Praying for God's Will

"Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven," reads the Lord's prayer.

I've discovered the key to always getting what you pray for. In any and every situation, if you pray for what God is already going to do, you will never be dissapointed. Is it possible to reach a point where I could allign my will so closely with God's that whenever I prayed, I received that for which I asked? I don't know, but I think its a worthy aspiration.

Repeatedly in the NT, the Bible teaches that Christians will receive what they ask for if they pray in Jesus' name and in groups. As a pastor, I find myself advocating for greater trust in the power of prayer. I want people to know that praying is not a waste of time, that it does make a difference. I point to these passages. But at the same time, I wonder why Jesus would say "you can ask for anything in my name" if he didn't mean it literally. I don't know of a single Christian who has always received what they've asked for in prayer. There's a man I know who's dying of sirocis of the liver. We prayed for a healing. He is still dying. In fact, he's worse now despite the interferon medication. Obviously, Jesus could not have meant that we'd receive whatever we asked for in every situation. Imagine the disasters we'd bring upon ourselves if God always gave us whatever we asked for.

So, despite the unconditional sound of the promise, it can't be unconditional. What's the condition? I think the condition is God's will. We will receive whatever we ask for in prayer if we pray for God's will to be done. The trick is knowing God's will.