When we pray, it is important to structure our prayer to please God. Part of pleasing God in our prayer is to pray for the right reasons. The only purpose of prayer is to talk to God. If you are praying to lift yourself up on a pedestal, then your prayers are worthless. Most of my prayer time is spent when I am alone. This is the best time for me to concentrate my full attention to what I am praying about. I also pray with my family and brothers and sisters in Christ. Most of this type of prayer focuses on praying for the help and wisdom of God to interject himself in the lives of the people whom I am praying for.
Matthew 6:6 NASB “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
As you can see by the verse above, God wants us to pray by ourselves. When we pray by ourselves, no one is around to impress. Our words need not be self-righteous, and our thoughts shouldn't be prideful. When we openly embark in prayer one on one with God, we get more out of our prayer. Without the distractions around you, it makes your thoughts easier to process through prayer.
Pray to please God by being humble.
Matthew 6:5 NASB “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full”.
Matthew 6:7 NASB “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.”
Both of the verses above highlight useless prayer. When we repetitively babble just to speak words, it is truly not a God-honoring prayer. I have seen people in Churches that I have attended in the past, who prayed like Matthew 6:5 describes. God knows our heart, so there is no reason to over do prayer. When you are trying too hard to be holier than thou, you end up being like the Gentiles in Matthew 6:7.
The bottom line is, prayer is your time to talk one on one with God. God already knows what you will do and say before you do it. He just wants to hear your thoughts coming directly from your heart. If we want to please God, we should put our efforts into thanking God, praising him and seeking his wisdom and guidance for our life.