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