Grace and peace to you from God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

As you may have guessed from our readings today the theme is prayer. Too often we make prayer a complicated ordeal when God really wants us to have a conversation with Him. I want to share a little anecdote with you.

A man took his small son with him to town one day to run some errands. When lunch time arrived, the two of them went to a familiar diner for a sandwich. The father sat down on one of the stools at the counter and lifted the boy up to the seat beside him. They ordered lunch, and when the waiter brought the food, the father said, "Son, we'll just have a silent prayer." Dad got through praying first and waited for the boy to finish his prayer, but he just sat with his head bowed for an unusually long time. When he finally looked up, his father asked him, "What in the world were you praying about all that time?" With the innocence and honesty of a child, he replied, "How do I know? It was a silent prayer."

Children always have an interesting perspective on the things adults do.

As with everything in life someone always has a formula, you may be familiar with the acronym ACTS from your confirmation days. It is a helpful way to approach prayer and remind us of our relationship to God.

Adoration: This is the most neglected part of prayer. This element of prayer simply makes a statement about God. It starts with "You have done…" or "You are…." It is simply a statement of the truth about God. The person praying stands in awe of him.

Confession: this is the statement of the human condition. Again, we often neglect this element of prayer and can sound very much like we are coming to God on equal terms. This element of prayer simply says, "I'm afraid" or "I'm weak" or "I don't know what to do." This element of the prayer does not have to be, "I am a terrible sinner." It can simply be a statement of my condition. "God, I'm broke and I need money to pay the rent" is a confession.

Thanksgiving: This is where the person thanks God for specific elements in their life. This prayer is specific, not generic. It looks to the past, preferably the immediate past, and it sees God's hand at work behind the blessings and the strength and the whole of life.

Supplication: Having adored, confessed my condition, and thanked God for his gifts of the past, I now am able to come to him in real supplication. The other three elements will likely shape this prayer; perhaps even change its content.

Everyone has their own way of going about daily prayer. However can we really ask God for anything without recognizing His majesty, our sinful nature, or being thankful for His blessings? If I am asking God to do something I would be uncomfortable not to exalt Him and admit my sinfulness. Of course there are those quick little prayers when we see an accident. I doubt God gets upset with us in those instances where urgency seems to call for a request alone especially when others are hurting. I'm sure we all have done that.

For a long time I wouldn't ask for anything for myself. I thought who am I that God would listen or grant me a request I am insignificant and fail to follow His commandments. Even my good intentions can turn into disaster. The Old and New Testament readings both show that line of thinking is wrong. Abraham was chosen by God because of his faith. We are chosen as well by our faith in Jesus. That faith and the grace of God through Jesus make us the beloved children that can ask God for things in our lives.

In the reading this morning Abraham intercedes for Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18:17-33). Abraham doesn't want God to destroy Sodom because his nephew Lot lives there with his family. Abraham himself even describes his requests of God as bold. The point to remember here is that God has chosen Abraham and his descendents as His own so He accepts the request of Abraham like a loving parent. A little latter in Genesis we find that God fulfills the request by bringing Lot and his family out of the city to safety before its destruction. The prayer was answered but in a different way than Abraham had intended.

Luke records a disciple asking Jesus how they should pray. It strikes me a bit odd that a disciple should ask this since so many were Jews. However we have to keep in mind that this could have been a gentile and that being Jewish doesn't mean you have done anything more than had a Jewish mother.

Luke shares with us what we know as the Lord's Prayer which is significant in itself. He also goes on to share a bit more about prayer.

Jesus uses the example of the man requesting three loaves of bread from a neighbor in the dead of the night to feed unexpected guests. Although the neighbor at first resists because of the time of night he does finally give the man what he requests due to his persistence. This seems to be a parallel to Abraham's persistence in trying to save Sodom.

Jesus follows up with that example with 9 "…Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

To emphasize these verses Jesus continues by saying that even though we are sinful we can give good gifts how much better the gifts that God can provide.

You may be thinking I have asked for things and they didn't happen. Let me tell you from my own experience that it turns out to be a very good gift indeed.

God has several options when you make a request. He can grant it because it truly is a good thing for you to receive. He can lead you to something better than what you requested. Or He can leave us with no answer. We don't know His timeline so what we think is no answer may be answered long after the request. God knows better than we do about what is good for us. He is not going to harm us or lead us to temptation.

We can boldly ask Him for good things in our lives and we can expect that something will come from our prayers. We don't know what His answer will be but we do know that if we trust in Him He will provide what we need.

In the Name of Our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.