Why pray if God already knows everything we need?

The act of prayer isn’t just about asking God for things you need or desire. It’s about establishing a relationship with Him built on faith and trust in Him.

And according to scriptures, God knows the desires of everyone’s heart long before one even asks.

This becomes a challenging moment to Christians and one would ask why pray if God knows everything we need?

According to Agnes Birabwa a Christian at Passover Church in Kamwokya-Kampala, If one believes that God is sovereign, all-knowing, all-powerful and that he is a good Father who knows all our needs, then why bother to pray? Isn’t praying to God then a waste of time?

As we shall see, prayer is certainly no waste of time. The short answer is that God commands us to pray. Jesus instructs us to pray and even details exactly how we should pray in Mathew 6:9-13 in what we know as the Lord’s Prayer.

We can see that in this prayer, we are to ask God for things. We are to ask for his kingdom to come, for his will to be done as in heaven, for him to give us daily bread, for the forgiveness of our sins, that we would be kept from temptation and be delivered from evil.

Yet the question still remains – surely God desires to grant us all these things anyway as his children, so why pray for them?

Joseph Ssesanga a resident of Bukoto in Kampala says that insights into prayer are valuable at this point.

He believed that prayer is not so much for God’s benefit, but rather for our own.

"Of course, God knows what we need even before we ask for it. Yet it delights God when we humble ourselves and pray to him. It demonstrates that we need him, it stirs us to love and worship him and know him as our true source of life. Our affections and zeal for the Lord grow as we pray to him," Ssesanga said.

Gertrude Muhumuza a Christian and at Kamwokya Church of God, said that although God knows the desires of everyone’s heart long before you think of asking anything, he still wants to hear from people.

"Yes God knows the desires of your heart long before even you think of asking, but he still loves to hear from you whether you're asking for guidance or giving thanks because it draws you closer to him," Muhumuza said.

Throughout the scriptures in the bible a good number of God’s people are seen praying and God answering their prayers.

"Think of Moses pleading with God to spare his wrath from the Israelites after they had committed idolatry with the golden calfand God relented and God had mercy on his people.” She quotas Exodus 32:11- 14," she said.

In Psalms 103:3, the act of praying reminds Christians of their frailties, needs and sin as one asks God for help.

"It is as we confess our sins in prayer before our Heavenly Father that we come to know him more as the One who is altogether perfect, good and holy, who forgives us of all our sins in Jesus Christ," said Muhumuza

According to Pastor Ronnie Nsereko fromAmbassadors of Life Church at Nalukolongo in Kampala one has to be humble while praying to God.

"It takes humility and faith in God to pray. Arrogant people don’t pray. They depend solely on their strength. By answering prayers, God reveals His character. We get to know Him as a promise keeping God," he said

Bishop Solomon Mukonjo of Kamwokya Church of God said that one needs to move the heart of God but faith is the one that moves the hand of God to work.

"Your needs move the heart of God but your faith moves the hand of God. God does not answer prayers at the point of our needs, God answers prayers at the point of our faith. Without faith, it’s impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6)," said Mukonjo.