Sometimes I think it's appropriate to stop praying for something once you are confident that yes, God already knows and you've simply poured out your whole heart on the matter.
Let me put it this way: You don't send your little girl out for a special day with her daddy, then call Daddy 20 times to say "please have her home by dinner time" or "please keep an eye on her," unless you don't trust that daddy to do what he says he'll do.
I think that sometimes prayer is more for our benefit--yes, we are to present our requests to God--then the peace of God is supposed to guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7). Many times we pray because that peace ISN'T there--or there are times when a fervency rises and we feel called/compelled to pray. Sometimes through that fervent prayer our waning faith is reactivated.
But what if we have peace about it? Having pressed in on the issue--for example, healing--maybe we've even fasted; but now we are simply in that place of standing in faith and trusting God.
I believe that it's God's will to heal, to continue with that example. But He sees the bigger picture. So might He forego a healing to accomplish an even greater purpose? I believe the answer is yes. If we truly trust Him, hadn't we better trust His timing and purpose in carrying OUT His will?
Should we go after wholeness? Absolutely. But also remember that Mephibosheth was crippled all his life but dined at the king's table as one of His own family--He was well cared for and loved. Paul, a man of great faith, lived his whole Christian life in complete service to God with a "thorn" in his flesh. Jacob walked with a limp after wrestling with God. Did these men not trust God? I believe they did. Speaking for Paul and Jacob, at least, great things were accomplished through them in spite of their physical hindrances.
I've heard it said that we should "not be satisfied until we receive everything Christ paid for." But isn't His GRACE supposed to be sufficient for us? Yes, we can press in for something and implore God for it--but there is a balance wherein NO MATTER WHAT, we choose to praise Him and trust Him and live in contentment.
I think it's very easy to have hope in an outcome instead of hope in God. That which God requires of us is "To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." I think we need to be careful that, in our fervor to see everything "on earth as it is in heaven," we do not place demands on God. He is God, and we are not. He loves us far more than we could ever love ourselves--and in the fullest dimensions possible. He hears our prayers, and He can be fully trusted.
