Turning Toward the Son: Learning to Pray with Jesus
Edited directly from the sermon transcript of Matthew Miller’s message at Highland Hills Church of Christ on March 15, 2026. Adapted for length and readability while preserving his voice and message.
How confident do you feel when you pray? How confident are you that God hears and listens? How comfortable do you feel in that space?
Some people have told me prayer feels like talking to themselves, and they wonder whether they are heard at all. Perhaps you have prayed for something to change and are still waiting. Perhaps you experienced a breakthrough that strengthened your confidence, but now that confidence seems to have dried up.
Most believers would say prayer is important. Yet many struggle with it. We respect it, but may not practice it regularly. We want a stronger prayer life, while finding prayer mysterious. If I encourage you to get into the word, you can take a Bible off the shelf or open an app. Prayer can feel more abstract.
The disciples spent years with Jesus, listening to him and seeing what he did. They could have asked him to teach them many things. In Luke 11, we find one striking request. After Jesus finishes praying, a disciple says, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
These men had grown up hearing prayers in the synagogue and the temple. Prayer belonged to their heritage. Why come to Jesus and ask to learn? They had seen something distinctive in the rhythm of his life. They saw a connection between his power, practice, and prayer. Don’t worry; all my points aren’t going to start with P.
What does it mean to learn to pray as Jesus prayed?
Jesus gives them a pattern of prayer, then tells a story about a friend asking for bread at midnight. He encourages them to ask, seek, and knock. Finally, he compares the imperfect goodness of earthly parents with the goodness of the heavenly Father, who gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask.
Prayer is about relationship. It is how disciples learn to live in dependence on the Father. The disciples ask how to pray, and that involves more than which words to say. It involves the posture of a life before God.
Even our outward posture can help us recognize that. Why do we bow our heads? We quiet ourselves because we are entering something significant. With preschoolers, we have a little rhyme to help them settle down and prepare to pray. But the deeper posture is the posture of the heart.
Jesus modeled that relationship. He withdrew to quiet places. He rose early to seek his Father. The disciples watched and wanted to understand.
When Jesus teaches them to address God as Father, he brings together two truths. We come to a loving, compassionate, involved Father. He is close to us. We also come to the holy one who created the cosmos and reigns over it all.
I don’t go to Cracker Barrel very often, but when I do, I like to wind up all the little toys at once, watch them go, and then get out of the way so nobody knows who did it. Sometimes we picture God that way: he wound the world up and then left the scene. Jesus shows us something different. God is both close and over all.
We approach him with affection and reverence together. Prayer lives in that beautiful relationship.
Prayer is also shaped by God’s priorities. I often come with my wants on my heart—a whole list to bring to God because I know he loves me. I don’t always begin by asking what God’s priorities are. Yet Jesus begins with God’s name, kingdom, and will. He gives us a structure that directs our attention toward God’s glory first.
Then the prayer turns to our daily needs, forgiveness, and protection. Notice that even here, it speaks of “us” and “our.” It places us within the wider community of God’s people. We need daily bread, forgiveness, and help together. There is no such thing as an isolated Christian. God works among and through his people.
Jesus is reordering our priorities. Prayer moves us from being centered on ourselves toward being centered on God. And when our lives are directed toward his glory, other people benefit too.
Then Jesus teaches persistent trust. In his story, a guest arrives late at night. Hospitality matters, but the host has no food to offer. He goes to a neighbor and asks for bread, continuing even when the neighbor is reluctant to get out of bed.
We could misunderstand that story and think God is reluctant too, and that persistence is the lever we pull to make him give us what we want. But Jesus is teaching us to keep coming. God is not annoyed by our persistence.
Ask and keep asking. Seek and keep seeking. Knock and keep knocking. Prayer is a continuing practice. We need not conclude that God has failed to hear simply because the answer has not arrived when we expected it.
It is easy to overlook how much time passes within biblical stories. We read about God answering and can miss the years of waiting. Persistence involves continuing dependence on God and recognizing our need for him in every part of life. Persistent prayer reveals persistent trust.
Jesus then roots prayer in the Father’s goodness. Even imperfect earthly parents know how to give good gifts to their children. He uses absurd examples to make the point: a child asks for a fish, and the father hands over a snake. “Here you go, kid. Have fun.” That is not how a caring father responds.
Sometimes we hear “everyone who asks receives” and imagine that God is promising everything on our list. But Luke gives us an important detail in verse 13: the heavenly Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.
What did the church do after Jesus ascended and before Pentecost? They prayed together. Jesus had taught them to pray, and they were looking toward what he would do next. The Holy Spirit came.
The greatest answer to prayer is a deeper experience of God. The Holy Spirit brings his presence into our lives. Learning to pray means learning to live daily in relationship with the Father and dependence upon him. This is part of our spiritual formation.
Last week, in Psalm 1, we considered the godly person as a tree planted beside streams of water. When we say yes to Jesus, we take our place beside that stream. Prayer helps nourish that life so we can bear fruit without withering in difficult seasons.
One morning, before we left for preschool, I noticed the little plants Ava had been growing. Every day she ran downstairs to see whether they had grown. There were little sprouts reaching toward the light, and the pot needed to be turned.
Later that same day, someone told me he had been thinking about our spiritual walk as a plant that sometimes needs to be turned toward the sun. I said, “You didn’t know this, but let me tell you what happened this morning.” It was one of those providential moments when something suddenly comes together.
What does it look like to grow into Christ and be formed by him? We turn ourselves toward him. Prayer is one way we do that.
Wherever you are in your prayer life, resolve to turn your face toward Jesus. It doesn’t need to be complicated. Follow the pattern he gives us. Show up. Sit with him. Prayers need not be long or eloquent. They need to be heartfelt.
Jesus tells of a religious leader who boasts of his holiness and compares himself with another man. Nearby, a tax collector acknowledges his need for mercy. That is the man God hears.
Perhaps the place to begin is simply admitting our need. And if you need help taking that next step with Jesus, let your brothers and sisters walk with you. We learn to pray as we keep turning toward him.
