Should we pray, “Your will be formed,” or “Your will be done.” Bruce Ware contrasts how God answers prayers according to Open Theism, which teaches God does not know the future in reference to prayer, and Biblical Omniscience, which teaches that God does know the future and answers our prayers according to his will.

“God does not necessarily know exactly what will happen in the future,” wrote Open Theist David Basinger in Models of God and Alternative Ultimate Realities 163.

Jesus commanded, “Do not be like them [Pharisees], for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Mt 6:8). Because Jesus exhaustively knows the future and what we will be asking before we ask, He can providently prepare to answer our prayers. Open Theism, which teaches that God does not know the future, can only react when He hears our prayers. John Sanders, an Open Theism advocate, wrote, “To a large extent our future is open and we are to determine what it will be in dialogue [prayer] with God” (John Sanders, God Who Risks, 277).

Ware wrote, Jesus does not instruct us to pray, “your will be formed,” but rather, “your will be done.” God has a will that predates our prayers.