Receiving the Holy Spirit, a reflection on Acts 8:14-17

Fred Craddock in Preaching through the Christian Year C points out that the conferral of the Spirit occurs in response to prayer:

Here the Holy Spirit is not something God bestows automatically or even something the believer receives as a free bonus. Instead, it come in response to earnest, fervent prayer...

I balked at this so was somewhat pleased when he went on to point out:

....To be sure, in Acts this is not a consistent pattern, for at other times the Holy Spirit descends in the act of preaching (10:44; 11:15; cf. 19:6).

I believe that the Holy Spirit occurs in response to prayer and to preaching, but can't I believe that it is not restricted to those? Can the Holy Spirit come to me and prompt me to prayer?

Lectio Divina: Acts 8:17; Psalm 29:11