For Jesus, prayer was as necessary as breathing. If the Son of God felt such a great need for contact with the Father, how much more do we!

But why? Why do we need to pray? Certainly God, who knows everything, knows our needs. Why do we need to tell Him what He already knows?

Herein lies one of our most basic misunderstandings about prayer. We think the purpose of prayer is to give information to God: “Lord, I need this and I need that”—as if the Lord didn’t already know everything we need!

No, the purpose of prayer is not to inform God about our needs, but to conform us to His will. Prayer doesn’t change God. Prayer changes us. It changes our attitude from complain to praise. It enables us to participate in God’s eternal plan.

The goal of faith is to bring us into direct, personal fellowship with God. You either pray your way into a deeper relationship with God—or you lose heart and ultimately give up on faith.

Ray Stedman