"Work hard to put your hearts into all your closet prayers and performances."Brooks expands this point by talking about our hearts and tongues being in tune with each other. *Tophillah belo cavannah ceguph belo neshamah - A prayer without the heart (or without the intention of the affection) is like a body without a soul.
Thomas Brooks [The Secret Key To Heaven, part 5, pg197]
It is really easy to say the right things, particularly in public prayer, but in private as well. We can often pray over things without pouring our hearts into them. I know i struggle with prayer, and when i do pray this is definitely another struggle. Brooks highlights something for us to consider and work at by the grace of God.
*According to Brooks Jews wrote this in Synagogues