Formulae of prayer

So one day I was sitting in youth group, it was still early and there were a few of us waiting for others to come in so we can start the service.

This guy comes in, and he's like " God please send me a girl to love so I cannot be lonely anymore, please make me wealthy and please give me a permanent job"
Yes those where his exact words, I won't forget.

I told him that it is wrong to start a prayer like that, I told him that the correct way to start a prayer is by praising God, then confess your sins to Him, then thank Him for what He has done for you and then you can make a request, because praying like that makes you look like a selfish person.

He said that he didn't know that prayer has a formulae.
I laughed.

But I told him that God commands us to pray for others, to confess our sins to Him so that we can be forgiven, and I told him that, why can't we just thank God for what He has done for us, why do we continuously have to ask without giving thanks?

"Those people can pray for themselves, I'm not praying for anyone", yet he classifies himself as a man of God, wow.

I told him that, maybe he should think about those who are in hospitals, about the orphans who sleep on empty stomachs, those people who are in accidents, people who are lost, who are kidnapped, or being treated as slaves,I told him that his prayer might be able to save a life, and give hope or about change to one person.
He still wouldn't listen.

A week after that I bought a book by Loron Wade, I love this author, and I came across to this chapter, "A formulae of Prayer"
He says it goes like this:

A= adoration, praise God for who He really is
C= Confession, confess all your sins to Him
T= Thanksgiving, Thank God for what He has done.
S=Supplication, make requests for ourselves and others.

I'm not saying this is the correct way to pray, but that's how it should be done, I always pray for other people, whether I know them or not, I do know that my prayers reach God, and I do know that they bring about change in someone's life.

Prayer, the best weapon,

The key To God's heart.