Can prayer change God's mind?
Prayer does not change God's mind. Because of His foreknowledge, God already knows everything you will pray, and He has planned His sovereign will accordingly. He can answer prayers without being swayed, since your asking is part of what He foreknew and incorporated into His will. His answers may be yes, no, or later.
Les explains that in the foreknowledge of God, He knows everything that is going to be prayed for. Everything is based on His foreknowledge. So He can answer prayers and it will still fit in His sovereign will, because He knows ahead of time that you are going to ask for it. Consequently, it becomes part and parcel of His will, but He could not have done it had you not asked, because then His foreknowledge would have said they are not going to ask for it anyway. Les concludes, "as we pray, we don't change God's mind. You can't change a sovereign God's mind, but he's already planned everything according to the fact that you are going to pray for it." He also notes that in this verse we have all three of God's answers evident. When you pray, ask yourself what kind of answer you expect. Like a child asking a parent, the answer is normally yes, no, or later. He recalls asking for his first bicycle, and his folks' answer was, "when you get a little older," meaning later.