Reply To: How did Rabbi Akiva die?

“Although I think that desiring to die al kiddush Hashem is not necessarily the same as davening to die al kiddush Hashem.”
I hear your interesting chiluk, but we must realize that this was not just an abstract thought thrown out to us. The Ya’aros Devash goes through each berachah in Shemoneh Esrei and tell us what to be mechaven when we recite them.
If he wrote this as one of the kavanos of Retzeh, and Rav Wolbe cited it in his section on Biurei Tefillah, then it certainly would seem that he is telling us to daven for it not just to desire it.
Don’t you agree?