How do I pray?

Is there a correct way to pray? People often ask me 'Doesn't God know what I need? So then, where is the need for prayer?
Sometimes, please note, I said 'sometimes' that is the voice of the ego, because we depend too much on ourselves and exhaust ourselves in the process.
Prayer will make us grow wings and fly because our heavily laden ego falls away. If one can truly surrender then, not to ask, is the best form of prayer, but can we? Truly surrender, I mean. So if one has to ask, then why not ask the Almighty?
I have heard 'knock and you shall receive'
I tell the Lord if it requires only a knock for you to answer my prayers then hear me knocking. However you are my Chief Accountant . You know my past and present karmas. You know what, and how much I need to learn from these experiences. So if it be best for me, grant me what I desire.
I have heard that ones prayers are always answered. Sometimes God says: 'Yes' Sometimes 'No' Sometimes 'Wait!'. So I cling on to the fact that no matter what the outcome, God is with me, Why shouldn't He be? He is Love and I cannot believe that He would want me to suffer. He does His best according to my karmas, and I am convinced that karmas are there to teach not to punish.
Prayer is transformation. Transformation does not follow the prayer, it happens in the prayer itself. Prayer does not mean shifting our responsibility onto another. If one is not totally absorbed in prayer, then it remains a superficial act. Tremendous energy is hidden in the small atoms of prayer.
Let us not be too clever. Look at some of the people coming out of a temple. They are so full of ego! God is not a person. He does not require your flattery to grant your wishes. However by singing His praise, one is annihilating ones ego. By proclaiming He is great, one is saying 'I am nothing'.
If our prayers are answered, let us remember that it was due to the Lord's grace. Because His Grace is perpetually raining. Let us learn to keep our pitcher upright to receive It.
About Prayers
Could I suggest something that I have done since childhood? I would save whatever inspired me, and I would read those pages whenever my soul felt burdened and/or lonely. It always helped to make my sagging spirit soar.
Everyone believes their problems to be the worst. When everything fails most of us turn to the Divine Power. If we are sincere and persevere, we will find an answer. That answer may come through the experience of a loved one. or through the words of a certain book, which you just 'happen' to pick up. It may be through a movie or a program on television. Or it maybe an answer from within. All the above insights are forms of 'Answered Prayers'
Once you have found a direction to solve your problem, only you can put it into action. Sometimes, after you have done your best in a certain situation, you need to do nothing else, but put your problem aside and enjoy yourself. You can also co-create your reality because you were made in God's image.
Sometimes our prayers are not 'answered' because we subconsciously do not want them to be. I know of people who, though they pray for release from their difficulties are actually addicted to the attention that they receive because of it. Or maybe the trying to solve their problem gives them a reason to 'live'.
Think about the above for a moment, or read it again before we move any further. Are you a victim of the above?
Remember that all prayers connected with material desires are limited. When one becomes obsessed with a certain desire, one becomes anxious, nervous and pained. I have read that pain is nothing but resistance to the God energy caused by fear. Anxiety and fear are an impediment in the path of fulfillment of prayer. A calm mind who, though physically shattered, continues to have a strong will is bound to receive a response from the Almighty.
An African School girl's Prayer
"O Thou Great Chief,
Light a candle in my heart,
That I may see what is therein,
And sweep the rubbish from thy dwelling place!"

Do read the following story. I believe a woman told this story at one of the workshops. Seems like she had an accident, and had a near-death experience. As she hovered between life and death, she was able to hear the responses that the passengers of the cars that passed by had. Most complained about the heavy traffic. Others swore under their breath for being late. Some would have probably considered an accident on the way inauspicious.
As the cars streamed past, the woman 'saw light' coming from the top of the 5th car. The white light went towards the Heavens and then was directly directed at her. She wondered what had happened and then she heard the prayer of the perfect stranger in the 5th car. The prayer was: " I do not know who the woman is, But if my prayers can help her, please God help her". These prayers were transmitted to her, and she came back into the body as it was not her time yet. The woman had remembered the license plate number of the one who had prayed for her. When the woman recovered she came to the doorstep of the one who had prayed for her, to thank her.
No prayer goes unanswered. Every thought has energy. Think about it.

Someone has asked me how to get to love the Lord.Well, aside from the usual answers like "Seek Him within" and "See Him everywhere". I have heard that "Nem (pronounced name) se prem hota hai" which means that if you follow a practice diligently and regularly, you will learn to love.Discipline is the first step in the journey of Spiritualism.Thus, if you believe in chanting, meditation, reading scriptures, or any other religious practice, and you practice it regularly, love will blossom in your heart.The above, I have HEARD.I BELIEVE in the following: Keep the company of true bhaktas(devotees), Their emotion is contagious.

Read: Mantras and Prayers
Click:
http://www.dalsabzi.com/Mantras/mantras_intro.htm