Kierkegaard: “The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”

Søren Kirkegaard

- Sven Ljungholm in FSAOF blog - "Soren Kierkegaard, the 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian, focused much of his work on religious themes such as faith in God and the institution of the Christian Church. The Lutheran Church was though an institution he strongly criticised for what he saw as the ‘empty formalities’ of the Church of Denmark. Kierkegaard, whose surname translates as ‘the church garden’, advocated instead that each person tremble seeking and working out their own salvation.
In Philippians 2:12-13, Paul, the church’s greatest missionary and principal author of the New Testament wrote to the Christ followers in Philippi; “What I’m getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you’ve done from the beginning…. redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure..."