Utter Dependence

I find it interesting that Jesus’ disciples did not ask Jesus to teach them to preach, but to pray. They, having been with Jesus, knew that prayer was the source of His power. Prayer is the source of our power as well.

We have been studying the Lord’s Model prayer for several weeks now and we have seen that Jesus teaches us to pray to our Father, this speaks of His holy position, next He teaches we are to pray for His will to be done, this speaks of His priorities, tonight we will see Jesus teaches us to ask God to meet our needs daily, this speaks of His provision.

God’s provision for our needs, God’s provision, not ours.

The absolute biggest failure you will have in your Christian life is trying to things your way, in your strength alone independent of God. Oswald Chambers said,

Independence is not strength but unrealized weakness and is the very essence of sin. There was no independence in our Lord, the great characteristic of his life was submission to his Father.

Oswald Chambers

Jesus was fully dependent upon God the Father.

We should be fully dependent as well. I believe that is the purpose of this middle petition, Matthew 6:11

Matthew 6:11 KJV 1900

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

This verse teaches us that we should be utterly dependent upon God to meet all our needs.

Are you dependent on God?

We should depend upon God for our...

Physical Needs

Bread, today, in our culture, is an added bonus. Take it or leave it. Hey you can even have sandwiches made today without bread, but in Jesus’ day, as well as in most ancient Eastern cultures, bread was the staple of life. Bread in Jesus day was made of hearty whole grains, was very nutritious, and could sustain you almost as a complete meal replacement.

Now, this is not me trying to sell you on switching from enriched white bread to some healthier bread choice, but rather me trying to connect you with the context of what Jesus was teaching, something that was not lost on His audience: Bread is essential!

Remember it was bread that God fed the Israelites in the wilderness, Manna, although we do not know exactly what it was (lit. “What is this?), was some type of bread. God sent it to them and it was essential to their daily dietary needs.

Verse 11, “Give us this DAY our DAILY bread” is illustrated beautifuly by the distribution of manna:

It appeared daily - Numbers 11:9 “9 And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.”

Miraculously from God

It was not there at night, but appeared the next morning with the dew

It was enough to sustain them for the day

Exodus 16:21 “21 And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.”

Exodus 16:18 “18 And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.”

Exodus 16:17 “17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.”

They could only gather it for today, not for tomorrow (Except before the Sabbath)

Exodus 16:19-20 “19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. 20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.”

It was intended to only sustain them for the day

What is the application between manna in the wilderness and Jesus’ teaching in verse 11? We should trust God to supply what we need for today because none of us are promised tomorrow! Consider Matthew 6:34

Matthew 6:34 KJV 1900

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

God knew that food was a physical need of His people, and God met that need every day for them in their wilderness journey. Church, we serve the same God today. There is not a one of us here that should ever worry about going hungry or not having provided for us what we NEED.

Psalm 37:25 KJV 1900

25 I have been young, and now am old; Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his seed begging bread.

Now sometimes, we confuse what we NEED with what we WANT.

Remember Israel, who was going hungry when God sent the manna were grateful when it came, but after a while, they began to complain. They began asking for “Meat”, let the record show, God answered this request too, but the consequences were not pleasant.

What they needed to learn, what we need to learn, that is to trust God.

Part of the reason we don’t see God move today as He did in the past is that we no longer FULLY trust Him. We don’t need to. At least that’s how we feel right?

We have money in the bank.

Jobs to provide for our needs.

Food to eat.

Cars to drive.

Homes to be safe in.

It typically isn’t until one or more of these are taken away from us, that we begin to look to God to meed our needs. Shame on us. None of the things I just mentioned are our’s because of our own work. God allowed us the ability and opportunity to have those things.

Maybe you’re the exception. Maybe everyday you wake up you give God praise because you realize all that you have is because of Him. I pray each of us gets to that place in our spiritual lives, where we give praise to God for meeting all our physical needs, but there is more to this verse than just our physical needs, it includes also our...

Partnering Needs

Notice the plural pronouns in this verse, “Give US this day OUR daily bread.”

Even if you are in the habit of giving God praise for meeting your daily needs, we need to be in the habit of praying for our brethren that are not so fortunate.

All around this community, our country, the world, there are Christians who are literally praying today for their daily bread. Most of us, hopefully all of us, are in the habit of thanking God for the food we have to eat, but not many of us have to regularly ask God for food to eat.

A very real part of praying is asking God to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters around the world who are struggling right now with the basic needs of life. I know we help with many of these needs through our mission’s giving, but the truth is those funds only go so far. God is all-reaching. So when you pray, pray for God to meet the needs of those who are truly in need.

Conclusion:

God is “OUR” Father. God is “IN” control. God is able to meet “OUR” needs.

When you pray you are praying in response to your relationship with God, praying for His Kingdom to come, His will to be done, and for our needs and the needs of our brethren to be met.

Imagine if Jesus had taught this, but not died on the cross? He not only talked a big take, but He walked the walk.

Christian, it’s time we put our faith where our mouth is.