What Happens When We Pray?

What happens when we pray? In spite of frequent promises throughout the New Testament that whatever we ask we will receive, what seems to happen when we pray, much of the time, is nothing. How then can we resolve these promises with our experience? One option is to emphasize the qualifiers. We will receive whatever we ask, but only if we have prayed in Jesus' name, according to God's will, with faith and not doubt, and so on. Another option is to emphasize the context in which the promises are given. Perhaps the promises only apply when we are praying in the context of doing ministry, or only when we are seeking spiritual healing. Yet another option is to relocate the answer to prayer-to look for our prayers to be answered, not in physical and external ways, but rather spiritually and internally. Perhaps the best option of all is to recognize the relationship that is implied by prayer. God deals with us as a father with his children; he grants some requests simply because we ask, and denies other requests, but always for our ultimate good.