“Prayer is a lifting up of the mind and soul to God, which cannot be done rightly without offering violence to one's self. The names given to prayer imply violence. It is called wrestling (Genesis 32:24), and a pouring out of the soul (I Samuel 1:15), both of which imply vehemency…. That we may offer violence to ourselves and by fervency feather the wing of prayer, let these things be duly weighed. Consider the majesty of God with whom we have to do…. Nothing will sooner make God's anger wax hot than a cold prayer. Prayer without fervency and violence is no prayer; it is speaking, not praying…. [I]f anything may excite prayer and carry it in a fiery chariot up to heaven, it is when we know we pray for nothing but that which God is more willing to grant than we are to ask…. How then should we ply this oar and by a holy violence stir up ourselves to take hold of God! It is only violence and intenseness of spirit in prayer that has the promise of mercy affixed to it, ‘Knock, and it shall be opened’ (Matthew 7:7). Knocking is a violent motion.” ~Thomas Watson, Heaven Taken by Storm