In 1 John 3:22 we read, “Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”

One way of reading this would be to ask, “Why do we receive what we ask of him?” We receive because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

That is like our prayer life. We think we're approaching God the right way. We think we're praying with the right attitude. We think we're praying with a right heart, but somehow the results don't seem to match up with what we're doing. And that can lead to frustration when prayers don't seem to work. 

What if we ask ourselves, “Am I keeping his commandments?”

In John 8:31-32, Jesus said to those who believed on him, “If ye continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

He's talking to believers. He saying that if we continue in his word, if we continue to obey him, taking seriously everything he has to say, then we are his disciples. It’s not enough to just believe one time, it’s after we continue in his word and become disciples. It is then that we will know the truth and the truth shall make us free. 

Being set free comes after we believe, after we continue to know him, after we become disciples and after we know the truth. That is a disciple, someone who gets into the truth and actually does what God tells him to do. 

That brings us back to prayer. If you're asking God to move on your behalf and you feel like heaven is silent today, don't shake your fist at heaven. Start looking inward. 

Do I keep the commandments of the Lord? It's a brutal question to ask yourself, but the verse says that because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing to him, then whatever we ask, we will receive. Sometimes it’s not a question of whether we have asked, but whether we have kept his commandments.