A sincere prayer will certainly be answered. If your prayer is not answered, don’t blame God for that. It simply means that you have not prayed enough. It’s not just a question of the length of time. You may be praying for ten years and get nothing. Somebody else might pray for one minute and get everything. So the quality of the prayer is the important thing, how honestly, how sincerely you pray.
Suppose that even a whole-hearted prayer doesn’t get answered. Then the question is, did you pray with total faith? If you offer a prayer with absolute faith in God, and if the prayer is not answered, will you lose that faith? It is true that all of your sincere prayers will be answered, but that does not mean you will necessarily be given what you want. The answer might be: “It’s no good for you, my child. However much you cry, I can’t give that to you because it will hurt you. Without knowing how to use it, you may hurt others also. It’s dangerous.” If you understand that and accept it, you prove that you trust in God.
Don’t just trust in God when you get everything. If, out of one hundred requests, ninety-nine are denied, you should still have that faith. That will eventually lead you to a higher form of prayer where you don’t request anything. You simply say, “Why should I ask You? The fact that I am asking You means that I think You don’t know what I need. How ignorant I am. You know what is good for me; You know what is not good for me. Do whatever You want. Why am I even asking for something? Maybe You made me ask. Even the asking seems to be Your prompting. Because You wanted me to ask, I am asking. Still, I leave it to You to give it or not. Maybe You asked me to ask You; then You are going to say ‘no’ to see whether I will accept it or not. Okay, I am ready for that also.” Just remember that God always gives whatever is necessary for you. If you have faith, it’s no problem at all.
The great Saint Ramalingam prayed to the Lord: “You are feeding me; I am fed. You are making me sleep; I am sleeping. You are showing me; I am seeing. You are making me happy; I am happy. And not only me — the entire universe is like that. You are the One behind every movement, every experience.” If you want to have a prayer, pray to God to help you to always remember this Truth: that you are His child and He is taking care of you every minute.