“Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”
King James Version (KJV)
6:8 Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of - We do not pray to inform God of our wants. Omniscient as he is, he cannot be informed of any thing which he knew not before: and he is always willing to relieve them. The chief thing wanting is, a fit disposition on our part to receive his grace and blessing. Consequently, one great office of prayer is, to produce such a disposition in us: to exercise our dependence on God; to increase our desire of the things we ask for; to us so sensible of our wants, that we may never cease wrestling till we have prevailed for the blessing.
Mt 6:8 For your Father knoweth. Here is given abundant reason for short prayers. Many prayers apparently aim to give God information on matters connected with this world.