Common desires are mortal wishes, wants, and cravings. As man evolves, his prayer evolves, and the desire expressed in prayer evolves. The primitive may pray for power to defeat his enemy, the mother may pray for protection of her child on his first day of school, the aspirant may pray for peace and love for the world.
May your prayers for the satisfaction of your desires be transcended. May your only desire be to serve God's Will. But may you also culminate that desire by steady obedience to God's Will. (It is not enough to want to serve God; one must serve God.)
From whatever belief system one comes from, every aspirant eventually seeks to joyfully commune with God, and live in God. In your seeking, your prayers move to deeper spiritual levels, and one day you pray "May God's Will be done" but with the unspoken condition "my way" through "my methods" and "to my expectations". Although vastly superior to outright hedonism, even this will transcend to the continual prayer "Thy Will be done", without any conditions imposed by you. This can happen only by your deliberate choice from the full expression of your trust and your unconditional love of God. The inevitable result, the divine consequence, is to live in obedience to God's Will. This is the Surrender much discussed by true aspirants.
An example of the later evolution of prayer is:
I could ask "May i have the wisdom of Solomon", but this would be the expression of a desire from me, and not necessarily from God, thus i ask "May i be as God Wills in all planes, in all space, and in all time". Thus I have not presumed to know God's Will. Why would i ask that "i" be as God Wills? The answer is that the "i" is the only field that i control - i cannot impose my will on another, and i certainly should not invoke God's Will on someone else, as that is their choice, not mine.
I could ask "May i be tidy, productive, efficient and loving with a top quality home, all neat and clean", but again this would be the expression of a desire from me, and not necessarily God, thus again i ask "May i be as God Wills in all planes, in all space, and in all time."
I could ask "May my friends be healthy and content", but this would also be the expression of desire from me, and not necessarily God's Will, thus again i ask "May i be as God Wills in all planes, in all space, and in all time."
I could ask "May i be conscious of God's Will to assist the manifestation of God's Will through me", but God may not want me to be this conscious, thus again i ask "May i be as God Wills in all planes, in all space, and in all time."
Thus, whatever way you, or i, look at it, nothing appears to surpass the prayer "May i be as God Wills in all planes, in all space, and in all time", or more simply put, "Thy Will be done."
(Over the last six months, I have experienced massive personal growth from the use of this prayer - James Fricker, 16 Aug 02.)
MIRACLE POSTSCRIPT: Just a few minutes after I printed this page to show my wife, I walked past my son who was playing a computer game, and at that instant, a character in the game spoke through the computer speakers "Thy Will be done"!
NOTE: ' i ' refers to the mortal, conscious, ego identity, ' I ' refers to the superconscious higher self, the God soul within.