"I once envisioned [prayer] as bringing requests to God that God may not have thought of, then talking God into granting them..." --Philip Yancey

"Here, I believe is the key to understanding what is most personal in prayer. We do not pray to tell God what he does not know, nor to remind him of things he has forgotten.

He already cares for the things we pray about...He has simply been waiting for us to care about them with Him." --Tim Stafford

From Prayer. Does it Make Any Difference?