Luke 11:9–10 (ESV)
9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
In response to these verses I can only echo the prayer “I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:24 (ESV)
Because of my struggle to fully appropriate these promises, my prayers are often whiny and insipid when they should be bold and passionate.
I suppose the answer to this has something to do with deepening my relationship with God so that I am increasingly aware of God’s desires for me and my world. With this knowledge, I can pray more boldly.
My biggest struggle is praying for things which I am not sure God wants. For example, the computer on which I am writing this has a screen that often turns everything blue and is old technology, but it still works. Can I pray passionately for God to provide a new one when there are so many other, more basic needs in the world? Am I just being selfish with such a prayer?
I suppose I can pray passionately about the computer with the realization that if it is not something that God wants, he will not provide it.
Perhaps the answer is to let loose the passion in prayer with the expectation that God will direct that passion for his purposes. I can see where it might be better to be passionate about the wrong things in prayer than lukewarm about the right things.