Why Should I Pray, If God Knows Everything?
Chapter 1 of Prayer Wisel
I have just finished the first chapter of the new book I am writing on questions about prayer. It is still in the draft phase, so I would appreciate feedback and suggestions on the content, reflection/discussion questions, and cover design (image above). Use the comment button below to give me your feedback.
Since this post contains the entire chapter (over 2500 words), I have attached a PDF for those who prefer to download it. Thank you for taking the time to read. You can download the PDF below.
Here is the first chapter - Why Should I Pray, If God Knows Everything?
Jesus’ Misunderstood Words
In the middle of what we call the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us The Lord’s Prayer. It is a wonderful guide for prayer, beginning with praise and adoration and then transitioning to the things for which we should pray. However, right before our Lord instructs his followers to “Pray like this…,” he gives a warning not to pray like the Gentiles. His warning is, “Don't be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8C). Here, Jesus clearly states that God already knows what we need before we even begin asking him about it.
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus warns his followers about the futility of worry. Again, he challenges them not to be like the Gentiles, who are concerned about what they should eat and drink, “…because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:8).
As Christians, one of our central beliefs is that God is omniscient. That is, he knows everything that has happened in the past, is happening right now, and will happen in the future. Jesus’ words reinforce this fact by assuring us that God knows what we need even before we ask him for it. God knows everything about our lives – past, present, and future. So, people often ask, “Since God knows everything that is going on in my life right now and everything that will happen in the future, what is the purpose of praying?” The answer lies in a proper understanding of the purpose of prayer. Many people, however, are unaware of why God desires us to pray.
God does know everything about us, but he also desires a personal relationship with us. Prayer is more than asking God to act in some way. Prayer is a vital component in developing a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. God is not a divine vending machine where our prayers are like pressing a button, telling it to dispense the item we desire. Through prayer, we have the privilege of discovering the heart of God while sharing our deepest longings, hopes, and hurts, knowing that God not only hears but he also understands. Prayer is communicating with God.
In addition to some people struggling with why pray if God already knows what they need, Jesus is recorded in all four Gospels as saying that whatever his followers ask for, they will receive.
"Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).
“Therefore I tell you, everything you pray and ask for-believe that you have received it and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).
"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9).
“Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14).
Most Christians understand that Jesus was not giving us carte blanche in asking for anything. As he states in John 14 above, the purpose of receiving positive answers to our prayers is to bring glory to the Father – not simply providing our desires.
Jesus’ focus in the above passages is on our asking, followed by God's provision. That is definitely a part of praying. As Jesus said in the words of the Lord’s Prayer, we are to pray that God would provide our daily needs. However, when we reduce prayer to just asking God about or for something, we lessen God’s purpose for us to pray. The result is that we focus only on one aspect of the incredible privilege of prayer. So, what then is the purpose of prayer? Why does God desire that we come to him in prayer?
Understanding the Purpose of Prayer
We have already looked at some of Jesus’ words about prayer being about asking. Now we need to expand our understanding by looking at additional teachings on prayer. We need to move beyond the concept of asking to the root reason God calls us to enter into prayer.
Prayer has two primary purposes. We could expand these purposes into various subcategories and examine specific emphases of prayer; but at a foundational level, there are two reasons for prayer.
First, prayer is worship. In the pivotal scene in the fourth chapter of John, Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at the well. During their conversation, she tries to evade the implications of his piercing comment about her having had five husbands and was currently living with a man who was not her husband. She turns the conversation into a deflecting question about the proper place for people to worship at that time. Jesus does not answer her question directly. He replies, “But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). Jesus' answer is a key element in understanding that one of the foundational purposes of prayer is worship.
Jesus says, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth. What does it mean to worship God “in Spirit and in truth?” When we make a faith commitment to Jesus, God’s Spirit somehow enters into us. How exactly this happens is one of the mysteries of God. But we know it does happen – we are indwelt by Holy Spirit.
In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul talks about Holy Spirit being in us. “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.” Notice that Paul is saying God’s Spirit lives in us. This is how Jesus can declare that we “will worship the Father in Spirit.” How does this happen? God’s Spirit is in us, so we are able to connect with Him through our spirit. One of the primary ways we do that is through prayer.
We are also to worship God “in truth.” This means that our worship is to align with the truth about God, as revealed in his Word, the Bible. Any worship, through prayer or otherwise, that does not agree with God’s word is false worship. The caveat to this, however, is that it is easy in our humanness to read into the Word something that is not there or read out of the Word something that is there. We tend to see things through the lens of our current reality. Things like our current life situation, church experience, and doctrinal framework, etc., sometimes result in our “adding” concepts to the biblical text that are not actually there. Likewise, these same or other “lenses” may result in us not seeing the principles and precepts that are there.
Prayer is then fundamentally an act of worship. The word worship means “to show or give worth or value to something.” In worshiping God, we declare who he is. We acknowledge his greatness. We tell him that he is the one and only God of the universe. We affirm that he is who he claims to be. We declare that he is the supreme being of the universe. If that were not the case, then why would we pray to him? Why would it matter? If we believe God is unable to hear and respond to our prayers, we are wasting our time praying to Him.
When we pray, we give God the praise and adoration he deserves. We worship in Spirit by our spirit communicating with Holy Spirit. This is why the model prayer that Jesus taught begins with “Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy” (Matthew 6:9). Prayer is a holy act of worship, declaring the truth about a holy God.
The second primary purpose of prayer is to connect to God intimately. God not only desires our worship, but he also desires an intimate relationship with us. This is another mystery of God. Why and how can a totally other (holy) and majestic God intimately connect with us? Through prayer. It is one of the essential ways we enter into intimacy with God. Our spirit not only worships God; but our spirit, through Holy Spirit, can also connect intimately with him. We develop that intimacy as we experience God’s presence in our lives. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” Intimacy with God is cultivated as we draw close to God in the quiet moments we spend alone with him. It is very difficult to create intimacy at a distance. Prayer brings us into the very presence of God and allows us to become close to him.
Both Mark and Luke indicate that Jesus often left his disciples and went to a place of quiet and solitude to pray. Luke sums up this routine of our Lord in Luke 5:16 – “Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.” Why would Jesus depart from his disciples to be alone and pray? Because his prayers brought communion and intimacy with the Father. God desires an intimate relationship with us. Without a prayer relationship with him, that intimacy is basically impossible.
These are the foundational purposes of prayer: worshiping God and intimacy with him. As we pray, we express adoration and praise, declare our commitment to him, and share our love for him. Through God’s presence in prayer, we experience his love, his peace, his comfort, and much more.
Worshipping God in Prayer
There is no better example of worshipping God in prayer than in his Word. Throughout the Bible, we see person after person lifting praises to God. In the book of Revelation, the apostle John gets a glimpse of what heaven is like. In one scene, he describes the following worship of God.
“Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one seated on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before the one seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever.” (Revelation 4:9-10)
This scene, like many in the book of Revelation, contains much symbolism, which we will not address in this discussion of prayer. However, the worship expressed by the living creatures and echoed by the twenty-four elders consisted of three basic actions.
First, the creatures gave God glory. But what does the word “glory” mean? It is a Christian term that we use frequently, but many people do not fully understand its meaning. Glory in the original language is doxa – from which we get our English word doxology. The word’s origin is “to give proper weight.” In ancient cultures, the value of something often depended on its weight. The price of produce, precious metals, currency, etc., was determined by their weight. The more something weighed, the more it was worth (given proper glory). To give God ultimate glory means to declare his ultimate worth.
Second, the creatures gave God honor. To honor someone means to give them respect, recognition, and esteem. In our human world, the amount of honor we show someone is usually based on their position in society. Unfortunately, this has become wrongly focused, as people today are honored for their achievements in sports and entertainment, while those such as war veterans and first responders are often overlooked. However, God is to be honored above everyone and everything in the universe. He is the creator and sustainer of everything! In worship, give him the honor that he so richly deserves.
Third, they expressed thanksgiving to God. We do not know what the living creatures were thanking God for, but they were doing it continually. When we consider the immense love and grace God has extended to us, the natural response is to express our gratitude by thanking him. We can do this in our prayers. We can live with a continual attitude of gratitude.
Communicating with God in Prayer
Prayer is a primary way of building our relationship with God. Intimacy mainly comes through communication. Prayer is communicating with God. It involves our minds and our hearts. God created us as both rational and emotional human beings. When we pray, we think and feel. Communicating with God through prayer strengthens our connectedness with him. As in any relationship, communication is essential for the relationship to thrive. Proper communication is both speaking and listening. Prayer is no different. When we pray, we speak to God. But communication is two-way. We also need to listen to him. We should be listening to God at least as much as we speak to Him. In a later chapter, we will look at how to listen to God.
God desires that we have a personal relationship with him. A part of praying is the development of that relationship through both speaking to and listening to him. When we pray, we begin to develop a deeper understanding of who he is and who he wants us to be.
Conclusion
Prayer is bigger than just laying requests before God. It is a form of worship. It helps us to have an intimate connection with God. When we pray, we express our praise and honor to God. Prayer also helps us develop our relationship with God. When we draw close to God, he draws close to us. Prayer lets us realize that we are never alone. God is not some far-off cosmic presence, but is personal, loving, and caring. By making prayer a regular part of our lives, we express our adoration and praise to God and deepen our relationship with him.
Questions for Reflection/Discussion
1. What is your response to the statement that God “personally knows everything about your life – past, present, and future?” Do you view this as a comfort or a source of anxiety? Why?
2. Before reading this chapter, what did you consider to be the “primary purpose of prayer?”
3. What words do you often use to give praise to God in your prayers? What words could you add to this list?
4. One of the primary reasons for prayer is worship. How could the worship services in your church reflect this more?
5. What are some words or phrases that you use in your prayers to communicate glory, honor, and respect to God? What words could you add to this list?
6. Finish this sentence: God is _______________. Praise him for what you just wrote.
7. Do you agree with the statement, “Prayer is a primary way of building our relationship with God.” Why or why not?
8. What is your response to, “We should be listening to God at least as much as we are speaking to him?”
9. What makes it hard for you to listen to God?
10. What are some steps you can personally take to develop deeper intimacy with God?