If God knows everything, why pray?

One of the great paradoxes of our journey through life with God is that He wants us to talk to Him about everything going on in our lives, even though He already knows everything. If God is unchanging, why pray?

Throughout the centuries, believers have wrestled with God through prayer and Scripture with that question. When test results come back positive, why pray? When we’re devastated with a personal tragedy, why pray? When a friend’s heart is breaking, what difference does prayer really make? If God already has it figured out, why bother?

Here a few reasons the Bible gives us as to why we should pray to our personal, loving, sovereign, all-knowing, all-powerful God.

• Because Jesus, the Son of God, prayed regularly and passionately for others and for the Father’s will to be done in His life (Matt. 19:13,26:36; Mark 1:35, 14:32; Luke 3:21, 5:16, 6:12, 9:18, 9:28; John 17:1).
• Because there is a devil, and prayer is a God-appointed way to resist Him (Daniel 10:10-14; Eph. 6:12-13, 18).
• Because prayer is God’s way for us to obtain what we need from Him (Lk. 11:3-13; Jas. 4:2).
• Because prayer is the means God has appointed for us to find “grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).
• Because prayer with thanksgiving is God’s way for us to obtain freedom from anxiety and to receive “the peace of God” (Phil. 4:6-7).

Prayer is not only about getting what we want, eventhough it’s okay to ask. Prayer is not faith in prayer, it’s trusting our faithful Friend. Prayer is about aligning our hearts and our desires with God’s. We read the command in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray constantly,” and realize that God wants us to talk with Him.  Yes, He is all-knowing, but He wants us to walk with Him. Certainly, He’s all-powerful, but He wants us to live with Him.

When we seek God in prayer and confession of sin, we strengthen our relationship with Him. When we intercede for others, we trust Him for what He already knows. When we pray, we allow Him to lead us through the joys and sorrows of life according to His great purposes and plans.