The Evangelical Universalist Forum

If God is an all-knowing being, why does one need to pray?

This question is on Quora: If God is an all-knowing being, why does one need to pray?. They have about 25 answers out there. Does anyone care to add any input here?

Wow - that is quite a spectrum of contributors over there at Quora :open_mouth: The whole gamut.

I don’t have much to add, really. Prayer seems to be another ‘path’ in the world of soul-making that our Father uses to help us focus our mind and desires, to help us develop “Till We Have Faces” (title of a C.S. Lewis novel), that is, until we know ourselves and speak to God as our true selves, not as a phony.

Hey Randy,

I don’t pray much anymore myself. I find that contemplation and meditation work better for me. There’s a church here in Ft. Worth called Unity Church where they have a mixture of all religions. I find that walking the labyrinth there to be quite refreshing. When you focus on walking the labyrinth all the noisy traffic in the background fades away. After the labyrinth walk you then lay down and focus on the stars. It brings you back to your childhood. It did for me anyway.

I can’t see the relationship between God’s omniscience and our need to pray.

If you knew everything there was to know about your child, would there be no need for him to ask you for anything?