Why do we pray?

A lot of times I encounter people asking why we need to pray to God, when "God knows everything anyway" and that "He has a plan for you and me". Sometimes, I find myself asking that question, especially in instances when skies are gray, and everything just doesn't seem to fall into their proper places.

True that there are certain grim circumstances that easily sway our faith in God, making us easy and vulnerable preys of the enemy. And a lot of times, by relying solely on what we can do, we fail. We become depressed. We become irritable. We become war-freaks and anarchists. We become hopeless.

But when I pray amidst those times, and God takes control over things, I experience peace, that no one could ever transfect into me except God. I know that my prayer life is not the perfect model that would give me the right to hold up people and challenge them to emulate. Because my prayer life is not consistent. There are days when I struggle to pray even for just 30 seconds. Yet there are also days that I spend hours wrestling with God in prayer. But despite the inconsistency, I still personally know and experience the power of prayer.

As for the question, I still do not fully know the answer. I still need to find the answer. The only things that I could come up with are:

* I pray because God commands it.
* I pray to be more like Jesus, to be Christlike in character and ways.
* I pray in an attempt to know and be part of God's will.
* I pray to have a possibility of seeing the world through God's eyes.
* I pray to try to make sense of all the madness and chaos in this world; and
* I pray because my deepest need and desire is to know God.