If God Is Sovereign, Why Pray?

*This blog post is dedicated to all the people in the world who keep on asking questions.

So, if God already knows how everything is going to turn out, then why are we troubling ourselves with all this effort to pray?  And, if we are not informing God of anything new then what is the point?  Let’s look at Psalm 139:1-4:

O LORD, You have searched me and You know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O LORD.


So, God has complete knowledge of my life.  Nothing I could say will surprise Him. He knows my heart better than I know it. He knows my thoughts, wishes, and prayers before I pray them. Matthew 6:8 says, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” Sometimes I pray for something I think I need not fully knowing what I really need.  Scripture encourages us to pray “…Thy will be done.”  And, our prayers should be with that intention; that God’s will is what trumps everything else we desire.  We may have to adjust our thinking to pray according to the plan He has already laid out for us and not necessarily making our plans come together outside of His will.

There used to be an old joke that was in the church years ago and the story would start out with the telling of someone being in dire straights or of some impossible situation and the people involved would have completely run out of options, so now they are “down to praying” as a last resort. I know this is often said as a joke, but in reality, prayer should be our go-to response as a constant conversation with God. It should serve as a simple reminder that in the end everything depends on God anyway and not on us.  Perhaps it is in the day-to-day praying that we express our total dependence on God and then He is in turn honored by our faith.


James 5:16, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” So, let's not stop praying.  Let's lean in and really mean what we pray. Our prayers don’t have to contain flowery words or be long and dramatic. They just need to be genuine. God is listening and He cares about each of us!

-Paula 

Why Didn't God Make Us Robots?

Think about it! It would so much easier! We would not have feelings, tears, emotions, pride, thoughts or a will; all things that often get in the way of life. If God had only made us robots it would be so much simpler, right?

I am not the first to ask this question, but I have pondered this idea several times over the last few months. If God had only thought to make us robotic, then there would be no struggle between good and evil. Problem solved. Hello heaven!

But God in His omniscience saw ahead of time and knew that we would fail and fall and need Him. He wanted us to be able to choose Him. He wanted us to have the choice to love because He knew that love without choice isn't love at all. He gave us a free will so that we could choose to be in relationship with Him. I believe that God giving us a choice had more to do with His glory and satisfaction than it did with our liberty. After all, we were created in His image ultimately for His glory.

Doesn't the value of any good deed go up in our minds if we believe that it is done out of genuine love rather than out of an obligation or command? Of course it does! That must be how God feels about us when we choose Him.

Robotics is a popular movie theme, and in many of those kinds of movies, the robot starts out with little or no consciousness or self-awareness, but tends to evolve over time. Writers and producers can even create personalities for them and they can be "good" or "evil." In the real world, we are not quite that sophisticated, even though we keep relentlessly striving to create that perfect robot that could substitute as a person.  

Pictured to the left is a real, life-sized robot designed in Japan in 2005 that from a distance looks very human. (It is actually glued to the floor.)  "She" can spit out information, but "she" will never have a soul or mind or know God like we can.

A robot can be programmed to obey, but it cannot be programmed to love or to respond intuitively. So God chose to create people rather than robots to recieve that genuine love back from us.

We know God has emotions because the Bible uses words to describe God's intense feelings about us like "desires" and "loves."  He is actually pursuing us, so we must be worth having!

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.

They cannot be numbered!

I can’t even count them;

they outnumber the grains of sand!

And when I wake up,

you are still with me!"  Psalm 139:13-18 NLT

God thinks about us. He plans for us. He loves us. Robots could never replace the uniqueness of a human being. Simpler, yes. Rewarding, no.

*artwork by Harrison G. Barnett

Change Your Filter

Like the air filter or oil filter in our car, periodically filters must be cleaned or changed all together in order to maintain a good flow of air or oil.  Otherwise, your car could overheat resulting in an unnecessary breakdown and expensive repairs.

Relationships can be tough. Some of the toughest ones to navigate are family relationships; parents, spouse, siblings, and children. Our close friendships are not always easy either.

I have often found that the only way to get past an issue with someone is to "change my filter."  This idea simply means to change the way I think about them. For example, maybe I don't necessarily feel the love from someone or maybe I have even been genuinely hurt.  In an attempt to bridge the gap between us, I will eventually give them the benefit of the doubt in order to move on and try to think of them from a place of love rather than a place of disapproval. In essence, I am "changing my filter." It is a decision that I must consciously make. Love is not a feeling. Love is a decision. This thinking is a major mind shift that requires some healthy self-talk and some pushing down of pride. In other words, not an easy task.  And I have yet to master it because I am human and sometimes I just want to be "right!"

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 says, "Love is patient..."  and that is where I already have a problem. I am not a very patient person by nature, but I have learned the hard way that a degree of patience is needed in order to sustain permanent relationships. God knew He would need to spell out the exact requirements for healthy relationships, otherwise people like me would look for a loop-hole! The passage goes on to say, "not self-seeking" and "keeps no record of wrongs." These clauses mean "changing your filter" and that's exactly what I'm talking about.

Sometimes we want to be shown love in the precise way that we ideally receive it but ignore the failed attempts of the one trying to genuinely be a friend or make amends. We need to get to a place where we can accept people where they are. I'm not saying adopt their lifestyle, or agree with everything they say and do, but treat them with respect and genuinely show them love and receive  the love they offer.

This idea is a tall order, I know, but it is possible. I have seen people who interact with each other over the years fall into the same old trap of resentment about something that happened a long time ago. It is almost as if they are waiting on something from the other person, like an acknowledgement or apology, for that offense to be mended. The resolution they continue to wait for may never come. There must be forgiveness. Life goes on.

Let's not waste another minute trying to figure out how to change other people or how to persuade their thinking to be more like ours. Love them where they are and if necessary, change your filter.


-Paula