In as much as prayer is essential in Christian life, it is not sufficient enough to get closer to God. Prayer is the means through which we communicate with our maker and made known our intentions to him, but it's not always enough to get closer to God.
Matthew 7:7 says:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
This bible verse teaches us to ask God our need in prayer, then employ action. For example: We can't just pray and ask God to bless us, provide money for us and other things we need to live a comfortable life, yet we sit stagnant waiting for God to bless us, instead we employ action by seeking for job then through that God will answer our prayers.
As christians, we should not be dependent on other people hard work to survive, we have to work because God did not create us to be lazy people who only depends on begging. There's joy that comes from enjoying money from your hard labor than money giving to you by other people. So we should always pray and employ action, by doing so we will be closer to God and also attracts his blessings upon our lives.
God bless you all