I'm talking about what prayer is really about. Its primary purpose is not to ask for things, but to have a love relationship.

If God were to answer our prayers at a greater rate than average, we would easily become power crazed and corrupted.

If God were to answer our prayers at a lesser rate than average, we would consider him to be cruel.

If God were to answer our prayers at average, where we couldn't tell if the prayer ever got answered or not, we would think God didn't care and prayer was worthless.

Instead, prayer is not primarily about getting stuff, but rather about the relationship. From the Bible I have learned at least three things about prayer:

1. Almost all of what God promises to do in the New Testament is internal, not circumstantial. The Bible teaches us to pray mostly about inner qualities: strength, patience, clarity of thought, enlightened heart, the power of the Spirit, and the like.
2. Almost all of what God does for me circumstantially is through normal means. : the actions of words of a person, something I read in a book, a thought in my head. I have to learn to recognize the imprint of God, because it's often quite normal human things going on.
3. God's answers are often not what I ask for but still what what most needed. I have to learn to see that and accept it.

Prayer is mostly seeking the pleasure of God's company, not asking for things. He's my God, not Santa Claus. My circumstantial life may not be significantly different from anyone else's, but my inner life is a new creation. I have to learn to to see the hand of God around me. It's a learning process.