It is, however, prayer in the sense of asking which causes the most perplexity, so let us consider that and, for the sake of convenience, call it by the general word ‘prayer’.

Since God knows our needs much better than we do, we might wonder why prayer in this sense is necessary at all, were it not that Our Lord has actually told us to pester God with our prayers (Luke 11:5ff).  Just as we are commanded to confess our sins to God although he is fully aware of them, so are we bidden to pray, although, as Our Lord has said, our heavenly Father knows what we need before we ask him (Matthew 6:8).

The true purpose of prayer is twofold: to obtain from God what he knows we need (which may be quite different from what we want); and then, having obtained it to be enabled to use it in the doing of his will.

We must always remember that when we approach God we are approaching the high and holy One who inhabits eternity, and it is his will which we must seek and our own will only in so far as it coincides with his.  Indeed, if we really trust him, we shall truly desire that his will should be done because in that way our own real needs will be met.  For God’s will is always for our highest good and the highest good of our fellowmen and women.  And prayer is essentially the act of co-operating with God in order to set his will in motion.