3 Pieces of Advice for the One who Pray

KNOW THAT ALLAH PAYS ATTENTION TO YOUR PRAYER

“Allah (SWT) faces the servant during prayer as long as he does not turn away.” “… If he turns away, Allah (SWT) turns away from him.” (Abu Dawud)

‘Turn away’ means:
1) Turning away in heart, which means getting distracted and thinking of other things, and
2) Turning away with sight, looking up or left and right.

KNOW THAT ALLAH RESPONDS TO YOUR PRAYER
“And your Lord says, ‘Call upon Me; I will respond to you” (Qur’an, 40:60)
Quoted in Muslim: Allah (SWT) has said: “I have divided the prayer between Myself and My servant, into two halves, and My servant shall have what he has asked for. When the servant says, “[All] praise is [due] to Allah , Lord of the worlds,” Allah says, “My servant has praised Me.” (more..)

DON’T LIE IN YOUR PRAYER
We start our prayer by saying Allahu Akbar which means Allah is greater than. We say it multiple times in the prayer.
Question: Allah is greater than what?
Answer: Allah is greater than anything else
Within the prayer nothing is more important than Allah - no Dunya, no job, no money, no other thought, nothing.
If we say Allhu Akbar and then start thinking about something else then we are essentially lying in the prayer. We uttered Allahu Akbar but we did not mean it.
Allah (SWT) will then ask an angel to draw a curtain between Him & the person who came to meet with him but is now busy thinking about something else but Him.