It is a good thing to pray at all times, a very good thing that is need just needed from us, but it is also a commandments. Prayer is the key to move mountains,
But not a lonely prayer can get you closer to God. You need prayer and following up with work or actions. That's will be seen as a complete exercise of faith.
What am I saying? We need more than prayer to get closer to God. We need engagement, with need to follow up. We need to follow the word He gives to us up.
God is mighty, and there is none like Him. From human perspective, we might not be able to follow every of His words because we are humans, but I believe that His Grace always overshadow they that loved Him because the scripture says, that He that searched the heart, knoweth the mind of the spirit.