If God is all knowing, why pray if He already knows my thoughts and feelings?

But if God is all knowing, what’s the purpose of expressing my thoughts or feelings to a Divine Being who already knows them?

It’s true that God already knows what is in our mind and heart: “O LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away” (Ps 139:1–2). However, prayer is less for God and more for us.

Ordinary, everyday conversation with family or friends often helps us realize what we are thinking. The exactness of expression excavates what has been buried within us, hidden from our immediate awareness. Words shared with another help bring into sharper focus ideas or feelings or decisions that we first perceive only in faint outlines. How do I know what I think or what I feel until I hear what I say?

In the same way prayer as conversation with God helps us discover what may be difficult for us to understand or admit about ourselves: “You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart” (Ps 51:6). Our conversations with God help us find words that lead us to our inward being and to the truth of our secret heart. Through prayer God helps us listen to our own mind and heart so that we gradually grasp the deeper truths about ourselves that are revealed in and through our very praying.

Source: Kelley, Joseph T. 2008. 101 Questions & Answers on Prayer. New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.

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O God, 

Thank you, that you know everything about me - even my secret thoughts and feelings, and things I don't even know about myself.
Help me to pray to you so that I can better understand my own thoughts, feelings, and needs. 

Help me to pray to you so I can better understand what are you saying to me, and how you want to respond to my thoughts, feelings, and needs.

In Jesus Name

Amen

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