Did you ever wonder why we pray? Yes, we are told that it is talking to God, and that we need to keep up a personal relationship with God, and that prayer improves our faith. All of these answers are true and good, but they don't really answer the question of why prayer is necessary and why it is effective. God is omnipotent and He is sovereign, so He can do anything He wants. Since He knows what we need before we ask, then why must we ask? Is it to change God's mind? God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow; this implies that He never makes a mistake nor changes His mind. So prayer is not intended to change God's mind. He cannot say one thing and do another because He is subject to His own laws and His word is law. We are told that God does things as a result of prayer that He would not otherwise do, and that somehow we hold the key to His storehouse. It seems as if God is waiting for our requests before He can act. Do we have a key that God doesn't have? Does this mean that God is somehow limited in what He can do for us?
In the beginning God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Gen. 1:26). In other words God gave man exclusive rights of dominion, and once He gave that mandate, He could not renege, He could not interfere without man's permission or request. Down through history God has honored that commitment, and He has not interfered except as He has revealed His plans through His servants the prophets. When man sinned, he lost that dominion to Satan, and it was necessary for Christ to die on the cross to wrest that dominion away from Satan and restore it again to man, its rightful owner.
We hold the key to heaven's storehouse. This is why God is waiting for us to ask. God has given us that key, that power, and to be true to His word, He cannot violate that trust and use another key to open heaven's storehouse. He must wait for us to open the door. Thus, in a sense, God is limited in what He can do for us, for only as we ask can He act. This is an awesome thought, that God needs our request, even our permission to do what He desires to do. However, once we have requested, God in His infinite wisdom chooses how, when, where, and if He will answer. How many blessings we miss because we do not ask! Since we hold the key, why don't we use it more often? Jesus said, "Ask and you will receive." So let's keep asking, let's keep turning the key, and let's trust God to answer in His own time and manner, so that all things work together for good. I believe this is the answer to "why we pray."
