Insistent supplication and standing at the gate of Allah The Almighty unwaveringly result in receiving a response to one's supplication and the removal of adversity. A believer can attain all that he wants from his Lord in all his affairs in the world and the Hereafter, what is apparent and what is hidden, if he remains steadfast in worship and does not turn listless or tire. This is the significance of the Hadeeth (narration): "It is to say, 'I have supplicated again and again, and seen no response to that' with the result that he would tire of that, and give up supplication."[Muslim]
Indeed, this is the state of many of us; whenever anyone of us supplicates once and his supplication receives no answer, he becomes heedless and forgetful, and has the impression that the supplication of someone like him is not fit for receiving answer, thereupon he tires and gives up supplication. That is why the supplication does not ascend and reach Allah The Almighty. Its similitude is like a man who sows seeds and looks after them by watering and tilling the soil, and being too impatient to wait for a long time to see it grow, he neglected and left it.
Imaam Ibn Al-Qayyim combines the causes of response to supplication in the following statement from his Al-Jawaab Al-Kaafi. Let us present it, and give a quick reference to its meanings, so that the purpose would be clear. That is, how a supplication receives an answer:
He says,
"If, along with supplication, one’s heart is fully present and totally devoted to Allah The Almighty and that coincides with one of the six times at which supplication is likely to be answered: the last third of the night, the time of the Athaan, the interval between the Athaan and the Iqaamah, following the prescribed obligatory prayers, on Friday until the Imaam dismounts from the pulpit, and the last hour of the day of Friday, i.e. from the time after ‘Asr till sunset; and one is submissive and expressing humility the Lord, imploring Him; and faces the Qiblah (direction of prayer) while being in the state of Tahaarah (ritual purity); then raises his hands towards Allah The Almighty; begins his supplication with praising Allah and lauding Him, invoking the blessing and peace of Allah The Almighty upon the Messenger of Allah ; then puts forth, ahead of his need, repentance and seeking the forgiveness of the Lord; then approaches his Lord, begs Him insistently, exalts Him, supplicates Him with hope and fear, makes Tawassul (intercession) to Him by means of His beautiful Names and supreme attributes and affirming His Oneness and sends forward charity before his supplication it is most likely that such supplication will not be rejected, especially if it includes the greatest Name of Allah that, if He Is invoked by it, He will respond to the supplication, and if He is asked by it, He will give."
Look at these words of Imaam Ibn Al-Qayyim and do your best to follow this approach in the days of Ramadan. Supplicate Allah The Almighty with this method, and do not tire of it or leave it, but come to it during the times when the supplication receives an answer and when almost no supplication is ever rejected.
One should keep the heart attentive to supplication, because Allah The Almighty never accepts supplication from a heedless or inattentive heart. If supplication comes from a determined heart, which is totally devoted to Allah The Almighty, seeing that none but Allah The Almighty can accept his supplication and respond to it, it is most likely that it will receive an answer to its supplication. This is because such a person knows that he has a Lord who accepts and forgives, thereupon he approaches Him, discards all other rivals and means, and implores Him with that need and concentrates upon Allah The Almighty. It is most likely that his supplication will receive an answer, seeing that none other than Allah The Almighty can fulfill supplications. Such a person becomes attached to Him, draws closer to Him, and discards his own strength and power as well as the people's power and authority, and faces his Lord wholeheartedly: it is most likely that his supplication would receive an answer.