Prayer For Spiritual Success

The Sefer Chasidim (131) wrote that if one requests anything that brings praise to the Creator, such as for success in Torah study or to fulfill a commandment, that the Holy One, Blessed is He, will respond to the prayer even if the person is undeserving.

The Netziv told his student Rabbi Shimon (Sefer Rabbi Shimon V’Torato, page 80) that whenever he had trouble understanding something in the Talmud he would go and pray at the gravesites of his ancestors.

Rabbi Chaim Schmuelevitz would walk to and fro before approaching the Holy Ark and praying for God’s help in understanding something in the Torah. (Derech Eitz Chaim, page 502)

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 92b) teaches that when a person is toiling in Torah and prays that God reveal the reasons and secrets the person is studying that the Torah itself offers supplications before God to answer the prayer. Rashi explains that the Torah actually works hard for someone who expends great effort to understand the Torah.