"But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Matthew 6:6

The whole idea of prayer here assumes that it would be meaningful, personal communication that acknowledges God accurately. As Dallas Willard puts it, prayer is "intelligent conversation about matters of mutual concern". Things like God’s sovereignty and His all-knowingness and His being ever-present ought to find their way into our thinking and flavor our prayers. We ought to engage in meaningful interaction with God that addresses our needs and recognizes His greatness. With regard to Matthew 6:5-8, John Stott said: “If the praying of the Pharisees was hypocritical and that of pagans was mechanical, then the praying of Christians must be real – sincere as opposed to hypocritical, thoughtful as opposed to mechanical. Jesus intends our minds and hearts to be involved in what we are saying. Then prayer is seen in its true light – not as meaningless repetition of words, nor as a means to our own glorification, but as a true communion with our heavenly Father.”