This is a good piece, something to make you think.
How God “Hears” Prayers All At Once
by Greg Koukl
How can God hear all our prayers at once? This is what little kids ask, but the question has occurred to adults, too. The answer is easy. God doesn’t listen to requests the way we do. We have to pay close attention to the details or else some distraction will cause us to miss something. We then decide how we’re going to act.
Since God is omniscient—He knows everything, including our prayers before we pray them—He gains no information when we pray. He has always known what our prayer would be. Having always known, He’s also always known how He would respond. The purposes of His will regarding the prayer have been eternally established.
Prayer is not just an empty ceremony, though. God’s knowledge of our prayer depends on the fact that we will choose to ask in the future. If we don’t pray, then there is no prayer for God to have known in advance. He only knows our prayers beforehand because we actually choose to pray them in the future. That’s why, even with a God who knows everything—including our prayers in advance—prayer still matters.