People keep asking these and a thousand similar questions.  It is our nature to think this way -- our conditioned nature. It is the way our parents were thinking, and our grandparents.  It's the way of traditional teaching in our churches, synagogues, mosques, temples. 

But these questions are the result of a confusion between form and content. In the Christian tradition, they are rooted in Old Testament thinking.  Jesus came to raise the human awareness above the level of "form" to the level of inner qualities such as love and compassion.  Wisdom is to know that the result of anything related to ethical values is not depending on form but on content.   

There is a fundamental difference between our physical space-time reality and the nonphysical reality.  We call the former the "3rd-dimensional" physical level and the latter the "4th-dimensional" spiritual realm.*  Essentially all our human activities occur on the 3rd-dimensional level, except those activities that involve thinking and emotions. Everything that is mechanical, that can be calculated and manipulated, is of 3rd-dimensional nature.  The ten commandments are 3rd-dimensional -- but the inner condition of a person deciding to abide by them, for the love of God and our fellow human beings and the world, is 4th-dimensional.  Becoming a medical doctor is a third-dimensional endeavor -- but compassion is a fourth-dimensional quality. Worrying about the correct hand positions in Reiki, about remembering the right words in a prayer, about how many seconds John of God in Entity devoted to my case, all this is third-dimensional -- but the inner attitude of caring is forth-dimensional. 

In this somewhat arbitrary and perhaps a bit confusing definition, we make a distinction between "three-dimensional" and "third-dimensional," and between "four-dimensional" and "fourth-dimensional." When talking about forth-dimensionality, we don't refer to physical dimensions (space and time), but we refer to the part of reality where consciousness, thought, spirit, love, and the fields of wisdom reside.  It includes the formless and timeless field of life-sustaining energies -- sometimes called the "Field of Unlimited Potential," in Christian circles traditionally called the "Realm of the Divine," or simply "Heaven." 

Physical healing has two components: one is the very important conventional medical practice, including surgical and pharmaceutical treatment, and supplemental nutrition. The other component is the equally important but often ignored healing intervention from the fourth-dimensional realm.  There is no limitation in space and time and efficiency to the forth-dimensional power.  Not in healing!  Not in the love extended toward us. None!  

It is not the 3rd-dimensional biological substance (passion flower) that makes the pills prescribed at places like the Casa de Dom Inacio in Brazil potent -- it is their nonphysical charge with 4th-dimensional healing energy, especially designed for you, that makes all the difference! 

It is not the purity or the quantity of blessed water that makes it worth your while to drink -- it is the blessing it contains, providing an invisible channel for healing energy flowing from the fourth- (divine) to the third-dimensional (biological) body that needs healing.  And just as the potency of homeopathic remedies increases with dilution, so may you dilute and dilute and dilute your blessed water, still keeping it fourth-dimensionally potent.

And, yes, the more you consider prayer as a way of life, rather than a string of words -- the more your wishes will have a chance to come true.
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* The differentiation between "third" and "fourth"-dimensional realities first became evident to us in seminar teachings of Emilia Rathbun in the early 1970s, and then later in teachings of Ron Roth around the year 2000. Although neither Emilia nor Ron placed any emphasis on it, in their nomenclature the "first-"dimensional reality was the inert mass in the universe; the "second" referred to unconscious life, and, of course, the "third" to the human being. 
In reverence to these great teachers, we maintain this nomenclature, even though subsequently other authors are calling it the "fifth dimension."  We also do this also in keeping with our writings about the dualism analogies between the physical and spiritual realms.  Most importantly, however, we want to avoid the pervasive misunderstanding that these other authors might be talking about a "fifth" physical dimension. Such a concept would not conform to our thinking at all.  The "forth"-dimensional (or, for that matter, "fifth"-dimensional) reality would not be, and should not be understood as, our physical 4-dimensional space-time reality with the addition of a fifth physical dimension.
Having said all this, it might well be best to avoid the confusion altogether to delete the word "dimensional" entirely in our nomenclature, and to simply talk about the "third" and the "forth" reality.