Prayer is the key that unlocks the stores of abundance and blessing. The secret of effectual prayer is belief. When we pray, we get not necessarily what we ask for but what we expect.
If we pray for some good thing, expecting its realization to be deferred, it will be.
If we pray for a thousand dollars, expecting only a hundred, we shall get only a hundred.
If we pray expecting a more satisfying answer than we can foresee, that too will be realized.
If we pray expecting immediate response, we shall get immediate fulfillment or some sign or token to indicate that our prayer is in the process of being fulfilled.
-Ernest C. Wilson, The Great Physician (1945)