prayer life.  So don't be afraid to "boldly approach the throne of grace."