Are you praying the Wrong Prayer

Even a strong, bible believing, tongue-speaking intercessor can miss it in prayer. How is that possible? After all prayer is conversation with God, but intercession is different.

Intercession is pleading or an appeal on behalf of someone else. I would compare it to an attorney acting on your behalf in the court room. If you are represented in the wrong way, then you will not get verdict or answer you are expecting. Prayer is the same, you must pray for the results you desire.
I recently walked through this situation. I signed up to lead a Life Group at my church. I was excited to see there was a lot of interest in my group, there was no shortage of people signing up; however, class after class I was disappointed to not have anyone show up. Occasionally, I would get one, but most of the time I would have no shows. I thought my class participants were too tired after work, uncommitted, or lived in a different part of town and did not want to battle the traffic. So my prayers were geared toward attendance and God sending committed individuals.
Whereas that is a great prayer, I still had no shows and later found out that this was not the need of my class.

Frustrated, I decided to try for one more semester, if I still had no attendees, I would take a break. Well, the new year started off differently, I had two people followed by one and then none. Although not what I had in mind, it was better than the six months of no attendees.
Finally, one Wednesday, I knew two people were coming. I welcomed them into my home, and we talked for a few minutes before I began teaching the lesson. The doorbell rang as I was five minutes into my lesson. I was surprised because only two people had RSVP and I was not expecting anymore and then the doorbell rang again.
The class went well, but it was the conversation after class that caught my attention. In my prayer time, I never asked God why my classed was empty or what prayer I needed to pray; I went from my assumptions and feelings. If I had asked God for the prayer strategy, I more than likely would never have to deal with six months of no shows. I would have known to intercede for the warfare they were dealing with that was keeping them away from the class. This was truly a Proverb 3:5 lesson: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to YOUR own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path.