Prayer is a spiritual activity. Prayer is not intellectual or even emotional, it is something spiritual and must be approached spiritually. Please note that “spiritual” does not mean ignorance, on the contrary, spiritual activities should lead to enlightenment. And we all know that without this enlightenment, no learning, creativity or exploits is possible. Prayer is not something you reason out, it is something you express from the hidden man of the heart. You pray effectively when you add knowledge to your faith, yet you do not allow your intellect to lead the conversation. And no matter how you feel about an issue, discard your emotions whenever you engage in prayers. Keep it spiritual.
If prayer is a spiritual activity, then it is bound by spiritual principles and is greatly enriched when we observe such principles. Three major core values of spirituality are love, selflessness and taking responsibility for others. When you engage in spiritual activities without giving any thought to these nuances, you soon misuse or abuse the activity. Prayer has been cheapened and even bastardized because it has been separated from its true roots as a spiritual activity. Effective prayers require you to maintain a state of mind that is fully devoted to God and a heart that is shaped by spiritual love, selflessness and taking responsibility for others.
We greatly cheapen and bastardize prayers when we reduce our understanding of it to mean a way to get what we want. This makes prayers an expression of our emotional wants at the moment and not a proper communion with God, the father of all spirits. Prayer as a way to get what you want brings you into communion with yourself and your selfish, greedy wants. When your prayers are driven primarily by your current circumstances, mood or sentiments, you are more likely to drift away from divine counsel and might. You must rise above your emotions and go beyond your intellect when you pray, prayer is spiritual. Keep it spiritual.