Prayer

I've been wondering about something lately...actually for a while. So I thought maybe I could get some feedback (from the whole 2 people that read my blog). We know that God is in complete control of our lives and of everyone's. God has a plan for us all and He knows everything that will happen. So if that is the case, why should we pray? Surely God's mind won't be changed because we ask for something. And yet we are commanded to pray. Even Jesus prayed, knowing his plea wouldn't change God's will. I'm not saying I think prayer is useless; I think it's very important in our personal relationship with Jesus. How can you have any kind of relationship without ever communicating? And maybe prayer is just meant for us to ask God for certain things, and then allow Him to reveal to us his will / plan on those issues.

So my question is, what is the point of prayer? Why are we commanded to do it? And what difference does it make really?

I googled it, and found either really deep and philosophical answers (which I think were actually just people trying to use big words to skirt around the issue because they didn't have an answer) or answers from people who thought that God doesn't actually have any plan for us and we're in control of our own lives. Which is silly.