Many people never seem to get prayers answered. Prayer is very simple. It is faith that God is going to perform His word, coupled with lining your will with God's.
I used to ask for things that would make me more powerful; make me more highly esteemed. Jesus asked for those things that would build God's Kingdom, not mans. That is the difference between a righteous man and a carnal man.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. James 4:3 NASB
Let's look at it through a message that Jesus gave.
"I (Jesus) am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch (us Christians) in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8"My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. John 15:1-8 NASB
Does the branch get to make a choice what fruit it will bear? It is only when the branch lines itself up with the will of the vine that it produces fruit. This is the act of abiding in verse 4-7. When your will becomes God's will, you can ask for “whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” At that point you are not asking for your own glory, but for His.
Notice that verse 2 tells us that our branches take must be pruned. That means that those things that are not for the production of fruit are removed (your dead wood). What is it that is not producing fruit in your life? It is either His will or your will.
Part three will be about the faith component.
