Kids will teach you lessons. I have five, and we've come to find out in the last couple of years that one of my brilliant children has ADHD. As I've been able to attend some therapy sessions with him, I'm learning that I have some ADHD tendencies. I think that's why I like to go to Belle Isle. It's this island park on Detroit's east side that overlooks Canada and the skyline of Detroit.

And it is there that I'm able to hear a bit. It's like the volume of the city gets quieter, and the volume of God gets a bit louder. It's a certain place that I meet and connect with God. Here in Luke Chapter 11, Jesus is at a certain place, and he's doing this thing. That's a key part of what it means to live out our Christian walk. He's praying. I want to take you into that verse, verse one, and it says this: "One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.'"

He said to them, "When you pray, say, 'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.'" Our kids range from kindergarten up to senior year of high school. Pray for us, please. We find ourselves with a lot of families doing a lot of things, but one thing is clear when I'm with all of these different families: children know how to shout out the name of their parents. That name has a significance to them, that name has intimacy.

And so here we find something similar. "Hallowed be your name" is what Jesus is saying—that the name of God is to be revered, is to be honored, is to be glorified. And it is also intimate among the family of God. Also, we then see after "Hallowed be your name," "your kingdom come." God's rule, his reign, his reality here on Earth is an ushering in of his kingdom, of his holy presence. But we have not experienced it fully. We get a portion of it, we get a taste of it.

There is peace that we get a chance to experience. And yet there is more that we long for, there is more yet to be realized, there is more that we have hope in and hope for. And so he then writes, "Give us each day our daily bread." Don't we wish that sometimes the daily bread was a nice, lavish meal that was decadent, with all the trimmings? But that would be our flesh talking. Actually, what is described here is not lavish experiences, but our necessities, our needs, our daily sustenance, so that we may do life in the way that God has designed.

God's name is to be revered, his kingdom is one that we put hope in, and God provides our needs. This is the three components of a healthy prayer life, a healthy way to approach prayer. But then the disciples might've been caught off guard with the next statement in verse four: "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us." Asking for our sins to be forgiven properly puts God in the right place. We honor God, we see him as our Creator, our provider, the only one with the ability to forgive us.

But it also reminds us of our need—not our need for salvific forgiveness, but our need for sanctification, a forgiveness that is continual, one where we are continuing to grow, to look more like Christ. And in doing so, we repent continually. I know this may never happen in your life, but in some of the glimpses of my life, I've had to deal with and care for and connect with people who don't know Jesus. And when they get to meet Jesus, they bring some heavy things: addiction, domestic violence, theft, lying, fraud. All of these things may come, and the disciples dealt with some heavy things.

People were coming with needs of having demons cast out, hunger—folks were ready to eat—there were sick family members. All these things being brought to Jesus, and we can be tempted to see our sins as not as needy, maybe not as weighty. Maybe we're a little bit better than them and what they bring. But forgiveness levels the playing field, reminds us that we all are in need. We all come to the cross with the same weight, a weight that we cannot carry, a weight that only Christ is suitable to forgive.

Someone may have hurt you, someone may have wronged you. And it is critical that, whether you were the perpetrator committing the wrong or the victim receiving the pain, God calls us to forgive as a part of our prayer posture. Why? Because he lavishly wants to do something through our prayers. But us carrying that weight can at times hinder him from acting in the way that he desires.

So we pray. We pray because Jesus gives us a definition of what prayer can look like. But then Jesus isn't just a teacher that gives you a definition—he also provides a couple of applications. Verse five says, "Then Jesus said to them, 'Suppose you have a friend and you go to him at midnight and say, "Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. A friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer." And suppose the one inside answers, "Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything." I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity, he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.'"

"So I say to you: ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." I found prayer to be a force we engage with from two different angles within our family. The first: my good friend suffered from a disease that attacked his organs. He was in need of a kidney after some time on dialysis. I asked how he was seeking God on the matter, and he shared the only way God was going to heal him was through a miraculous healing—he would one day just be healed.

I shared that God might heal him through the miracle of medicine or through a transplant, and that he should just consider that. He prayed, sought God, and God, in his wisdom, led my friend to being open to moving in whatever way he wanted to. I shared that, and if he needed me, hey, I'd be willing to be a donor. A year later, we were praying together before both of our surgeries—mine for giving him my kidney, and his for receiving it.

The interesting thing is there was a community of people praying for him when he first became ill, when he was diagnosed with lupus, while he was on dialysis, when he asked friends and family who were not matches, when it was clear that I was a match. And during both of our surgeries, there was this community of people that kept asking, kept seeking, kept knocking on our behalf with shameless audacity. They didn't care who was watching, they didn't care how they were judged—they were gonna knock down the door to the presence of God.

A year later, I found myself listening to doctors as they explained my mother's need for a new set of lungs. My friend had his surgery, but then my mother needed a lung transplant. My mother's an example of strength. And what no one prepared for was all the false alarms that would take place—the times when we get a call, arrive at the hospital, find out that the lungs are too small, or the lungs are contaminated, or a myriad of other reasons. All while in the waiting room, these disappointments are stacking up.

And we were praying, the community's praying, the church is praying. And then it happened—a double lung transplant. And mama's enjoying time with her grandbabies, spending time visiting us. All these things because there was this model of prayer, this model where we seek God, we trust in his kingdom. Now, remember, it has to be his kingdom. This is not simply our wants, desires, and bringing me a new car that is the most flashy nice thing. It is always to align with his will.

And his will at times is yes. His will at times is wait—and we did a lot of waiting—and at times his will is no. But we are to faithfully and courageously pursue him. The second way in which Jesus gives an explanation of how we are to pray is as he looks at our motivation. Verse 11 says, "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"

It stings when God calls me evil. I imagined it was the same for the disciples. But well, he's right—I'm not perfect. I do get angry, I do get jealous, I get frustrated, vindictive. When I was with one of my children and I practically was begging them to do something, they didn't listen. Then they fail. And honestly, in my heart, the first thing that rose up was, "You deserve that pain." Yeah, that's evil. And as a father who loves them and would do anything for them, I give good gifts. Our Father, who is perfect, gives good gifts. No, he gives far better gifts. No, he gives the best gift there is in the Holy Spirit.

Through prayer, we receive this mighty power, we receive this amazing presence of God himself dwelling within us and dwelling within the situations that we are bringing unto him. It's like a boost of energy, a boost of power. So pray—pray as Jesus taught, pray again and again, knowing that God will hear you. Pray knowing that God's response has our good in mind. But when you pray, know that prayer isn't always a fun experience.

I miss my friend. About a year after the transplant, he became ill and passed within a matter of days. We were fervent, knocking hard at the door of the Lord when we got the news. And the answer this time seemed to be no. We did not get the answer we wanted, but kinda. We prayed for healing, but now my friend is healed, experiencing the fullness of that kingdom come that we long for. My friend is experiencing the fullness of that kingdom, and that is an experience that I now long for.

The fullness of the peace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is offered. And it may be experienced in a timeline different than what we prayed for, but it still can be and will be received. I pray today that you are experiencing this taste of peace now that Christ offers, but also will experience the fullness of peace that is to be experienced if you accept Jesus and believe he is Lord and Savior. Pray.