"Your Father knows what you need before you ask him." -Matthew 6:8

    Jesus does not want his words to keep us from praying; he only wants us to have a sense of proportion about it, and not to be afraid. There are many people who think their prayer is useless if they do not say it quite clearly and do not explain it to God at great length and with many words, or if they do not speak loudly enough or with sufficient earnestness, or if they do not repeat it often enough.
     In this way praying is often so exaggerated, even though the Savior expressly forbids this. He tells us that not many words are necessary, nor so many formalities, because the Father in heaven already knows it all. This does not mean we should just let things happen and not bother praying. God still wants us to have praying and longing hearts, and we should bring our requests to him. If we do not, many things will not be given to us, things which could be ours if we were more childlike in our asking.
     But let us notice how nice and comforting it is that the Father knows what we need. This is as much as to say that he has our needs in mind and thinks of them with fatherly concern; he is simply waiting for us to come to him with requests. So his knowing about us and all our needs should be enough to make us composed and quiet and have a patient attitude.
    -Johann Christoph Blumhardt, from He Sent His Word.