For this reason I tell you: whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it, and it will be given to you.
This saying is a great rule of confidence in prayer. Christ teaches that prayer must be filled with faith, not an empty formality. The words “Believe that you will receive” mean trusting in God’s goodness and in the faithful nature of His promise. Yet this confidence always assumes that the one praying asks according to God’s will, not for sinful desires or self-love. True prayer is not an attempt to seize God’s hand, but the plea of a heart resting in His will. When faith and prayer are united with God’s will, a person receives what is for the good of his soul and for the glory of God.