Philip Yancey in his book entitled, "Prayer" makes this simple observation:

"We pray because we want to thank someone or something for the beauties and glories of life, and also because we feel small and helpless and sometimes afraid. We pray for forgiveness, for strength, for contact with the One who is, for assurance that we are not alone."

It is no small thing to pray; and yet, often we feel a real gap between our head, our heart, and the God who holds it all together. We turn to Paul in his letter to Philemon to ask, "how might we pray with expectancy?"