There is a struggle to determine what power set things in motion in this universe. Religion over time has come up with inadequate explanations that always need updating to jive with the available science.
Worship is a useless excercise since an all powerful creator of the universe would hardly require any fealty and praise.
However, I do believe that we humans have more going on than meets the eye. Not unlike certain bodily processes that simply occur without our knowledge, I believe the human spirit for lack of a better word, contains the power to alter outcomes and heal others as well as oneself.
Perhaps it is some lost evolutionary trait or art, it could be some spiritual power endowed by a creator, alien tech, or even "the force" (tm)
Prayer may be a means of accessing this insofar as it allows one to truly know themselves and tap into it in probably the most inefficient and ham fisted way.