There is a great deal of difference between praying and saying of prayers. There are many who never omit falling on their knees, night and morning, and repeating a certain number of words, who never prayed in all their lives. They often carry petitions to God that have no reference to their own case, and look upon their prayers rather as gifts that they bring to Him, than as means in the use of which they expect to receive any thing from Him. The heart may pray when there are no audible words, as in the case of Hannah (I Sam 1:13), and such prayer shall find access to the throne of grace; and, vice versa, there may be many words without any thing of the spirit of prayer accompanying them. Sir Richard Hill
Unless one has some awareness of the distinction between external works and spiritual life, the difference between saying words thought to be a prayer may be thought of as actual praying (spiritual). As Hill notes, there are many who never omit repeating words while on their knees morning and night and think of that as prayer. The heart of prayer is the heart of man (true affections and desires) and apart from that the words that a man thinks of as prayer is nothing more than words offered to an idol. The words of these people are nothing more than words that they think will bring good to them in the guise of religion or perhaps a crass works system to God.
When people think of their prayers as something they are doing for God or for others, they are clueless as to what true prayer is. When people think of their prayers as a means that they use in order to obtain the things they want from Him, they are clueless as to what true prayer really is. In both the previous senses of so-called prayer it is build on a system of doing a religious work in order to obtain something for self. Jesus spoke strongly against the practice of the Pharisees in the way that they prayed, for they prayed in order to get men to honor them, though indeed they said they were praying to God (Mat 6). But instead of praying for self and instead of doing something for God, prayer is all about God. It is not a work in order to please God, but instead it is coming to God as a living sacrifice asking Him to make us into what would please Him.
It is also important, in an effort to distinguish prayer as a form of works versus prayer as a form of worship, to look at words and the intent of words. As Hill notes in the case of Hannah from I Samuel, she prayed with intensity and yet she did not say a word. It appeared that he heart burned within her and her thoughts, desires, and inaudible words were lifted up to God. Prayer must come from the true desires of the heart rather than be only what the words say. Our true prayer, regardless of the words, is what our heart truly desires as we say the words. God looks upon the heart and not just what we say. God knows our true intents, our true desires, and our true love when we say words and when we claim to come into His presence. God knows if our words are to impress men or if they are the desire of our hearts before Him.
There are many books out on how to pray and on the basic subject, but how many get to the real issues of prayer? Do they teach us that prayer is not the words we say but the hearts that the words come from? Do they teach us that the book itself cannot teach us to pray but Christ Himself by His Spirit must teach us to pray? We are given words to say and rituals to perform so God can answer prayer, but those words and those rituals do not earn anything from God and they do not form what true prayer is. This cannot be repeated enough. True prayer is not the saying of words regardless of how biblical the words are and how eloquent we say them.
Jesus said (John 15:5) that “apart from Me you can do nothing.” By that it is surely intended that no one can do anything good or holy or that pleases God apart from Him. Surely, then, that includes prayer. Can we pray apart from love? Well, love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Can we pray apart from the directions or pattern of prayer given to us in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6? That is a prayer that is centered upon God first and foremost in all things. True prayer is a work of the Trinity and not a work of the human flesh. True prayer can only happen when a soul is broken from self and is humbled before God and is truly seeking God and His face. True prayer can only happen when a soul longs for God Himself and His glory. If true Christianity is rare, as it certainly appears to be, then true prayer is rare as well. It could also be said that because true prayer is rare then true Christianity must be rare as well. True prayer will only come to people and the Church when people learn that true prayer must be given to them by grace and it is of the heart. Until then we will be slaves of rituals and words.
God Loves... Himself 
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