HI Carolyn, to get this back on topic yet off topic a little... this reminds me of the craze from a couple of years ago to pray the Prayer of Jabez. People used that prayer to 'obtain' riches, power, etc.
"Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, 'Oh that Thou would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast [territory], and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou would keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!' And God granted him that which he requested." 1 Chron 4:10
"...make the Jabez prayer for blessing part of the daily fabric of your life. To do that, I encourage you to follow unwaveringly the plan outlined here for the next thirty days. By the end of that time, you'll be noticing significant changes in your life.... Read the Jabez prayer every morning.... Reread this little book once each week during the next month...." The Prayer of Jabez, page 86.
Therefore God forgave their sins, offered His strength in their weaknesses and -- through the Holy Spirit in them -- put prayers in their hearts that expressed His will. Because these men took time to know His Word and will, God "spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." (Exodus 33:11) No less amazing, He called David "a man after My own heart, who will do all My will." Acts 13:22
Psalm 66:18 tells us that "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear." And Proverbs 21:13 warns, "Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard."
James 4:3-4 explains another reason for unanswered prayer: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?"
"The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." James 5:16
"For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake," wrote Paul in Philippians 1:29
"If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you.... for they do not know the one who sent me." John 15:20-21
"Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him." 1 John 5:14-15
"And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done...." Matthew 6:7-9
"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings....
"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.... One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus...." Philippians 3:7-14
