Why pray if God knows everything?

To answer, let me begin by saying, yes, God does already have a plan, that is for sure. For example, in Jeremiah (29:11), God says, “I know the plans I have for you…” At the same time, that very God asks us to pray, as seen again in Jeremiah (33:3) where He says, “Call upon me and I will answer you…” These two facts may seem at odds with each other. However, they are not at odds, but complement each other.

For the Christian, praying is part of God’s plan.

For the Christian, praying is part of God’s plan, as demonstrated from the two texts from Jeremiah. Maybe that still begs the question, “Why do we pray?” Given that praying is a part of God’s plan, there are a few key reasons why we still pray. These are in no particular order of importance, except that the last one is the most important. First, we pray to know what the plan of God is. We cannot rightly participate in God’s plans unless we know how to respond. Bringing ourselves before God in humble dependence on Him, aligns us to submit to His plans rather than resist. We also pray to bring into effect the plans of God. Often, the prayer requests a believer has are the plans of God being impressed on our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:26-28), and the things we pray for are in fact the eternal decrees of God. That is why when our prayers get answered, God gets the glory, because all along it was His plan for us to pray for what He determined to come to pass (Phil. 2:13).

Then, we also pray because we have heartfelt needs and desires. Our God is one who knows we have needs and desires and wants to meet them (Ps. 37:4). He allows us to express our needs and desires to Him (John 15:7), and should our relationship with Him be at point where we are pleasing to Him, He promises to answer. That brings me to the last reason among many others I can give, for why we pray. Lastly, and most importantly, we pray in spite of God’s already made plans, not just to know His plans and participate in them, but to know the Planner Himself! It is in this way that God gets glory through our praying, which should be the goal of all we pray for. That is the entire point of Jesus’ discourse to His disciples before He went to the cross in John 15: that we abide in Jesus, and through constant communion with Him, come to know Him more and more.

We trust you know Jesus Christ. If not, we pray you will believe on Jesus, and come to know Him. If you do already know Him, we pray these points about why we pray will be used by the Lord to encourage you. God is a prayer answering God, and a promise keeping God, and we can pray with confidence because of Jesus Christ, who when He was on earth was a man of prayer. In fact, the Bible says Jesus is praying for us in Heaven right now (Romans 8:34 and 1 John 1:21).

Kenny Damara