Let me share a quick acrostic with you that I believe will help you as you P.R.A.Y.!
Personal
Our prayers should not be repetitious rhetoric; instead, it should be words from our own hearts. When we try to make prayer Professional instead of Personal, we end up saying words and using phrases that we don't even understand. If you need a good place to start, just begin by telling God how much you love Him. (Every Father loves to hear that. I know because I have two little girls and hearing them tell me they love me never gets old!) Then talk to God about your fears, frustrations, and even your failures. God wants to help you overcome all those things!
Remember
Think about who God is and remind yourself about all things that He has done. This will cause gratitude and thanksgiving to rise up in your heart, and you will remember that what Psalm 100:5 says is true - "For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation." Whenever you remember his faithfulness in your past, it will give you faith to trust Him in your future!
Ask
The first thing we need to ask for is forgiveness. When we do this it will remind us that we also need to forgive others. Also, we don't just ask God to do things for us. We ask Him to do things in us. Our prayer aren't just focused on Him giving me stuff, but Him helping me get rid of stuff (anger, jealousy, bitterness, lust, greed). Never become so fixated on the things AROUND you that you neglect to ask God to do things IN you.
Yield
This is the toughest part. Yielding and surrendering my will and my way to God. That is uncomfortable and unpleasant. But yet it is one of the major points of prayer. Jesus modeled this in His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane before He is about to go to the cross. After asking God for the possiblity of another way, He prayed, "Father, but not my will, let your will be done." We must always be willing to submit our will to God.
We don't pray to get OUR WAY. We pray to GIVE WAY to God's way in our life!