Prayer is essentially the practice of the presence of God and that is the road to Heaven. There is no alternative. God is the only game in town. All other roads are dead ends. Since we must give our all to the one true God we must not give any part to idols to the many false gods that now bite away at our lives.
We must pray in order to grow and we must grow because Infinite Love will not cannot settle for less than the greatest joy of which his beloved creature is capable.
God makes it easy to begin just do it God also makes it easy to progress in prayer for he rewards our efforts with peace and joy. And he makes it easiest of all at the end for it gradually becomes more natural and delightful.
The only way God can strengthen his presence in our will is to weaken his presence in our feelings. Otherwise we would become spiritual cripples unable to walk without emotional crutches. This is why he gives us dryness sufferings and failures.
God used the element of faith to construct the earth and its inhabitants. Whatever he said it came to pass then dropped these elements in us to say whatever we want to also come to pass but sin and disbelieve has murdered the faith in us and need to be ressurected by purity and strong will power.