In college my friend Jim read a little book by a TV preacher and latched onto a single verse, “Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened”  (Luke 11) Jim came to believe that if he had enough faith, God would answer his prayers.  (Matt 17). 

One day as we hustled back to campus, Jim began praying aloud that the red stoplight would change to green. While I was suggesting that if we had left Taco Tico five minutes earlier we might not need God to bend the laws of the Universe, the red light quickly turned green. As we sped off Jim laughed, “you of little faith!” 

Despite living off campus and working a closing shift at a restaurant, Jim had signed up for a 7:45am class. Now, Jim was an excellent student with a near perfect ACT score, but with late nights and problems at home, Jim began to miss his 7:45am class. Falling behind was new to Jim and unsure what to do, Jim did nothing. Jim missed class and then stopped reading the textbook.  When Finals Week came Jim desperately crammed but overwhelmed he stopped cramming and launched into a late night prayer vigil instead. Jim was sure “Everyone who asks, receives!” 

You might laugh, cry or judge him, but Jim was a good person misled by a destructive theology. I wish the Prosperity Gospel had died years ago but like a virus it still infects our culture, many churches and souls. The seven times NY Times Best Seller preacher Joel Olstein most recent book, Speak the Blessing: Send Your Words in the Direction You Want Your Life to Go (2024) tells America, “The Scripture says that the spirit of faith is in your words when you say, “I am blessed, I have favor, I’m coming out of debt, Angels go to work for you, good brakes will find you, and the right people will track you down.”  I did need to google “bad theology”  to find that quote, it is the free preview of the book.

So at 7:45am, with hours of prayer and not much sleep Jim began his final exam, believing good brakes were going to find him. Unfortunately, no miracles occurred that morning.  No unstudied formula popped into Jim’s head. No unseen hand corrected his answer sheet. No angels whispered “18” in his ear to reveal the atomic number of Argon. By the end of the week, Jim would receive not only the first and only F of his life, Jim would fall into a crisis of faith: Why did God fail to answer his prayer or did Jim somehow fail God? The prosperity gospel kicks you to the curb if after praying you stay oppressed, sick, poor or failing.   

 We often think about prayer as asking God for things, but I have come to think that our asking may keep us from the real power of prayer.  Perhaps, prayer is not really about our asking and more about abiding with God.  

Luke writes “Jesus was praying in a certain place. When Jesus finished, one of his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”  How should we pray?  Luke’s Lord’s Prayer contains just 5 stanzas. Each sentence is not the end of our prayers, but an opening word that invites us to ponder each phrase.  

Father, we revere you as holy.

Your kingdom come! 

Give each of us bread to today

Forgive us our sins, as we forgive everyone.

 And do not let us get misled by the tempting things.

How should we pray? First pray, ‘Father, uphold the holiness of your name”. Matthew adds “Our Father who art in heaven there.”  Let’s not get hung up on the title Father.  Father is just one good but anthropomorphic descriptor for God.  God is not binary, male, or gendered. Feel the freedom to name God with the descriptor that helps you- Lord, God Almighty, Creator, Mother, Great Spirit, Great I AM, Jehovah, Yahweh, Ancient of Days.  

Matthew adds to “Our Father” the phrase “who art in heaven, holy is your name.”  Jesus invites us to ground our prayers in God, in holiness and in heaven. Breathe in images of God as Creator.  I love to pray outside listening to bird songs or even the rhythms of 21st avenue.  Pray, thinking of God as Redeemer- remember the Scriptural stories of our faith and ask of our experiences, “where did you see God today”. Pray, thinking of God as Sustainer- what daily bread, shelter, or friendships enrich and uphold you.  Prayer turns us away from ordinary work and basks us in God’s holiness, mercy, justice, peace-making, wonder, mystery, forgiveness, love, art, beauty, hope, and love. Our muslim friends often write 99 different names for God around their mosques. Indeed, for them prayer is the recitation of God’s attributes more than asking. For me music calls my mind to the things of God. You might consider making a personal playlist of songs that bring God’s presence close to you. If mom was not home, my dad would sit in the living room with his massive speakers blaring his music. Every Holy Week dad sat in a recliner listening to the Messiah often moved to tears I did not grasp then. This week I heard “Hey Jesus” by Trey Peterson for the first time, and wept such holy tears. Jesus teaches us to begin prayer with God. Moving the focus off our needs, fears and stresses helps us declutter: inviting us to look to the heavens, to holiness, to hope and love.   

The second verse invites us to ponder “God Bring in your kingdom.” Matthew elaborates: “God Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth and it is heaven.”  Prayer considers how we align heaven and earth.  How might you or I be more Christ-like in our conversations, our work, our social media, or even our driving. You might pray your way through the Sermon on the Mount asking: how can I show mercy, make peace, bring light, break from anger, end the insults, and forgive. Instead of asking God for stuff, prayer asks how can we become more Christ-like? Your kingdom come- not my will, but yours Lord! (Matt 26)

The third phrase contains Luke’s only ask: “Give us the bread we need for today.”  Only asking for our daily bread seems unamerican,  as the prosperity gospel so deeps infects us. We easily forget Jesus saying “you cannot serve “God and wealth.” (Matt 6) The Lord’s Prayer is not a seeking of more and more, but a dwelling in enough. Of course, in moments of bewilderment, crisis, loss, or angst, we may begin and end our prayers with asking, but our daily prayers should move us deeper than asking. 

 

When Caleb was anywhere from 3 to 14 years old, he would come up to me with this charming smile that always meant he was going to ask for something. Connie complained that Caleb had me wrapped around his little finger, maybe so.  I love my kids like crazy, even for an impish “ask”, but it is nice when they want to be with us, not to just charm us into something they might want.  The Lord’s Model Prayer is not rooted in asking, but in dwelling with God.  

The fourth verse of Jesus’ Prayer lauds the centrality of forgiveness to Christ-like living. “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who has wronged us.” In Matthew 5, Jesus speaks of the at length of the intersection between forgiving others and experiencing God’s forgiveness. It is hard to know forgiveness when we cling to unforgiveness. I think unforgiveness blocks the deep liberation God wants to work longs in our hearts and minds.  0Now this is a zinger, so get ready: How can we be Christ-like without forgiveness? Could the practice of forgiveness open a door to experiencing the truth that “nothing can separate us from the Love of God” (Romans 8).

Luke’s final verse declares “And don’t lead us into temptation.’”  What tempts you?  Jesus spent 40 days clarifying his temptations before beginning his ministry. Prayer helps us examine our path. What leads you into less than God’s will for your living?  What pulls you away from love, joy, and peace? What short cuts or easy answers inhibit what is excellent, admirable, pure, just true and worthy of praise? (Phil 4)  I have found that I need to pray: “Lord, do not let me be misled by unloving things” when I am upset, anxious, angry or feeling wounded.   

The church has added an extra-Biblical refrain to Jesus’ Model Prayer: “For Your’s, oh Lord, is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever.”  It wraps  us back around to where we began, beginning and ending with images of the heavens, holiness, hope and love. 

Well, we left dwelling my friend, Jim distraught with the first F of his life and a belief that God had failed him or he had failed God.  Jim did not know what to do, but he went to see the professor and unexpectedly broke down in tears. The professor sent Jim to the dean.  The dean sent Jim to the counseling center.  Jim’s “name it and claim it” friends warned him not to see a “university assigned non-Christian counselor” but Jim went anyway.  The counseling center sent the dean a note and the dean decided to let Jim retake the class, averaging his first F with whatever second grade Jim earned. So in the spring every Tuesday and Thursdays at 10am, Jim religiously attended class and when the final grades were posted Jim broke the curve. The dean rounded Jim’s F and A into a B. Grace came through the compassion of the dean. Haven’t you found that grace usually comes through people?       

Scholars tell us that we could render Jesus’ words “keep on asking, keep on searching, keep on knocking.” Surely prayer is a lifelong journey moving us towards love and Christ-likeness, inviting us to abide more fully with God, with neighbor, and with ourselves. Amen