God is Spirit, and all who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.
John 4, 24

There is so much humanly motivated prayer. Above all we pray for ourselves and our dear relatives. We pray for health and success, for career and money, for everything we need. Some of them make many words, as if they want to persuade God. Some tell God how many advantages He has when He hears their prayer. Some collect good prayers and repeat them like rituals. Some use God like an automaton: Stick your prayer in and pull what you want.
All this is more reminiscent of paganism. There, people come to their gods when they want something. And they show mercy to their gods by making sacrifices and performing for them. They call upon their gods to do what they want. In exchange, they trade anything they offer to the gods. This is all magic, where we want to force something on the gods or fate or win them over by means of incantations, rituals or the right words. Even with false humility: Lord, you know I’m not much good. I ask you for this or that, if it is in your will.
We Christians may pray differently. We do not come to God, we are with Him all the time. We don’t visit Him, – He’s always with us. He is not opposite, but part of us. HE is our father, we are children. HE is not “majesty” for us. That’s why we speak freely, sometimes incorrectly, but always from the heart. Some people find the tone too familiar, too friendly. But we still have respect for the Almighty.
We let our hearts and motivation be tested by the Spirit of God and we are asking ourselves how we can pray correctly for our decisions, our life and other people. Never should envy or greed stain our prayer. The Spirit of God should guide us, also in prayer. HE gives thoughts on this. HE makes goals. HE reminds us of people. HE builds up our faith. HE makes the truths of the Bible understandable and personal in prayer. HE is there, even in silence. HE forms us during prayer. Without the Spirit of God, our prayer would be without knowledge, without insight, without the good pleasure of God.

Thank You for your Spirit! HE makes everything understandable to me and through Him I have access to the Father in heaven. Thank You!