God knows all things. It is his guidance you require to find the path to what you seek:
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. (Proverbs 3)
If you truly believe that God knows more than you, it would be no struggle to anticipate him instructing you to do what you would never have otherwise considered when you ask him how to obtain what you do not already have.
It is far too common to constrain the search for the path for what you seek to such an extent that you cut yourself off from it. Unwilling to consider the required path, you remain without what you seek.
Jesus said, “all things are possible to him that believeth,” (Mark 9:23), but he didn’t limit what would be required. In fact, he plainly taught that to receive all things from God, you must be willing to actually receive all things from God. Nothing can be off limits. The price of everything is everything, and the greater the blessing you seek at his hand, the greater the price will be.
All outcomes have a path to obtain them, but often only the path or the outcome is desirable, not both. Outcomes you desire will almost always require paths you do not desire, and paths you desire will almost always fail to lead you to outcomes you desire. It’s best to desire outcomes, not paths, because this is the only way you can be sure you will do whatever it takes to obtain what you seek.
Before you ask the Lord for something in prayer, you ought to prepare yourself to accept any path the Lord presents to you to obtain it. The answer to your prayer may come in the form of information that makes you uncomfortable or causes you pain. It may come in the form of invitations that you find repulsive, embarrassing, or difficult. It may even come as a fundamental challenge to your ideas of right and wrong, or your concept of who you are.
Often, he will send you exactly what brings the thing you ask for, but you won’t recognize it. It is astonishing to witness how directly God can answer prayer without the recipient noticing that their exact request has been fulfilled and placed right before them. At other times, he mercifully withholds what he knows you will reject out of hand because it doesn’t fit your preconceived notions, and because he knows that your knowing and not doing would cause you harm.
It is easy to ask and answer the question: “what do you want?” It is critical to understand that this is the same question as asking, “what are you willing to do to get it?” An outcome is inseparable from what it takes to obtain it. You can’t have one without the other.When you are considering a particular outcome, consider what you are willing and not willing to do to obtain it. If there are things you are not willing to do to obtain an outcome, realize that any one of those things may permanently prevent you from obtaining what you say you seek. Likewise, if something required is not on your list of what you are willing to do, realize that omission will guarantee you never obtain what you say you seek. If you are not willing to do what is required to obtain an outcome, you can’t honestly say you desire that outcome—at least, not as much as you desire whatever you aren’t willing to displace.
The Lord used the mission of Ammon to bring thousands of people to abandon their murder and other wicked practices, but Ammon had to be completely committed. Many others had attempted to convert the Lamanites, but Ammon was the only one who was successful. The others failed because Ammon was willing to a pay a price they were not. Not only did he abandon the throne he was set to inherit from his father, he said it was his “desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die.” (Alma 17:23) He did not expect honor and glory from them, but volunteered to be a lowly servant (see Alma 17:25).