What is the significance of praying? Does something begin to happen in the spiritual realm when we pray that we don’t see? If God knows our needs before we even ask, why pray? I understand the need to show our dependence upon God, but what is going on when we pray?
It’s true that God knows our needs before we ask. Therefore, prayer is not the process by which we inform God, but rather a demonstration of our faith in His provision. You don’t ask something of someone unless you believe he can provide it.
But prayer also changes things. Hezekiah was given a 15-year extension of his life. Jesus told the Jews living in Israel when the anti-Christ is revealed to pray that their flight does not take place in winter or on a Sabbath. James wrote that the prayers of righteous people are powerful and effective (James 5:13-16) and can make a sick person well.
One of the things that we are unable to understand is how God can know the end from the beginning and yet still make allowances for prayer. But He does, and our prayers set powerful spiritual forces in motion.