These are some quotes from Chuck Smith’s book Living Water on the subject of prayer. This is from a section on the Spirit helping us pray from Romans 8:26-27

The weakness that Paul is talking about here is our weakness in knowing the will of God. We don’t always know how we should pray. As we size up a situation, we may judge it one way and start praying that way, but it may be just the opposite of what God wants to do.

I have discovered through the years that many of my prayers were completely out of the will of God. There were things I was almost insisting that God do, but in His love and goodness to me, He didn’t do them. Today I am as thankful for the prayers that God did not answer as I am for the prayers that God did answer.