It is the inner man is listening and talking to God. In public prayer, the primary audience is still God, but others are permitted to listen in. The Lord's Prayer was designed as a private prayer. And do not let us be led into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place.
Values come from the heart.
The inner man dictates the actions of the outer man. The Sermon on the mount deals mainly with the thoughts of the inner man as they are often in conflict with the actions of the outer man. At times, the outer man, rather than the inner man is in control. Jesus asks us to repent of our actions that are not motivated by an inner man in harmony with God. The center of Christianity is not public religious practice like public prayer and fasting, but the love-thoughts of the inner man toward God.