Faith! Where are you?

I'm having a crisis of faith. I have been struggling with this for some time now - but it seems to have come to a head. My crisis of faith though is not so much to do with a loss of belief in the existence of a supreme being (although it has waned some what) - side note even the use of the word god bothers me now; my crisis in faith centres around prayer, the power, purpose, and ultimately the utility of prayer.

The free dictionary defines prayer as: 1.) a reverent petition made to god, a god or another object of worship; 2.) the act of making a reverent petition to god, a god or another object of worship. Really what it seems to me to be is respectfully begging a being we assume to hold the reins of power over our very existence and our every success or failure. Prayers, it would seem is perpetual plea of either gratitude, or a desperate plea for reprieve from the mounting trials of life. I have the biggest issue with the latter. It seems an exercise in futility to pray to a higher being for a better life, that promotion, new job, husband, wife etc - if it is assumed that this supreme being knows all and sees all, and everything that happens in this life is pre-ordained, a destiny written since the beginning of time. Essentially, where you are in this life is exactly where it has been pre-ordained for you to be; and if relief from the trials of your life is to come, then that to is pre-ordained, so why pray for it, it must happen - and then of course there is the possibility that you were placed here to see misery as a lesson to you and others of the power of this supreme being; or that we may learn some meaningful life lesson through suffering, which would make us either better human beings or more devoted in our devotion to this God. 

Prayer to me seems nothing more than convincing your self that where you are in life is not your fault; things will get better; and in case it doesn't don't worry, your reward for enduring this suffering will be granted onto you in an another life - an eternal one. It's acceptable way to relinquish responsibility for your actions or inactions, success or failure, deeds and misdeeds.  

Maybe my crisis of faith is because I have lost faith in God (at least the biblical notion of God) I feel and have felt abandoned by this manifestation for quite some time (maybe it's because I don't always get what I want from life; then again I should take solace in God never gives you anything before its time - there I go relinquishing responsibility again). I stopped praying long time ago, I stopped believing that things happen because it is the will of god - I'm not convinced that some being hovers above or around us like some puppet master with a distorted sense of humour, tugging at the strings of my life. Perhaps there is a supreme being, perhaps not (maybe there is more than one; or maybe the one has multiple personality disorder). Maybe he/she/it created us and then moved on to the next project - leaving us to our devices; periodically sneaking a peek to see what a beautiful mess we've made of his/her/its creation. I can't speak with any authority on the existence or non-existence of God. Suffice to say I do not think that his/her/its existence has been dis-proven by science, nor has his/her/its existence been proven by religion. And I suppose this is the crux of my crisis of faith, or rather my crisis of prayer. How can I seek assistance, or give thanks to something that I'm not sure exists? Faith! Faith is what is necessary for this to happen convincingly and faith is what I'm running low on. Where has my faith gone?