Why do we pray?

Today I have stayed above Bratch Locks, and not done very much other than some boat cleaning and painting and, of course, quite a bit of reading.

I came across a thought-provoking bit of the book I am reading, and thought I would share it with you for your comments.

". . . man can come to the knowledge of God naturally . . . there never was a nation or a people who were without some knowledge of God. The result of this knowledge is that primitive man without any exterior prompting, as it were involuntarily, directs his gaze towards heaven, falls on his knees, and utters an incomprehensible but necessary sigh; he feels spontaneously that something is drawing him to the heights, that something unknown compels him."

There are many who would own this compulsion as something that they experience in this day and age too, and I am amongst them. But I suspect that there are many in churches of all denominations that do not yet sense this compulsion as a driving force in their lives, and they are the poorer for it.

How can we change this?