God has the ability to hear all prayers but obviously does not grant all requests made in prayer. What if two people entered into a contest and both prayed for victory—they both can’t be given what they want. So God must decide when to act and when not to act.

Let’s ask the question a slightly different way

Is there anything I can do, or must do to get God to grant my requests? For Him to rescue or assist me in times of distress, or get Him to use His awesome power to help me accomplish my goals?

We are instructed to pray constantly, to keep hanging in there, and to expect an answer.

There is no set formula for prayer that would obligate God to grant a request. If that were true then God would be more like a magic genie in a lamp. We cannot control or manipulate God through any words, actions or rituals. He chooses to answer, or not, as He pleases. We are specifically told not to pray like this (Matthew 6:7-8).

How do our actions and attitudes influence God’s decision to grant a request made through prayer?

On the negative side, indifference or disobedience to His commands, violence, dishonesty, pride, and injustice create a separation between us and our Creator. God does not give attention to the prayers of people who act and think like that. He may act in mercy towards them to get their attention and lead them towards meaningful change, but He acts as He pleases (Isaiah 59:1-2).

On the positive side, taking His commands seriously and trying to live by them, seeking peace, and having honesty, humility, personal integrity, generosity and fairness—these please our Creator and draw us closer to Him. God will give careful attention to the prayers and requests of such people. He will consider our requests and choose to act, or not act, according to what is good for us (1 Peter 3:12).

Our Father knows what is best for us

The good that God desires for us is to learn to think and act like Jesus Christ and receive the gift of everlasting life. The path to that good involves suffering and perseverance, just as it did for Jesus Christ.

Consider how Jesus prayed the night before His execution. He prayed that God the Father not require Him to endure the painful suffering and death that lay only hours ahead of Him. The request was not granted. Jesus’ long session of prayer that last night ended with His submission to the will of the Father (Matthew 26:39-44). Jesus’ suffering was the only path to the greater goal: God’s desire that many children receive eternal life.

In the same manner, our sessions of prayer and our requests are often the way in which we get our thoughts, attitudes and goals in sync with the thoughts, attitudes and priorities of our Creator.

How to pray

We might pray for release from pain, sickness or suffering, or we might pray for specific blessings, and our Father is happy to give us these good things. But if granting a certain request actually held us back from achieving our full potential as an eternal child of God, would it be good for us? We must have confidence that God knows the difference between the two and can make a better decision than we alone can.

We must not give up prayer thinking we are powerless to influence events. We are instructed to pray constantly, to keep hanging in there, and to expect an answer (1 John 5:14).

We should pray completely convinced and confident that God hears our prayer and is fully capable of answering our every request (Hebrews 11:6). We should also pray with a humble attitude, understanding that what we think is best for us may not be the way to achieve the greater goal our Creator has in mind for us: growing in spiritual completeness after the pattern of Jesus Christ, and to receive the gift of everlasting life.