November 12, 2017

"Give us today our daily bread." Matthew 6:11

Jesus was a Master Teacher because He had the knack of packing profound truths into simple statements.

A great example is The Lord's Prayer which Jesus could have nearly Tweeted since it's just 66 words long!

One way to unpack this prayer is distill it down into smaller prayers. I have identified four prayers contained in just this eleventh verse of Matthew 6. 

The first three are:

A prayer of gratitude

A prayer of contentment

A prayer of confidence

Today we will look at the fourth prayer which is a prayer of generosity.

Note the words "give US....OUR...."

Reflected in this request is the attitude of Kingdom people. We don't give to get we give to glorify. And when we do get, we give it away!

Kingdom people are not receptacles we are channels or conduit between God's resources and the world's needs.

How else can God meet human needs from Heaven's storehouse?

So, many people look at the heart-breaking poverty in our world and cry out to God, "Why?"

But God weeps in Heaven and cries out, "Who?"

One way you could pray this part of the Prayer is, "Give me today what I need to meet needs."

As I write this I think of this classic story that illustrates well what God desires from Kingdom people:

One day a man said to God, “God, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.”

God showed the man two doors. Inside the first one, in the middle of the room, was a large round table with a large pot of stew. It smelled delicious and made the man’s mouth water, but the people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. God said, “You have seen Hell.”

Behind the second door, the room appeared exactly the same. There was the large round table with the large pot of wonderful stew that made the man’s mouth water. The people had the same long-handled spoons, but they were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The man said, “I don’t understand.”

God smiled. It is simple, he said, Love only requires one skill. These people learned early on to share and feed one another. While the greedy only think of themselves… [Author unknown]

"Give US today OUR daily bread" is, among other things, a prayer to deliver us from greed and create in us a generous nature!

Will you pray that prayer today?

There is a needy world depending on you!

November 11, 2017

"Give us today our daily bread." Matthew 6:11

Within this short and prayer are four prayers worthy of note. I have shared two of them and with this post I share the third:

This is a prayer of gratitude and a prayer of contentment as well as a prayer of confidence!

How is it a prayer of confidence?

First, you can be confident in who is giving you the prayer. When Jesus teaches you a pattern for prayer you can certainly have confidence in that prayer!

Second, you can be confident in who you are praying to! Jesus gives you the prayer with the assurance that God will listen to this prayer!

Third, you can be confident in the content of the prayer! Jesus knows the Father and what pleases Him. Jesus knows God's will and what He wants to do. Jesus knows what you need to ask the Father for! Since Jesus is the source of this prayer you can pray it with confidence!

What is the point of praying if you do not pray with confidence? If praying brings you more confusion or doubt than you had before you prayed, why would you do that?

The Lord's Prayer is a pattern for praying confidently! You can be confident in a prayer that is given by Jesus to His disciples to please His Father!

So, when you pray according to this prayer you can pray with confidence!

4 Prayers In One

"Give us today our daily bread." Matthew 6:11

There are four prayers within this prayer!

In the last post we prayed a prayer of gratitude from the word "GIVE".

The second prayer is a prayer of contentment from the word "BREAD".

God created you with a hunger for bread. And I am not just talking about a delicious loaf hot from the oven! He did give you an appetite for food and I'm sure you're glad about that!

Your Heavenly Father delights in providing bread for you to enjoy. He loves it when you find physical comfort and contentment.

He understands not only the physical need for bread but also the emotional and psychological significance of knowing your daily bread will be provided. Consider this story:

In their book “Sleeping With Bread” Dennis, Sheila, and Matthew Linn tell one of the many stories of survival from World War II. During the bombing raids on Allied countries thousands of children were orphaned and left to starve. The fortunate ones were rescued and placed in refugee camps where they received food and care. But many of these children who had lost so much could not sleep at night. They feared waking up to find themselves again homeless and without food. Nothing seemed to reassure them. Finally someone came up with the idea of giving each child a piece of bread to hold at bedtime. Holding bread in their hand, the children could finally go to sleep and sleep in peace. The bread reminded them, “Today I ate, and I will eat again tomorrow.”

Daily bread given by God is a great blessing! 

But not only does He provide bread for you, HE IS Bread for you!

"Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35

The food for your body will satisfy for awhile but soon you will hunger again. But when you feed on Jesus in your Spirit by faith you will be completely satisfied!

When you feed your body on bread your life will be sustained for awhile. But when you feed on Jesus you will have everlasting life!

"Give us today our daily bread" is a prayer of gratitude and a prayer of contentment!

When it comes to physical and spiritual hunger YOU HAVE A PRAYER!

November 9, 2017

"Give us today our daily bread." - Matthew 6:11

These six simple words hold the keys to a life of joy and satisfaction. 

These six simple words tell you that YOU HAVE A PRAYER to find what you need at the deepest levels of your life!

When properly interpreted within the context of the Lord's Prayer you will discover four prayers within this phrase!

The first prayer within this prayer that leads to satisfaction is found in the word "GIVE" and it is a prayer of gratitude for all of God's blessings. 

How is that?

Think about it, when you pray asking God to "GIVE" you are acknowledging Him as a giver. And not just A giver but THE giver! And as THE giver He is the source of your blessings! Everything good in your life (physically, spiritually and emotionally) comes from Him!

"But, I work hard for what I have! No one gives me anything!"

I would ask you, "Who gave you life?"

I would ask, "Who gives you health and strength to work?"

I would ask, "Who provided your job for you?"

I would ask, "Who caused you to be born in a free and prosperous nation where jobs flourish and opportunities abound?"

God delights in providing for your needs and delights in you asking Him and trusting Him to meet those needs.

Asking God to "GIVE" your daily bread acknowledges your dependence on Him.

Asking God to "GIVE" your daily bread acknowledges that all good things come from Him, that He can be trusted to meet your need and you are grateful for His gifts! He provided for you yesterday and you hope in His provision for you today.

God is pleased when you ask Him to "GIVE" and pleases you with His abundant provision! So you HAVE A PRAYER when you pray, "GIVE US TODAY OUR DAILY BREAD".

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

"Give us today our daily bread." Matthew 6:11

Seldom do six words contain so much significant truth as these! But then they were spoken by Jesus so we should not be surprised.

In previous posts I summarized the purpose of the Lord's Prayer as designed to change me from "I want my way" prayers to "have Your way" prayers. I supported that summary by teaching from Matthew 6:9-10.

At first glance, the request in verse eleven appears to contradict that as He instructs the disciples to ask for what they need. But let's take a closer look!

Praying "Give us this day our daily bread" is a declaration of God's desire to meet our needs! 

He wants to!

He is able to!

He will!

Praying "Give us this day our daily bread" is a strong declaration of your dependence on God to care for you by providing what you need to survive each day. 

Praying "Give us this day our daily bread" is a recognition that God is clear on what you actually need to survive. You struggle to differentiate between what you need and what you want but He doesn't! Knowing that and believing it can teach you to identify needs from wants! Here's a hint! If He hasn't supplied you don't really need it!

Praying "Give us this day our daily bread" will relieve you from the anxiety of going without. As the Psalmist declared,  "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread." Psalms 37:25

Praying "Give us this day our daily bread" will guard from becoming proud or self-sufficient. With this becoming a daily practice you will maintain your perspective on Who provides for you!

Praying "Give us this day our daily bread" is not a selfish prayer but a plural and collective prayer! "Give US" includes your family or those for whom you bear responsibility! If you know He will provide for you can have confidence of His ability to provide for them!

Praying "Give us this day our daily bread" will make it easier for you to be generous with others because you are confident you will not go without.

These are by no means a complete list of the benefits of praying this prayer but I share these to illustrate that you are not being selfish by praying this prayer and it is not a "I want my way" prayer!

When it comes to having your needs supplied YOU HAVE A PRAYER!

November 7, 2017

"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves." Genesis 3:6-7

After spending several days studying Adam and Eve I want to distill it down to one simple truth:

Gratitude = God focused

Greed = self-focused

Thankful people are God focused people as opposed to dissatisfied unhappy people whose lives are self-focused.

I think that is obvious from the reading of this tragic story of the Fall.

Gratitude and greed are the flip sides of the same coin.

When Adam and Eve walked with their lives centered on Him, they enjoyed contentment and satisfaction. When their will was surrendered to His will they lived in the wonder of His presence. When they found their pleasure in pleasing Him, they reaped all the joys of Paradise. As long as God was their chief desire, He filled their life with delight. When they kept focused on all their blessings from God they lived in humble gratitude.

But something happened one day in the Garden! There was trouble brewing in Paradise!

Did they begin to take their perfect fellowship with God for granted?

Did they let their thoughts drift toward curiosity about the Tree of Life?

Did they allow a wrong desire to creep into their spirit? 

Whatever the cause, the first couple wandered carelessly close to the forbidden tree. Once they were close to the Tree they were within range for the Tempter. And because they had allowed their focus to drift away from God and onto their fleshly desires they were susceptible to the tempting offer.When it was given they willfully disobeyed.

Could it be that gratitude is the most basic of all the Christian attitudes?

Is it possible that ingratitude, or greed, is the root cause of sin?

Think about it.

When Adam and Eve remained grateful they remained holy, but then they got a little greedy.....

November 6, 2017

“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Matthew 6:9-10

One good way to delve deeper into the Scripture is to ask questions of the text. 

For example, take the Lord's Prayer.

Why did Jesus give us THIS prayer?

Is it something God wants to hear from us in this prayer OR is there something He has to say to us in it?

If there is a lesson for us what is that lesson?

Asking those questions I came away with this conclusion: Jesus gave us the Lord's Prayer to help change us from our "I WANT MY WAY" prayers to "HAVE YOU WAY" prayers!

Whether that is the MAIN lesson or not it is certainly an important lesson! It certainly makes prayer more powerful when you are praying for His way than if you are praying for your own!

So, how does this happen? How would I move from "I want my way" prayers to "have your way" prayers?

That's a great question! Now you're getting the hang of it!

The answer is found in the pattern of the prayer!

Pray in relationship with God - "Our Father in Heaven.."

God longs for a relationship with you! He wants it so badly that He sent His Son to die on the cross to make it possible to come into a spiritual relationship with Him.

Through Christ you can be adopted as a child of God! And as a child of God and your prayers can become a conversation between a child and a father!

That's the first step to "have your way" prayers!

Pray in recognition of God - "hallowed be your name..."

God may be your Father but you don't call Him your "Old Man" nor do you approach Him casually.

He is holy!  So you approach Him with reverence and respect! You come with a humble recognition of Who He is!

While He wants prayer to be a conversation He wants you to be mindful of His holiness and approach Him in that manner.

That's the second step to praying "have your way" prayers.

Pray with resignation to God - "your kingdom come and your will be done"

When you are in a right relationship with the Father and fully recognize Who He is there is really only one appropriate response - you pray "your kingdom come and your will be done"!

How could you pray "have my way" prayers in the presence of a Holy Heavenly Father?

Jesus wants you to understand the real and ultimate purpose of prayer - to pray "have your way" prayers for His glory and your good!

Pray in Relationship with your FATHER

Pray in Recognition of your FATHER

Pray in Resignation to your FATHER

That's the way to have a prayer when you pray!