Prayer is not the cunning art of using God, subjecting Him to one's selfish ends in an effort to get out of Him what you want.

What is impossible to me as an imitator of Christ, becomes perfectly natural as a participant of Christ. It is Only when Christ nullifies the force of my inherent self' life, and communicates to me a Divine life, that Christian living in its true sense, is at all possible for me.

If the 'self-life' is supreme, Satan does not have to be invited in. The lines are already set for the 'electric' current to flow. Satan is master of ceremonies, though he be apparently non-existent.