How to Pray
If you're not quite sure how to pray, think of it as speaking to God just as if He was sitting in the chair right next to you. There are no rules about kneeling, sitting or standing; no rules about what to do with your hands; no rules about closing your eyes, or not; and there are no set words which you should always say.
You should, if possible, always try to be comfortable - you may be there some time! You may find it helpful, if sitting, to lay your hands loosely on your lap with your palms open and upwards. This is helpful for the circulation and also gives a feeling of being willing to accept whatever God lays in your hands.
What to Pray
Sometimes your prayers to God will be on the tip of your tongue and they'll spill out without you even thinking about words at all. At other times you may find it useful to have a framework on which to hang your prayers, so as to be sure of including everything you want to pray for.
One such framework is given by the memory word "ACTS", which, as well as being a book of the Bible, also represents the initial letters of adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication (asking). Using this order for our prayers we start off focusing on who God is, and praising him for that, before moving on into the other areas.
Others find a CATS pattern helpful, which begins with the confession area, clearing out of the way the things we've done that sadden God in our lives, before we go on to praise Him.
Let's look briefly at each of the words in turn :
Adoration
 Adoration in this sense means to adore God, to worship Him and to fulfil the commandment to love Him with all of our heart, mind and soul. As we spend time in adoration, we praise God for who He is - our Creator, our Sustainer and our Redeemer.
Confession
 Confession allows us to clear away the wrong things we have done which get in the way of the relationship between you and God and which are displeasing to Him (and should be to us). All of us have sinned. St John wrote in one of his Letters "If we claim that we're free of sin, we're only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins--make a clean breast of them--he won't let us down; he'll be true to himself. He'll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing". (The First Letter of John Chapter 1, verses 8 and 9, The Message).
Thanksgiving.
 From childhood we are brought up to say "Thank You" when someone does something for us, or gives us a gift. Every moment of the day God is blessing us; every minute we can (if we try) recall the wonderful things that God has done for us, and the gifts that we have been given. And so, we need to be constantly thanking God for his blessings. In writing to Timothy, Paul makes it clear that we also need to be giving thanks for everyday, worldly things "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." 1 Tim 2:1
Supplication (or Intercession).
 Finally we come to ask God for our needs and the needs of others. There are many demands on our prayer time - many topics and issues that we could pray for, so we need to choose, and to be specific.
Pray for others
In the Letters of St Paul, we read of him praying for those he has led to faith, and asking them also to pray for him. So, you too can pray for others, including Christians, and encourage them to pray for you.
Pray for your familiy members, and for neighbours and friends
It's also good to pray for those who don't know Jesus to come to faith - many Christians have come to believe in Christ through the prayers of others.
Pray for world issues
for peace in difficult situations, for leaders and those in influential positions, for global issues such as care of God's environment, justice for the poor, relief of suffering in less developed countries, and other issues that come to you.
Pray for your own needs too
It's easy to neglect this, but Jesus encourages us to do so in the Lord's Prayer - the model for prayer that He gave us.
If you're not sure of the words follow this link: The Lord's Prayer
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