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If God Knows the Future Why Do We Need To Pray?

Before Jesus teaches his disciples what has become known as the Lord's Prayer, he tells them that the Father knows our needs before we ask him (Matthew 6:8).  If this is the case, what is the point of asking him for things?  Jesus seems to be saying that instead of God knowing all about us being a reason for giving up on prayer, it is in fact a massive incentive for praying.

If prayer is a technique for getting things we want, why not sit back, go with the flow and let God do what he is doing?  What is the point of praying if God has everything wrapped up anyway?   

Prayer is not so much a technique as a relationship.  Prayer is a ‘transforming friendship' that provides something more than getting answers.   This ‘transforming friendship' is the setting in which we develop our confidence in God's care.  Here we prove that he is looking out for us.  By prayer we do not merely get the gifts; we also get to know the giver.  In prayer we hear his heartbeat, grasp his agenda and begin to identify with his plans for us and our world.  This is something that is summed up in the words of the Lord's Prayer: "Your Kingdom Come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  (Matthew 6:10)

This idea of a ‘transforming friendship' reminds us that prayer is not so much about getting things or changing things but about changing people, especially changing us!  By prayer we are not changing history but getting our selves lined up with the God of history.  If prayer is a relationship then we need to approach it with an attitude somewhere between ‘It is all fixed,' and ‘Nothing is fixed.'

One of the places that this can be seen is in Paul story about the ‘thorn in the flesh' (2 Corinthians 12:1-12).  This is some problem that Paul is struggling with: three times he asks God to take it away.  Paul is feeling around the edges of his relationship with God here as he explores the possibility that the mysterious ‘thorn in the flesh' might be removed.  One possible scenario here would be that of a negotiator: ask God, get the answer ‘NO,' NO', and then ‘NO' again, then grin and bear it.  There would be prayer here of sorts but little in the way of relationship or transformation.  Instead we see that Paul is exploring his future within a friendship with God.  God says ‘NO' not because ‘this is the way it is' but because he has got something better on offer.

Prayer is one of the ways that God invites us into a creative partnership that includes us in the process of exploring the margins of the future.  God may know the future but we do not.  Prayer is a journey of discovery in which God helps us to get a handle on what he is thinking and doing.   This process is described by Paul in Romans 8:26-7: “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.”

There may be times when we can hardly find the words to pray because we are not sure what we should pray.  This is where the idea of prayer as a ‘Transforming Friendship' begins to be so helpful.

Key Bible Passages

Prayer is not so much a technique as a relationship. Prayer is a ‘transforming friendship,' that provides something more than getting answers.

Discussion Questions

Further Reading

This response was written by John Woods. Copyright © July 2006.