God's Sovereignty and Prayer

So my current read is a great little book by A.W. Pink called The Sovereignty of God(book review soon to come(along with a few others)) (You can read it online here) This has been a really good and intriguing read thus far and one which I have learned a good deal from. The chapter that has occupied my spare minutes(the very few that I actually have right now) yesterday and today has been "God's Sovereignty and Prayer." I have to say that this insightful chapter has been some of the best teaching I have ever come across on the subject of prayer. Although Pink's attempt is not to discuss and study prayer in general but to relate it to the sovereignty of God, he does a wonderful job of explaining prayer and what it should look like in this respect.
As is his primary aim throughout the book, Pink highlights the importance and exaltation of God in prayer. He devotes a good portion of the chapter to talk about the erroneous and unscriptural contemporary views of his day on prayer(although written in the early 20th century, the problems he addresses are surprisingly similar to the popular views in the present day). He specifically comments on the idea that through prayer man can, in effect, change the will of God. Although we may not see it as quite so bold as saying outright that we can change the will of God, this is essentially what I see many people believing about prayer today. They have a skewed idea of prayer which says that the purpose of prayer is, essentially, to tell God what they think is best and expect Him to conform to their will. They tell Him what they want and what they think they need and what they think is best for their lives and are angry when God does not grant their requests.
Pink says, "To say that 'human destiny' may be changed by the will of man, is to make the creature's will supreme, and that is, virtually to dethrone God." I think he is exactly right here. When we have the idea that what we do can affect God and his decisions we elevate ourselves much higher than we belong. To quote Pink, "God's will"(sovereign will - more will be said on this topic in the future) "is immutable and cannot be altered by our cryings." It is here that we must heed the teaching of scripture such as Eph. 1:11("In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of his will"), 3:11("This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord"), Dan. 4:35("all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to Him, 'What have you done?'"), and a host of others. What God has purposed from before time began(2Tim. 1:9), no man can change.
The question is thus raised of, "Why then should I pray?" Pink then gives three of the primary reasons for why God commands us to pray.
First, prayer has been appointed that the Lord God Himself should be honored.
Second, prayer is for our spiritual blessing, as a means for our growth in grace.
Third, prayer is for our seeking from Him the things which we are in need of.
As Pink says, "Prayer is not for the purpose of informing God, as if He were ignorant, but it is to acknowledge He does know what we are in need of." And, "Prayer is not so much an act as it is an attitude - an attitude of dependency upon God." My high school youth pastor used to say, "the purpose of prayer is to conform our will to God's will."
It is only when the Holy Spirit transforms our hearts and we pray like Christ did(Luke 22:42), asking "anything according to His will"(1John 5:14), that we will experience the full satisfaction and understanding of prayer. When we pray for God's will to be done our prayers will always be answered since God's will is always ultimately accomplished. Let us not pray as greedy fools for our own lusts and desires(James 4:3) but humbly with passion and fervor(James 5:15, 16) and in accordance with God's perfect and sovereign will.