Prayer is not a Zero-sum game. But.

 One gift in the act of prayer is that it is unlimited. And it should be in how we practice it. 

It also is not an act that has to be done at a particular time of day or for a particular length of time. 

It is, I firmly believe, not something we should be made to feel guilty about for not doing it "right." Or not doing it like John Wesley purportedly did it (getting up at 4 in the morning for three hours of prayer, etc.)

People in the Bible prayed all kinds of ways, and such has been the case in the 2000 years of the church. 

Additionally, it shouldn't be something that makes us feel pleased and impressed with ourselves, only with the fact that God listens and grants us the grace to talk to Him. 

The motivation of our prayers is always more important than the formality of them. Prayers are not to be rhetorical either--public prayer that preaches a sermon or even worse, makes announcements about church events (ha, ha, it happens!)

In its limitlessness, there really is nothing we should not pray about or for. 

BUT. 

There are some things I will pray about but not necessarily in the way the askers might want me to.

I am not going to pray that God will deliver anyone, including myself, from the consequences of intentional stupidity or sin. 

I will pray that the consequences make a difference in their lives--that they learn and apply wisdom from it--and that the innocent are delivered. 

If people do irresponsible, foolish, and immoral things, and hurt others and find themselves in a fix, they should stay in the fix. That includes jail, sometimes. 

I just read the umpteenth FB post of a woman who married a man she knew would mistreat her. We told her so. She married him anyway, despite everyone's pleading and advice, including mine. And now the soap opera continues. It is very hard to pray for such people. 

Yet we do. Just not their way. 

Yes, I said it.