Too often we make the mistake of thinking that God wants to answer prayers for our desires. This is true in one sense, but often misses the point. Too often we misunderstand the benefits of prayer. Unfortunately, we treat our prayer time as a way to “get stuff ” from God, where we simply ask for what we want and God simply provides.
The real benefits of prayer are realized when God’s prayers become our prayers. In other words, the primary benefit of prayer is to see our hearts align with the heart of God. Prayer is not designed to change God so he wants what we want, but to change us so that we want what he wants. The more we pray, the more we communicate with God, the more we should know the will of God. When we know God and seek to be close to God, our prayers will begin to sound more and more like the God whom we are praying to. Then we will see the truth of this passage – “Ask anything in my name and it will be given to you.”