First, it tells us how  Christians can receive from God whatever we desire.  Read that again: “. . . ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”  No, you did not misunderstand the verse: it says “whatever you wish.”  

Second, this verse also tells us how to make that promise come true.  Jesus tells us that we must “remain” in Him.  The meaning is easily understood if you think of the analogy of the vine and the branches that Jesus  had explained earlier on in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches.  If you remain in me  . . .you will bear much fruit.”  The meaning is that you need to depend on Jesus to survive.  If you really believe that, you will do one things: obey what He says.  This is the meaning of “and My words remain in you.”  Thus the secret to receiving anything you want from God is to obey what Jesus tells you in the Bible.  Let me re-phrase what I said: If you want God to give you what you ask for in your prayers to Him, the most important thing to do is not the words you say in your prayer, the correctness of your grammar, or your posture in praying.  Rather, the key is whether or not God’s Word lives in your heart such that your entire way of life is lived according to God’s Word, the Bible.  There are several things you must do. 

First, read through the whole Bible.  This ensures that you do not miss out anything.  Read four chapters or two chapters a day and you will finish reading the whole Bible in one year or two years.  You will not be able to understand or remember everything.  But you would have read everything that you should know. 

Second, memorise Bible verses.  Everyone, including children and the elderlies should do so.  Parents, please help your child memorise the verses.  By today, be able to memorise three passages: Matt 6:33, Luke 9:23, and 1 John 2:15-16.  You should memorise a verse word perfect.  This is important.  If you miss or add in a word, you may have changed the meaning of the verse.  If you do not strive for word perfect, you will soon develop a tendency to miss out more and more words.  Anything less than word perfect will also cause you to loose confidence in what you have memorised.  You may think in your heart: “Did God’s Word say this or that?” 

Third, besides reading four chapters of the Bible a day, you should also spend 20 minutes just to study a bit more in detail a passage.  Think about how you should live according to what you have read: Is there something that I need to change?  Is there something I need to do for someone or for God?  Then pray to God, asking Him to help put into practice what you have just learned.  This is called Quiet Time, a time when you draw close to God to allow Him to speak to you through His Word, the Bible.