Start by coming to God as Father
Prayer is not a performance for unusually religious people. Jesus taught his followers to address God as Father, which gives prayer its centre: you are coming to the God who knows you. You don't need impressive language, a special setting, or a polished spiritual mood.
Jesus warned against empty repetition and piles of words offered as though God must be persuaded to listen. He also said that the Father knows what you need before you ask. Prayer is not about supplying God with information. It is a real relationship of trust, dependence, praise, confession, and love.
Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Use Jesus' pattern
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he gave them what Christians often call the Lord's Prayer. It can be prayed as it stands, and it also gives a simple shape for your own words.
Begin with God: honour his name and ask for his kingdom and will. Then bring ordinary needs, such as today's bread. Ask for forgiveness, and choose to forgive those who have wronged you. Ask for help when temptation or evil feels near. Prayer can be both God-centred and very practical.
And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
Bring your real life
You can bring your actual life to God, not a cleaned-up version of it. Paul urged believers to bring every concern to God through prayer, earnest requests, and thanksgiving. Name the worry, decision, grief, hope, or person on your mind. Thank God for his care too, even if nothing has changed yet.
Some days prayer will come easily. Other days you may be tired, distracted, or unable to find words. That isn't failure. The Holy Spirit helps believers in weakness, including in moments when they do not know how to pray as they ought. A short, truthful prayer still matters.
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Keep returning
Learning to pray happens by returning to God. Set aside a small, realistic time each day. Read a short part of Scripture, notice what it shows about God, then answer him in your own words. The Psalms are a good place to start because they speak honestly about joy, fear, guilt, danger, and hope.
Jesus encouraged his disciples to ask, seek, and knock. This is an invitation to continued trust, not a promise that God must work on our timetable. Keep showing up. Over time, prayer becomes less about finding the right words and more about knowing God and placing your life in his hands.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: