If your will is in sync with His will, then you are rewarded.

Because it gives comfort..why do you say if it changes God's mind then He is not sovereign? I don't see any connection. The purpose is for the person who prays. Why do you do anything? You do things that make you feel better about yourself. At times of great stress it is a way to feel as if you are doing something..whether or not it is "successful" is really not the point..the point is how does it make you feel afterward? :) Happy Thursday! :)

Indeed, you've hit on another of the things that makes religion an example of stupidity.

People pray for peace of mind. Real religious people pray not to ask god for favours but to thank him for the favours he grants. They see all good things as a favour from god. Is it silly, imo yes. But then who am I to judge someone else? I feel it is silly to believe in something with no evidence, it is paramount to the whole "guilty until proven innocent" thing we got rid of 100's of years ago. But why not believe? Believers loose nothing by believing. What I do not like about religion is people who claim you need to believe in order to make it into their heaven. That is a very selfish opinion and indicates a very selfish and power hungry god.

If it changes God's mind, He's still sovereign. If you change the mind of the president, he's still the president. It makes no sense to say such a thing, I would think that would be common sense. If it doesn't change God's mind, then oh well. I don't see how it's superfluous though... The point of prayer isn't to "change God's mind", it's to talk to God. Much in the same way one would speak to someone else. The whole Christianity thing isn't about obeying the rules, doing this and that, just to get to heaven. It's about a relationship between you and God. It's about restoring that relationship that had been, such as in the garden of Eden, yet had been torn apart by our own sin. Even though we've sinned against Him, we've hated Him, mocked Him, done all these things against Him, He still wants that relationship with us.

Prayer is like a conversation with a friend. Prayer is like telling someone how you feel and being honest openly. If you have a human friend and they know you did something stupid, sometimes just talking to them about it helps make you feel better. I don't agree with your idea or definition of what sovereign is. The Christian God is referred to as being the Universal Sovereign, having the right to rule, all powerful. It doesn't mean you can't change your mind. The Bible speaks of when people implored God and he listened to them and didn't do some particular way. If someone says if I can find just 2 bears in one region, they won't log it off because I don't want them to do it, and I find 3, then I can change that person's mind. Or if I say I will change my behavior and will do my best to be better at something if they will help me, and I am sincere, then why not have God's mind changed? Why lock him in an inflexible box? If he is all powerful, why not allow him some friendship with his creations and interact with those he cares to? And praying is rarely about asking for things and expecting help. Like I said, it's just a conversation. It's thanking him for a beautiful day or just sharing a lovely sunset together. It's just getting something off your chest. You may not think people get answers, but many people do who become his friend.