Prayer is the primary way that we connect and communicate with God, and is expected to be a strong habit of a faithful Christian. Our beliefs and outlook towards prayer can greatly affect not only how we go about it, but the heart condition we have when we come to God in petition and intercession.
Prayer is most popularly viewed as a time we can make our requests known to God. We may sometimes think that if God hears our prayers and answers them, then we will become happy. That's not how prayer works. Sure, prayer can and will change our outlook and even our mood, but not necessarily in the way we think.
We come to God in prayer first and foremost to hear Him, not for God to hear us. 1 John 5:14 (emphasis added by me) tells us, "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us." To ask anything according to God's will initially entails that we ask Him for His will first. We cannot know what God's will is without an intent to listen.
And while God's will is always good, pleasing and perfect no doubt, but it doesn't always appear that way at the onset. Often God works in a way that may inconvenience, prune and even cause suffering in the beginning but only for reasons that will prove necessary in the end. In the process of coming to God to know His will, we then see a change of heart and then a change of emotion and stature.
A believer who truly seeks the will of God will do so with an attitude of humility and grace. As we come to God acknowledging that He's in charge and that it's us who have to adjust to Him and not Him to us, it changes not just our perspective but even our directive. In doing that, we can find true happiness.
Happiness doesn't come because God gave you a new iPhone, a great parking space or a job promotion. Those things are great and we should praise and worship God for them. But the primary source of our joy and peace is the very presence of God Himself. Galatians 5:22-23 says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
It's the very experience of God that radically transforms our mood and ultimately our countenance, not the blessing of God. The provision is only an outcome of a heart truly connected to God's because provision always comes after purpose is revealed. Knowing our purpose in God and experiencing His presence will change our hearts and then change our mood.
