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[Owusu]

Can prayer change the mind of God?

[jimwalton]

We know from Scriptures that God actions are a cooperative partnership with people's actions. What we do affects what he does (Dt. 30.15-20). While he is always sovereign, he allows us a certain amount of say in what happens.

C.S. Lewis says:

“Praying for particular things,” said I, “always seems to me like advising God how to run the world. Wouldn’t it be wiser to assume that he knows best?”
“On the same principle,” said he, “I suppose you never ask a man next to you to pass the salt, because God knows best whether you ought to have salt or not. And I suppose you never take an umbrella, because God knows best whether you ought to be wet or dry.”
“That’s quite different,” I protested.
“I don’t see why,” said he. “The odd thing is that He should let us influence the course of events at all. But since He lets us do it in one way I don’t see why He shouldn’t let us do it in the other.”

In Dt. 9.13-19 we find that Moses interceded for the people and God "listened to me" (19).
In Gn. 18.20-33, the Lord was compassionately responsive to Abraham's prayers.
In Jonah 3, God changed his whole plan based on the actions of the people.

To me a clincher is in Jer. 18.1-12, especially vv. 7-9, where we find out how much God cares about what we ask and how we respond to him, to the point of God "reconsidering" and "relenting". These are indicators for us that prayer is a real chance, by God's permission, to have input in the course of events, and that God has the option to respond to what we ask. This doesn't make God unreliable or untrustworthy any more than I, as a parent, have the option to be responsive to the desires and needs of my children. A relationship implies a two-way give and take, not a tyrannic monarchy. Does prayer change God? No, but he responds to it, by choice, allowing us to be partners with him in what he is doing on the earth.