We live in a society where we expect to get our needs met. When we're ill we expect the doctors to be able to get us well again. Defined by being consumers. Mustn't see our relationship with God like that. Prayer is not like going to a supermarket or going to the doctors.
Prayer is a relationship.
Keynote of prayer is not getting what we want but communing with God. Prayer is about seeking God's face, glimpsing the reality of his presence, discovering his heart and then urging it to come about. That's real prayer-power, most of us are happy if through our prayers we can take the dog for a walk without getting soaked. Link between the power of our prayers and the rightness of our lives before God. As we pray we bring not just our words but our whole selves, and that includes the goodness of our lives.