Thinking about “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer,” here’s another take. Maybe “it” works better if I’m asking for what God wants me to ask for, asking for what I need to carry out His mission.

If I’m an Air Force fighter pilot, I might get the keys to an F-15 and the fuel I need to fly it. But it’s not so I can go to Tahiti on vacation! It’s so I can fight the war.

Joshua asked for something extraordinary, not to show off but so he could finish the job:

On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies… The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a human being. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel! (Joshua 10.12 – 14, NIV)

So this verse that many of us have memorized…

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. (John 16.24, NIV)

…doesn’t mean just tacking “In Jesus’ name” on the end of our prayers. It means asking for what Jesus would ask for. If I’m the Men’s Department manager in, say, Macy’s, I might buy clothes, lots of clothes “in Macy’s name”! But they’re not for me. I have to buy the kinds of clothes that Macy’s wants to sell.

And if I’m asking for what Jesus would ask for, maybe “whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” would work!

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4.16, ESV)