Why Pray?

Prayer is one thing I struggle with. On one extreme, it is trying to figure it out in the sense that prayer is not something you demand of God to act on or it is a as-long-as-you-have-faith-or-God-will-not-hear-you. On the other extreme, I am struggling with the sovereignity of God and prayer in the sense that since he has ordained everything, I repeat, everything, then why pray - someone has said, it is as if we are trying to change God's eternal purpose, an undertaking that is feeble at best and arrogant at worst.

But what I know is that God has commanded that we pray, and pray I did, even though I could not fully understand why. I had approached it in the manner of being in a personal relationship with God, but I have now learnt whilst that in its itself is important, it is even more than that.

It is a participation in God's eternal plan and purposes. We pray because God commanded us, we pray because he fulfils his plan through our prayers as one of his means. That is what Jesus meant by praying in His name and praying in God's will - it is us participating in God's eternal plan. Wouldn't that very fact compels you to pray day and night? To pray unceasingly? To further expand our knowledge of him so that we know how and what to pray?

My gratitude to Matt Waymeyer, his postings on prayer has helped me understand prayer so much more:
If God Is Sovereign, Why Pray? (Part 1)
If God Is Sovereign, Why Pray? (Part 2)
If God Is Sovereign, Why Pray? (Part 3)
If God Is Sovereign, Why Pray? (Part 4)

pearlie