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Have you ever wondered, Why Should I Pray if God Knows Everything? If so, you are not alone.

You see, I grew up in the church and I too struggled with this question. I was that child who would ask questions of that nature in Sunday school.

Like the time I asked the Sunday school teacher “Why hadn’t God answered my prayer about giving my family a bigger house which we desperately needed?”

Or “why hasn’t my dad attended church even though they regularly prayed for his attendance?”

And as I got older, I had another question: “Why should I pray when God doesn’t answer?… What was the point?”

But while I challenged the purpose of prayer, I did pray. I prayed because at times I did not know what else to do. So I prayed hoping it would work, that I would get an answer.

However, I have learned the true purpose of prayer. I have learned that prayer is personal and it has more to do with who we are becoming than what we are asking for in prayer.

A perfect example; in my personal life, is that time I was in prayer about my finances. I was seeking God to get out of a mountain of debt that I had accumulated. I prayed and waited for God’s answer to come to me in the form a big win or some miraculous money giveaway . But that’s not what happened. Instead, God was dealing with the issues that got me into debt in the first place–poor money management and habits I had created. He started changing my spending habits and my reliance on credit cards. And my bad habit of applying for credit just to save a couple of dollars. God had to first deal with the habits that got me into the debt problem in order to get me out and keep me out of it. He had to create in me habits that were responsible and prudent in spending, saving, and giving.

It took me a very long time to understand the the things I asked for in prayer allowed God to mold me into the person He needed me to become.

To read the rest of the articles, including five reasons we pray, click here.