I just like to see other ways people go about how they pray. I dont really know if this is something that you can give advice on as its more personal but lets see what we get eh?

I always start off with thanking God for all the wonderful things he has brought to my life and this gets repetitive if done every day...i feel like im beating the dead horse sometimes....

Then i go to what i want to ask (or pray) for. I dont know how to say it or if it even does matter how i say it. But if i have a trouble in my life i just say and I pray that you can fix [this] or something to that affect. How do you go about asking for something?

if this is too personal then no need to share of course

start by reading the lords prayer, then move on to psalms and read some of davids prayers.
prayer is different for everyone but try and learn from biblical prayers

^

and just imagine it as a conversation between you and God or pretend you're writing in your journal/diary.

He's your friend and savior, who has a sense of humor - why so serious?

Think of the Lords Prayer as an outline but use your own words .

Jesus included adoration , acknowledgement , thanksgiving , supplication of need and asking for foregiveness in His example .

I am 50 years old now and my prayers have changed since i first became a believer ... I agree with all that has been said here so far .... my prayers years ago were alot like a shopping list of request for myself and others and the form i took seemed repetitive and pretencious even when it was just me and God ...like my prayer was going to impress God by the way i said it or the words i used ... I have always liked to read about King David in the bible ...he was not perfect but he had a heart that was for God and he was repentive ...HIs words in the Psalms like Bryce mentioned are good to follow he speaks with a passion about our God ... reflecting what his heart was feeling about circumstances in his life and how God revealed himself to David through his life ... Our words will not impress God unless they have true meaning behind them expressing what our faith and heart are feeling ... repetitive drible is not good and may be annoying to God ... if this is all we have to say to him well you get the idea ... but it is a start to just pray any prayer as when we meet someone for the first time the conversation can be awkward and superficial untill we get more comfortable and knowledgable about who the person is and what they care about and who they are ... the same thing happens about prayer... the bible says 1Th 5:17 Pray without ceasing. 1Th 5:18 In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I have thought about this scripture much over the years and i think it means that asa we walk through life we are to involve God in every part of our experience and acknowledge him at all times ... i now find myself talking to God all the time sometimes its non verbal but others it is ... i imagine that God is beside me or all around me or inside of me ( which he is) and like a friend or master i go about my day confiding in him asking him for guidence and just opening up the communication lines ... in my life now i want to persue God ... i want to do his bidding ... i want to hunt him down and persue his blessing ... i want to be the one jealous for HIM... it is a challenge to involve God in everything you do ... most people want to keep him a box ... i know i did earily on ... but now i try to be as a bondservant ... listening and following what my master says

But to be more specific i pray in 2 ways :

#1
as mentioned above just talking to God casually but with respect ...as i am walking in to work or working or shoping or visiting where ever and what ever i am doing:

Father God (or Jesus or Yeshua or Yahweh ) thanks for listening and talking and walking with me ....help me to follow your ways and your word ... guide me as I go though this day that you have given me ... guide me with your spirit and words ... order the steps of my feet and let your spirit that is inside me flow out and touch everyone i come in contact with today Lord ... let the light of the world "YOU" shine through me today and brighten the world for your pleasure ... use me as your instrument today to help others see you through me ... Hey God this is confusing help me understand this or give me the patients to wait for understanding and go on with something else ... father use me to speak to this person about you ... i dont usually talk to someone directly about God unless lead by him to do so but when the leading occurs its sometimes like im just a bystander i hear the words im saying but its like im not the one saying them ... one time i even quoted scripture that i wasnt even sure where it was in the bible and had to go back and read it for myself ( I could go on for hours about the interactions on a daily basis but you get the idea) i also use scripture and quote it when talking to God as i am going through my day and ask for understanding about it ...Hey God what did you mean by this ... or im not sure what this means .... it's not unusual to have something happen in my day to illustrate the understanding of that scripture... this kind of praying is what i think it means by pray without ceasing

#2
The next type of praying is more like worship praying and soulsearching, sometimes even sacrifical in nature ... i start my day and end it with this type of praying and in times of great dispare or great exileration these prays or worship are needed to express the great emotion that grips me... sometimes i do this before my feet hit the floor in the morning or sometimes i have an over whelming urg to hit my knees and even bow my face to the floor in an flood of feeling the awsomeness and power of God.... sometimes this is short or it can be very long ... time is not important in prayer... honesty, intimacy and truth are... and i think its important to express our souls urning to God ... as i grow in our relationship and he reveals more of his self to me... doing this at the begining of your day and at the very end are very important and a biblical pattern in several parts of the bible ... it effects us in so many ways that i do even know them all ... lets get to some examples ... this is how i pray sometimes ... make it come from your heart thats whats improtant

Lord Jesus (Yeshua in hebrew)( or Father or just God or Yahweh ) i worship you ... you are awsome ... thanks for waking me up this morning and giving me another day to walk with you through this life ... can we do something awsome together today... You are the one true God you have created all that i see and all that i can not ... Father you are all knowing and with the breath of your nostrils you have pushed back the seas ... by the word of your mouth you have hung the stars in the sky ... you have told the oceans where to stop and mountains how high to go... all of nature in its complexity and fine array was created by you with out ...forgive me my sins Lord thru the blood sacrifice of Jesus your Son and bring them to my mind so i know what they are .... please Lord reveal more of your self to me today ... then i petiton the Lord for friends and families needs and protection and that he would reveal himself to all of them and draw them near to Him ... always ending my prayer with not will but yours ... if i ask for anything it is in the way of guidance or on others behalf ... i believe that God has stated that he will meet my needs in his word and i have no need to ask him to do so but it would be ok to do so ... many things we want dont get granted but everything we need does ... if we dont get it we dont need it or it may even be bad for us ...

Well these are the broad strokes ...hope it is helpful and not to wordy ... i will leave you with this inspirational song on utube and a story that i heard about this video ... not sure if it true ... but non the less the video speaks for itself ....

There was a Dad that had a son with Cerebral Palsy and this son was confined to a wheel chair ...but he saw on the internet where people competed in marathon races and more ... Now his Dad had some heart problems and was getting up in age ...but even so when his son asked if they could run a race together agreed to try one ... they started off with a small race and then son asked if they could run another larger race and after several races that they completed together the son saw where there was an iron man race where you run a 3rd of the race you swim a 3rd of the race and you bicycle a 3rd ... this race is one of the hardest physical events in the world only for the best athletes this is the inspirational video of this event take a listen and remember this is a fathers love and our Heavenly Father loves us so much more!!!!

May the peace and grace of our Lord and messiah Jeus of Nazareth be with you all !!!

[YOUTUBE] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJMbk9dtpdY[/YOUTUBE]

this

i find that meditating is my way of prayer

There are several suggestions that I have run into over the years that have really helped:

#1 - The Prayer Wheel
I have a printout of a prayer wheel that outlines a good way to do one's prayers, and I like it very much. This is the order:
1. Praise, Worship and Thanksgiving
2. Repentance (Just telling God you are sorry for the wrong things you have done)
3. Binding the Enemy
4. Intercession and Travailing for the Lost
5. The Needs of the Church (Pastor or pastors, other ministers, financial needs, youth department, outreach, Sunday school, Musicians, and future growth)
6. Individual Church Members
7. Bible Reading (I typically see this as an optional step. However, God really opens your eyes to the scriptures when you read the Bible in an atmosphere of prayer)
8. Meditation Upon God and His Word
9. Your Family and Their Needs
10. Your Personal Needs.
11. Praise, Worship, and Thanksgiving (It is good to open AND close this way)

#2 - "Praying Through the Tabernacle"
Another good "scheme" or "pattern" to pray involves the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. If many of you have not studied the tabernacle or don't know what it is, there are several sites that explain it and even give a good outline on it. Perhaps I will explain this in detail in another post.


In addition, as I have studied prayer quite a bit, there are several books and authors that I would recommend if you desire to learn how you should be praying. Andrew Murray and E.M. Bounds are great authors to start with. Charles Spurgeon and R.A. Torrey are others to explore. You can find many of their works on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

I hope this helps!