He remarked: “Why pray, God is going to do what He wants to do anyway?”  Thinking about these words, I found this wonderful thought from author Becky Eldredge:

Prayer makes us understand what God sees when he looks at us. God sees all of us as soon as we begin praying. God views our highs and lows, secrets, successes, failures and everything else about us at the first word we utter in prayer.

After which, God does a surprising thing.  He doesn’t run away. He stays and listens.  In this exact moment prayer reveals just how much God loves us.  God sees everything about us and chooses to stay and chat with us.  This is a wonderful compliment to God’s patience and compassion.

Why does God stay?  God stays because He sees what else is there.  He knows we have abundant goodness, good intentions, and a boundless desire to love.  Don’t forget that we are made in His image and likeness.  We were all taught this from a young age, but God wants us to believe and live this truth all our days. 

Like any loving parent, God sees us differently than we see ourselves.  He sees His image and wants the best for His offspring. With loving eyes and a tender heart, God sees what we do not, such as our next present moment, our tomorrows, and our future.  In them, God understands our possible greatness, glory, and transformation.  As God gazes at us with great love, this insight energizes Him, and He wants it to thrill us too.

It is then that God prompts the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to grasp the depth of this love, as well as this happy truth.  With each new day, God rains down the power of His gracious love to chase away any gloom that may dampen our day.

Prayer helps us understand God’s love; it also provides us with sustaining grace to meet and overcome the day’s tests and challenges.  However, we have to open ourselves to making the choices to apply this grace.  We can also apply this to every meal,  remembering with bowed heads that even this food comes because God loves and cares. When we acknowledge His love at the start of our prayers, we can be assured God hears us and His answer is already on its way

And God has done what He does best – love us even more!