The very soul of prayer – Thomas Brooks

“My son, give Me your heart.” Proverbs 23:26

In all your closet-duties God looks first and most to your hearts. It is not a piece, it is not a corner of the heart, which will satisfy the Maker of the heart. The very soul of prayer lies in the pouring out of the soul before God. The heart is a treasure, a bed of spices, a royal throne wherein He delights. God looks not at:
the elegance of your prayers, to see how refined they are; nor at
the geometry of your prayers, to see how long they are; nor at
the arithmetic of your prayers, to see how many they are; nor at
the music of your prayers; nor at
the sweetness of your voice; nor at
the logic of your prayers;
but at the sincerity of your prayers, how hearty they are.

The reason why so many are so unsuccessful in their closet-duties and services, is because there is no more of their hearts in them. No man can make sure work or happy work in prayer but he who makes heart work on it. When a man’s heart is in his prayers, then great and sweet will be his returns from heaven.

There is no prayer acknowledged, approved, accepted, recorded, or rewarded by God but that wherein the heart is sincere.

Prayer without the heart is but as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Prayer is only lovely and weighty, as the heart is in it, and no otherwise. It is . . .
not the lifting up of the voice,
nor the wringing of the hands,
nor the beating of the breasts,
nor an affected tone,
nor studied motions,
nor seraphical expressions;
but the stirrings of the heart, which God looks at in prayer. God hears no more than the heart speaks. If the heart be dumb, God will certainly be deaf. No prayer is accepted by God but that which is the travail of the heart.