It is my experience, and there is some evidence in the Bible to support this, that the prayers God delights in are not often fanciful words, long petitions or doctrine punctuated monologues. Of course, long words, petitions or sentences are not wrong de facto, but the thing I have discovered that counts most – more than time, tone or vocabulary – is the heart.
The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but he delights in the prayers of the upright. Proverbs 15v8 (NLT)
When I speak to God does my heart mean it? Of course upright should be understood as having the right heart in prayer, but also I take it to mean the kind of uprightness that could only be accomplished through the promise and power of Jesus Christ.
Don't let prayer be limited by the clock, your knowledge or your ability to construct fluent sentences. Just speak to the Lord when the moment comes using the words that come – relying that the acceptable prayer is one that is made through faith in Christ Jesus, not our way with words. God will delight in that!
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him. Proverbs 15v8 (ESV)
