Why pray? What is the point of prayer when God knows the future and is already in control of everything. If we cannot change God's mind, why should we pray?

For the Christian, praying is supposed to be like breathing, easier to
do than to not do. We pray for a variety of reasons. For one thing,
prayer is a form of serving God (Luke 2:36-38) and obeying Him. We
pray because God commands us to pray (Philippians 4:6-7). Prayer is
exemplified for us by Christ and the early church (Mark 1:35; Acts
1:14; 2:42; 3:1; 4:23-31; 6:4; 13:1-3). If Jesus thought it was
worthwhile to pray, we should also. If He needed to pray to remain in
the Father's will, how much more do we need to pray?

Another reason to pray is that God intends prayer to be the means of
obtaining His solutions in a number of situations. We pray in
preparation for major decisions (Luke 6:12-13); to overcome demonic
barriers (Matthew 17:14-21); to gather workers for the spiritual
harvest (Luke 10:2); to gain strength to overcome temptation (Matthew
26:41); and to obtain the means of strengthening others spiritually
(Ephesians 6:18-19).

We come to God with our specific requests, and we have God's promise
that our prayers are not in vain, even if we do not receive
specifically what we asked for (Matthew 6:6; Romans 8:26-27). He has
promised that when we ask for things that are in accordance with His
will, He will give us what we ask for (1 John 5:14-15). Sometimes He
delays His answers according to His wisdom and for our benefit. In
these situations, we are to be diligent and persistent in prayer
(Matthew 7:7; Luke 18:1-8). Prayer should not be seen as our means of
getting God to do our will on earth, but rather as a means of getting
God's will done on earth. God's wisdom far exceeds our own.

For situations in which we do not know God's will specifically, prayer
is a means of discerning His will. If the Syrian woman with the
demon-influenced daughter had not prayed to Christ, her daughter would
not have been made whole (Mark 7:26-30). If the blind man outside
Jericho had not called out to Christ, he would have remained blind
(Luke 18:35-43). God has said that we often go without because we do
not ask (James 4:2). In one sense, prayer is like sharing the gospel
with people. We do not know who will respond to the message of the
gospel until we share it. In the same way, we will never see the
results of answered prayer unless we pray.

A lack of prayer demonstrates a lack of faith and a lack of trust in
God's Word. We pray to demonstrate our faith in God, that He will do
as He has promised in His Word and bless our lives abundantly more
than we could ask or hope for (Ephesians 3:20). Prayer is our primary
means of seeing God work in others' lives. Because it is our means of
"plugging into" God's power, it is our means of defeating Satan and
his army that we are powerless to overcome by ourselves. Therefore,
may God find us often before His throne, for we have a high priest in
heaven who can identify with all that we go through (Hebrews 4:15-16).
We have His promise that the fervent prayer of a righteous man
accomplishes much (James 5:16-18). May God glorify His name in our
lives as we believe in Him enough to come to Him often in prayer.