"And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it," (cf. John 14:13-14).
"If you believe you will receive whatever you ask in prayer," (cf. Matt. 21:22).
"And this is the confidence that we have, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us," (cf. 1 John 5:14).
Note: God doesn't give us carte blanche or a blank check that we get literally anything according to our whims and wish list, but it must be in His name or according to His will that He may be glorified. You could rightly say that we are praying for what God is already predisposed to do: His will. Thus prayer changes us, it doesn't change God! But there's nothing wrong with trying to get results and answered prayer! We ought to aim for efficacious prayer and a continued and fulfilling prayer life.
Christians ought not to just seek the practical or pragmatic, but prayer works and for obvious reasons, there's a God who hears them. Some would say you can never know the truth of something only its consequences and the test of an idea is whether it works, not its truth. But this is anti-Christian. Prayer is not true because it works; it works because it's true--viva la difference. Our goal should not be just to get results or our will done on earth but God's will done from heaven. The most perfect prayer we can pray is one of relinquishment: Thy will be done. The sake of prayer is prayer (per se), not to get what we want from God, but to seek fellowship and dialogue with God. Sometimes it may seem our prayers are not getting through and are falling on deaf ears. Prayer is a matter of fellowship and sometimes restoration is in order.
"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the LORD will not hear me," (cf. Psalm 66:18). Sin always separates us from the holy God. We must first confess our known and convicted sins before we even attempt to boldly come before the throne of grace. Many things can hinder our prayers and we may need to be honest with God about it first. We must be willing to wait for our renewal and reconciliation as we seek God's face in prayer and confession.
We should never give up on our prayers and always persists for God is listening: He may be answering unawares, like in other ways. He may have something better for us. Our prayers may lack resolve, purpose, faith, sincerity, or even humility We must always prepare our hearts first before we pray! In God's economy, the way up is down, emptying comes before filing and confession before restoration. We must not assume we are in a state of fellowship but humbly acknowledge our weakness and lack of worthiness before the throne.
In the Bible, we are exhorted to boldly come before His throne and yet approach Him and enter His gates with thanksgiving and praise. That gives us the right mindset as we have the right priorities. When we realize that prayer is the serious business of heaven and we are entering into His labors and the work of God, we become all the more fucuses and determined in our prayers with purpose.
Also, we must realize that in prayer it is God's Spirit working His will in us and we can do nothing apart from His grace and power working in us. "I will not venture to speak of nothing but of what Christ has accomplished through me," (cf. Romans 15:18). When we do get success, just like material success, we must give God all the glory and credit and not our prayer or persistence. We have entered into His labors as a privilege of being used by God as a vessel of honor. Soli Deo Gloria!
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