Scandels of praying for what you don't want!

Which I guess is what makes prayer so hard! We are so used to "God fix this" and Lord can I have that?" we never get to actually ask "Lord, where shall I go and what shall I do for you?" As MG suggests, the other awareness we have is that God might actually ask us to do some of those crazy things like Francis, Antony, Robert Morrison and others have done. Leave behind comfort and go into the world and bring the good news unto others. Perhaps that is why our pray lives stay only in the realm of fix and haves.
My Spiritual Director has me working with one of Jesus' hard sayings in Matthew 19 and it is so tempting to "spiritualize" it, to adjust the context so that"what Jesus is REALLY saying" is far less difficult and demanding. Jesus doesnt really want my stuff... "He wants my heart"... unfortunatley, Jesus does want my stuff. My 12 guitars, my three computers, my waredrobe of clothes and my three cars and my..ouch... this is hurting. "And he went away sad, for he had many possessions" was the response of the rich young ruler. When we choose to spiritualize, we face the danger of "going away sad', of clinging to the world and having our prayers get grounded in the corporeal where few answers are found, celebrations are short, and anguish over our surroundings buries the emptiness in our hearts. No, Jesus doesn't need my guitars, my rationalization is there are times in worship and praise they are helpful, and they are! But, songs need not accompaniment to have value; Sarah's most excellent voice has rung out in many a afternoon and sounded like the heavens opening with no accompaniment whatsoever. That clear and direct relationship is what God seeks with us; not one marked by the Jabez style "God loves me because I have lots of things"....
Many know my stand on petition prayer; when we are surrounded by a loving collective, we don't need to worry about praying for ourselves because someone else is already doing it for us! That fuels our attention to focus upon the needs of others, and our petitions are rising in the truest fashion of intercession; Lord, please help another this day.