What's the point?

I got into a conversation recently about prayer (this pertains to the God of the Bible because of my belief that He is the only living God, thus the only one that can hear us pray) and how in this world it is supposed to work! This has been something that has confused me for a long time. So, I'm opening this up for input after putting out my stance.

1 - Does He answer prayer?

2 - If so, how should we expect to see His answer?

3 - Should we bring Him everything from the big to the little?

4 - Should we seek God for His over arching will for our life?

First, I think God wants us to pray. I think it's clear from Jesus' interaction while on earth and the things He said, that God both wants us to pray and wants to listen our prayers.

I think He is infinately capable enough to handle anything we can throw at Him so "Yes" to Q3. In fact, as it relates to Q4 I think the "little" things are more important to bring to Him because that's the everyday stuff. That's where we live and move. For example, "God, we need a new car but aren't sure how we'll afford it." (I've seen that one answered multiple times in my life and my friends.) Or "God, I need to know how to deal with little Jimmy's problems with math." Or reading, english, hitting, stealing, etc. It's at this level that we can sense that God loves us privately or personally.

Feel free to add more questions.