Praying is personal. Praying is also warfare.
There is the real warfare against spiritual forces of evil who want to destroy our faith and keep other people from entrusting themselves to Jesus. (see Ephesians 6:10-12) But, what I mean is the very real warfare that is in our own souls. The personal warfare. The battle we face between our selfish desires and our desire to know God, personally.
When I feel that battle in me I go to Matthew 6. Right before Jesus gives us his model prayer ("Our Father who is in heaven...") he gives us a warning and a promise about praying:
Matthew 6:7–8: “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. "
Don't be like those who do not understand God as a good Father and try to use words to manipulate him to get what they want. As if he is fooled by our clever ways of speaking. Know that you have a good Father and a good Father who knows what you need.
As we meditate on the truth that we have a good Father who knows what we need (and even cares that we need it!) our God creates peace from the war within us. We don't need to fight for what we think we need when we know the Father gives what we really need.