Prayer should never be perceived as a duty, but rather a gracious communion with a covenant God. Its performance does not cause God to love His children; instead His children pray because He loves them.
Furthermore, prayer should be made according to His will. If there be infirmities in it, such as wandering, coldness, or the like, we are to remember that we are not heard for the beauty of our prayers, nor answered for the fervency of them.
The true believers are only accepted in the Beloved. “For through HIM [Jesus Christ] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Ephesians 2:18). Our access is through Jesus Christ. Trusting His finished work of salvation, we enter into the presence of the Father, and guided by the Holy Spirit, we pray in faith.
1 John 5:14-15 proclaims: “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”