This recent video by Sean McDowell makes important points about prayer. McDowell says that we should pray in light of the fact that God knows everything we need, because prayer is not mostly about us getting things from God. The other incentives to pray, such as the desire to pursue relationship with God and to obey the Bible, offer motivations for prayer that aren’t hindered by God’s omniscience.
It is easy to think of God as the conclusion of a logical argument, or to imagine him as the immensely powerful creator of the universe. These are ways hard-thinking Christians often think about God. While this isn’t bad, it is important to remember that this is not the whole picture. That same God wants to have a personal relationship with us.
It is easy to point out the lack of training among Christians these days, who have largely failed to love God with their minds. Summit students spend a lot of time in the classroom learning how to mitigate this problem. Summit students do more than that, though; they spend time with small group leaders and other students, learning to love with their hearts. We have to learn how to do both of these things, and prayer should always be an important part of both.
Sean says:
“God does know what we need. But for the sake of the relationship, because Scripture commands it, and to humble us before the Lord, it still makes a lot of sense to pray to God.”