Prayer

By Jared Warner

Willow Creek Friends Church

July 27,2025

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Click to read in Swahili

Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili

Luke 11:1–13 (ESV)

¹ Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” ² And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. ³ Give us each day our daily bread, ⁴ and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” ⁵ And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, ⁶ for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; ⁷ and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? ⁸ I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. ⁹ And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. ¹¹ What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; ¹² or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Over the past few years there has been a great deal of discussion about many things. What is a true Christian? What are the true beliefs? And surprisingly prayers. I have spoken about these things in many different aspects, because they are important. But prayer is probably the one area I have spoken the most about.

Prayer is, in my opinion, the most important, misunderstood, and neglected aspect of faith. Prayer is in the simplest of definitions talking with God. That seems easy enough, right. If it is so easy why do I say that it is the most misunderstood and neglected aspects of faith? Notice that simple definition again, talking with God. Most people talk at God. Prayer is a conversation. It is just as relational as any other relationship we find beneficial in our lives. Communications is the most important aspect of any relationship. If your manager at work is a poor communicator, you are left wondering what you are supposed to do at work, and you will likely neglect an important aspect of the project simply because you did not know it needed done because no one spoke to you about it.

In marriage, we all know that the United States has terrible statistics regarding marriage. Many would say that the leading cause for marriage failures is finances. That is a scapegoat of a reason, the real reason is a lack of communication that comes in the form of assumptions. We assume our partner will think one way but they actually think something else, and because we have not communicated well this starts snowballing into resentment. The reason finances gets sighted the most is because it is difficult to speak about finances, and we do not want to start an argument so we just stay quiet.

We talk at God. We tell God what we think, we beg and plea for our needs, our desires, our dreams. But do we allow God to speak?

“Now Jesus was praying in a certain place,” There is a rhythm to Jesus’s life and prayer is an important part of that rhythm. Jesus made it a custom to worship with his community. When the Sabbath came, Jesus joined with the community in the synagogue to express his love and devotion to God. Jesus also withdrew to isolated places to pray. He would get away from the crowds, and deepen his own intimacy with God. And after he prayed, especially in the gospel accounts of Luke, he would embark on some ministry endeavor.

We have adapted this rhythm in the mission statement of our Meeting. Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit, and Living the love of Christ with others. We express our love to God when we join as a community to worship. We live the love of Christ with others when we encourage one another, when we give our offerings, when we share a meal with someone, or when we provide any care or service to someone. Our lives should continually reflect the love of Christ wherever we are. We should work as if we are serving God. When we feed the hungry, cloth the naked, visit the imprisoned, or offer hospitality to the foreigner. The list is endless, but every action we take should be reflecting the love of Christ with others. But what about embracing the Holy Spirit? This is prayer. This is that time where we communicate with God. This is that time where we talk with God, letting God know what is going on in our life, and allowing God to speak to us through the words of scripture, the lyrics of a song, the voice of a trusted friend, or a odd chance encounter with a stranger. There are any number of ways God can speak to us. But are we listening? Are we allowing space for a conversation to take place? Are we allowing God to be God?

Jesus was in a certain place praying. He was actively showing his disciples his holy rhythm of life, and when he finished one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

This is common for any expression of faith. It does not matter what religion it may be, in every expression of faith there is a method of interaction with the divine, and the practitioners learn this methodology from the religious leaders. The faith of the Hebrews was no different. The Torah is filled with sacrifice and teachings for worship. We often see this as the law for proper worship, but if we were to take a step back, these commandments are teaching us a lifestyle of prayer. The sacrifices show us where we often fail and need divine assistance. The commandments or the teachings show us how we fall short in our relationships, and teach us how to adjust our perspectives regard the needs of others as equal to our own needs. Then we have the Psalms, each of these are more than songs. They are the heart of the author crying out to God in praise, lament, anger, and sorrow and they also include a release of tension into expressions of hope. The Psalms are prayers, and they teach us what a life of prayer is.

John the baptist, like most teachers within the Hebrew religious structure, taught his disciples how to pray, or how to interact with God. The disciples of Jesus see this lifestyle that Jesus is living before them and they want to know how to have that kind of life. A life of hope even when all seems lost. A life of power, when we so often feel powerless. A life of joy even in the face of abuse.

Jesus then says to them, “When you pray say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom Come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

Luke’s account of this prayer is a little shorter than the teaching found in Matthew, which is what is commonly regarded as “The Lord’s Prayer.” It is shorter but the teaching remains the same.

Jesus begins with, Father.

This is a unique aspect of Jesus’s teaching on prayer. It is not that traditional Hebrew understanding did not recognize God as Father, but they would only refer to God as father of creation, or father of the nation. And usually they would add some description to distinguish God from all other fathers. Jesus simply says father.

This is a recognition of something profound. In ancient times the father was the source, or the seed, of life. Modern science has expanded our understanding of the biology behind life, but there is still something significant that remains with father. Without a father life would not occur. The father initiates life, where the mother nurtures and incubates life.

To address God as Father is a form of intimacy, but it is much more. It is a recognition of who we are, where we are, and how we relate to God. Some of us do not like the intimacy that saying father might imply, but it is a reality. To say God, is abstract, it is intangible. We cannot connect with God because God is other natured. But when we say Father it connects us to God. God is our source of life, the initiator of life, he is our father. Without God we would not be. This is why the teaching of God is to honor our father and mother, not because they are always wonderful people, it is because without them we would not be. And we should honor them because we exist.

Father. Our initiator of life, our source, our creator, our reason for existence. Hallowed be your name.

Hallowed is an interesting word. This is an imperative verb, meaning we are to participate in it. Hallowed is to be sanctified, or set apart for unique or special honor. But there is more to this verb, it is imperative, so it it is a commanding verb, but it is also passive meaning, it will or is happening even if we do not acknowledge it. God is hallowed, he is sanctified or set apart for special honor by his very nature. God is hallowed or will be hallowed by all of creation because of who and what God is. He is hallowed because he is both the initiator and sustainer of life, God is both father and mother, and we honor God, we hallow God because without God life would not exist.

Your kingdom come.

This is where prayer becomes misunderstood. Kingdom is the scope of influence. In our contemporary world we could look at this word as a nation. Nation is more than a political system of government, it is more than geography. It is a scope of influence. Right now many are concerned with the state of our government because we see that America was once great, and in many ways that influence has dwindled. But I want us to consider something the scope of influence of our nation’s ideology has not dwindled, our way of thinking has spread beyond what we ever imagined it could have. And because it has expanded, we begin to feel as if we have lost something because we are no longer unique. We are simply one nation among many. But this is not what Jesus is teaching, if it was he would have said our kingdom come. No, he does not say our, but your. This means that what I think, what you think, what we think does not really matter, what is most important is what God thinks. It is his influence, his wisdom, his teachings or commands we want to come.

We often mistake what we want as something God wants. We often think that if we gain power among humankind we are spreading the influence of God. We often think that we must take the seven mountains of culture for God, and hold that power because that is what Jesus teaches in this prayer. But is that what Jesus is teaching?

We begin the prayer with Father, we accept our place as recipients of life from our life source. We hallow his name, we recognize that it is God and only God that is truly sanctified and set above all things. And then we submit ourselves to his influence. We submit so that his influence can come. Come here is the imperative verb. Unlike hallowed it is not passive, come is active. We must actively submit, and actively participate in the expansion of God’s kingdom.

This first statement of the prayer is a recognition of who God is, and who we are. We are recipients of life, where he is the initiator. It is his influence that is actively coming, and we are submissive participants.

How often do we pray like this? I read a great deal about prayer and so often what is being taught is not submission but aggression. We must take the nation back. We must conquer the seven mountains, we must command the spiritual powers to do our bidding. Some of my favorite songs even unwittingly promote this sort of thing, We make plans and strategies, but what Jesus is teaching us to do is to submit. He is asking us to become aware and to accept the reality of who we are in the eyes of God. We are beloved children of the life giver.

We cannot participate in prayer until we come to accept the reality of who we are. We cannot participate in any relationship until we take on a role within that relationship. I cannot be a husband if I do not have a wife. I cannot have a wife unless someone desires to become my wife. I cannot become a father unless there is a mother. And I cannot become a dad unless I actively submit to the role within that relationship. We cannot be in any relationship without mutual submission. Without submission there is not a relationship only exploitation and injustice.

When there is submission there is freedom to discourse. There are certain roles within a relationship, and those that are in those roles have obligations. Since God is the initiator or father of life, not only the father but also the one that nurtures and incubates life so the mother too. God has an obligation to sustain life, or to provide for our needs. Give us each day our daily bread. Give is a present active imperative verb. That means that it is to happen right now, but it is God that is the one that acts. How does God do this? There are many ways this can occur. God could just speak things into being, or he might prompt one of his many children to act on his behalf. God will provide what we need when we need it.

But notice what it is that is being asked for, it is our daily bread. Jesus does not teach us to ask for the things we want. I want a great many things. I want a new computer. I want to pay off my student loans. I want a house to call my own. These wants I can justify. I can make a list of how I would be able to do my job as a pastor better if I had these things, but do I need them? I need a place to rest. I need a the tools to perform the role I have been given well, but my desires are necessarily what I need. Jesus teaches us to ask for our daily bread, these are the things that will maintain and sustain us for what we will encounter in the present moment.

We have what we need. God has provided what we have needed, and God is providing what we need today. This is again one of the areas where we have misunderstanding. We want things. We justify them in our minds. We plead with God to bring healing, deliverance, or any number of things. In our minds they are a necessity. There are books throughout Christian spheres where we are taught to pray specifics because if we are not specific God does not know what we need. These teachings will go so far as saying we do not receive what we ask because we do not have faith that God will provide. That is not what Jesus is teaching us. That is not what scripture teaches. Paul tells us to boldly approach God, he teaches yet even this great apostolic saint had a thorn in the flesh that was not removed. Did Paul not have faith? If you believe that Paul did not have faith when he wrote or influenced most of the New Testament, I encourage you to read it again. Paul tells us that God did not remove the thorn because his grace was sufficient.

This means Paul did not need the thorn to be removed for God’s kingdom to come. Paul desired it, he wanted it but he did not need it. Jesus is teaching us to submit to God, and to be content with we are given. Is it a sin to ask for what we want. No, it is good to ask but we need to remember that this is a conversation not an order. God as the giver and sustainer of life is not obligated to grant us our desires, but God will give what we need today.

Now comes the neglected part of prayer. We make an assumption about God, and our assumption is unfulfilled so we begin to withdraw from the relationship. This does not change who God is, or who we are in God’s eyes. But it does change how we see ourselves. We begin to think that I deserve things because I am good. But Jesus taught Nicodemus that no one is good but God. We begin to say that there is no God or if there is a God he is not good because there is so much evil within our world. So we stop participating in the relationship.

Are you good? In every situation have you acted justly? When you were at the store and the service was slow, were you patient? When your order was not fulfilled to your specifications did you approach the situation demanding more than what was required? Just this week I ordered a plate from Panda Express, a plate has two entrees and a side. I only received one entree and one side. I was upset. I was so upset that I immediately sent a note to Panda Express demanding justice. What would justice be in that situation? In most cases we would believe that what we deserve is something for free. But if we really think about it, they could refund the difference between a bowl, which is one entree and one side, and a plate, because that is what I received. But in our mind that is not justice. We want revenge, we want more.

Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. We live in a world of fallen humanity. Each and every one of us lives with this false sense of entitlement and justice in our minds. We think we deserve things. And then when things do not happen how we think it should we become upset. Why are their abused children in the world if there is a good God? Why is there war? Why do I have to pay higher insurance premiums? Why did it flood? Why? Why? Why?

Did God cause all of this? The reality is that we live in a fallen world. Everyone around us thinks they are entitled. Yet no one is. We demand that justice is served for all the law breakers, we justify the building of prisons for all the law breakers, but we often fail to recognize that we have all broken the law. Forgive us our sins, and let us forgive those that wrong us.

This again is submission. It is a recognition that I am not perfect and because I am not perfect I should give grace to those around me that are struggling too. And lead us not into temptation. Help me in my weaknesses. Help me because I am prone to wander as the hymn today stated. Help me God to remain true. Help me to recognize that I am a child of God, that it is Your kingdom and not my own. And help me to forgive just as I have been forgiven.

I recognize that I have spoken long today. And I have only gone four verses into the thirteen that we read. I hope this shows us just how important prayer is to our life as a Christian, to our lifestyle as a disciple of Christ. It truly is a lifestyle where we are to love God, embrace the Holy Spirit and to live the love of Christ with others. It is a life of submission and companionship. It is a life where we work together as we encourage one anther to see the world as it truly is. As we go into this time of open worship, I encourage us to be honest. Is God’s influence expanding around the world? Do not be quick to answer, but instead consider it fully. We live is a wonderful world. We have so much more today than we did a generation ago. Yes there is still a great deal wrong, there is still evil and injustice, but that should give us all encouragement because we can still pray: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” God is still at work and we are still called to participate. Let us not get focused on the sin but instead let us boldly approach our Father to show us where we can shine his light.

Previous Messages:

Ransomed to Love

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…

by jwquaker April 19, 2026April 18, 2026

Born Again to a Living Hope

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…

by jwquaker April 12, 2026April 11, 2026

Broken Dreams Restored

By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 05, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili John 20:1–18 (ESV) 1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the…

by jwquaker April 5, 2026April 4, 2026

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