Teach us to pray part 6

Give us this day our daily Bread

  The daily bread.

Introduction:

The Model Prayer as we have so aptly called it has been our subject I’ve felt the Lord wanted us to deal with. So this morning we are continuing in that prayer but before we get started I would like for us all to pray the Lord’s Prayer together, not as a recital but with our hearts and expectation, and faith that which we pray will come to pass. Let us pray together

Our Father, who art in heaven Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever amen.

Pray

So let’s quickly recap what we have studied so far in this sermon series.

Jesus the Lord was asked to teach the disciples how to pray.

He gave us a way as to which we are not to pray,

we are not to be like the pagans who repeat vainly or pray without thinking and just repeat words constantly

We are to not pray as to be seen just so people will know that you pray.

Hopefully throughout this sermon we have been challenged to ask ourselves this question often. Are we praying in this manner?

Are we falling into this category of repeating for repeating sakes?

In the first half of this prayer we have found out that.

1. Prayer is personal “Our Father who art in Heaven”

 2. Prayer is honoring “Hallowed be thy name”

 3. Prayer is proclaiming “thy Kingdom Come”

 4. Prayer is trusting “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”

And this is just the first half of the prayer we still need to cover the second! The depth and completeness of this prayer is just amazing to me.

The first half of the Lord’s Prayer directs our attention to God the Father. We are instructed to;

1. Pray to the Father about His Name-“Hallowed be your name”

 2. Pray to the Father about His Kingdom- “Your Kingdom come”

3. Pray to the Father about His Will-“Your will be done.

The second half of the Lord’s Prayer which we are starting today teaches us to pray for ourselves and for others. We are to;

1. Pray for Provision-“Give us today our daily bread”

2. Pray for Pardon- “Forgive us our debts”

3. Pray for Protection-“Lead us not into temptation.”

AT a brief glance at the Lord’s Prayer it reveals that there is one word that characterizes the first half of the prayer, that word is

YOURS

Your Name

Your Will

Your Kingdom

The second half of the prayer is characterized by a completely different word.

US

Give US

Forgive US

Lead US

By arranging things this way, Jesus is teaching us that we are to begin prayer with God’s concerns, and then Once we have done that, we then begin to pray for our own concerns.

Therefore, this is the biblical pattern of prayer,

We begin by establishing our relationship with God;

-He is my Father because I have accepted His Son Jesus into my life as my personal savior, and I have been adopted into His son ship.

-I then begin to praise God by bringing honor to His name; I hallow His name. I bless His name. I praise His name.

-Third, I begin to pray about the two things that God cares about more than anything else; the kingdom of God coming to me and to earth, and that the will of God is done on this earth as it is done in Heaven.

-Finally, after I have approached God in this manner, I can then begin to bring my own petitions before God, and Pray about the things that I need help with, and struggle with.

I want to emphasize this morning that this is the way that we are taught to pray.

That we are not to just dive into prayer begging for this and that or complaining about this and that.

But instead we are to start off by offering Honor and Praise. And THEN and only then are we to bring our petitions to Him.

God is to be honored and is more important than any petition we ever have to bring to Him.

Putting prayer in its right perspective and putting God first in our prayer time is what brings about the answers to our prayers.

God is to be honored and if we do not honor and respect who He is and what HE has done for us, I am afraid he has no obligation to answer our petitions.

First take the time to give God the respect and honor He deserves by observing; His worth, His love, His greatness, His kingdom, and His will.  Jesus teaches us how to keep prayer in proper perspective; prayer is first and foremost for and about God.

Now in the second half of this prayer, Jesus masterfully shows us how to pray for every detail of our lives;

· “Give us our daily bread.” We pray for provision, which takes care of our present.

· “Forgive us our trespasses.”  We pray for pardon, which takes care of our past.

· “Lead us not into temptation.”  We pray for protection which takes care of our future.

Also this prayer takes care of every part of you….

· Provision takes care of your body.

· Pardon takes care of your soul.

· Protection takes care of your spirit.

The latter part of this prayer covers past, present, and future, and it covers body, soul, spirit; anything you could possibly pray for will be found in one of these categories.

So this brings us to today’s topic.

The Daily Bread.

What is the daily bread exactly?

How do we define it or is it even defined in Scripture?

Matthew 6:11 reads “Give us this day our daily bread”

What really jumps out at me about this first petition is the word “daily.”  In this prayer Jesus is telling us to pray for our “daily” bread.  The Greek word for “bread” refers to common, ordinary bread. It isn’t talking about anything fancy, it just means normal, everyday bread.

This prayer does not say, “give me my daily cake,” or “give me everything I want,” but rather it is saying, “give me what I need to make it through the day.”  “God, please take care of me today and give me what I need to make it through this day.”

This flies in the face of many of our prayers, because we spend a lot of time praying for the things we want, or think we deserve, when what we should be praying for are the things that we need, and then trusting God to give us what we need. 

We are very spoiled, and you might even be able to throw the word brat on the back end of that. 

If we don’t get what we want when we want it, many of us will throw fits, temper tantrums, and I have even seen some give up on the faith. 

Why didn’t God answer my prayer? He must not love me like I have been told my whole life because he isn’t answering this prayer.

Most people are not just satisfied with the daily bread, but they want tomorrow’s bread, and next week’s bread today.  There are even some that preach and teach that God’s wants you to have everything you want…and you can have it as long as you have enough faith.  Well that theology flies in the face of Jesus’ model prayer that says pray for what you need today, and don’t worry about tomorrow.  Well let’s look a little deeper into this petition.   

What does “Daily Bread” mean? Martin Luther taught that “Everything that nourishes our body and meets its needs” is daily bread.  Things such as; food, drink, clothing, shoes, shelter, yard, fields, cattle, money, possessions, a faithful spouse, obedient children, good employees, faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, discipline, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors and other things like these.  Everything physical or material is contained in the expression “bread”.

You are not just praying for physical bread; but you are praying for all the physical and material needs of life. 

In this petition we learn that God does care for our daily needs.  He cares!  God cares for your material needs!  

The Bible says in Psalm 130:5 that “God satisfies our desires with good things.”  God wants you to have good things, and He wants you to be taken care of.

There are some well-meaning people who have thought that it is somehow unspiritual to pray for physical needs. But you’re not just a soul or a spirit, but you are a real person living in a real human body who has real physical needs.

· If food is what you need, this prayer teaches you to pray for food.

· If money is what you need, this prayer teaches you to pray for money.

· If a job is what you need, this prayer teaches you to pray for a job.

· If health is what you need, this prayer teaches you to pray for health.

· If you have a physical need, then Jesus teaches us to bring that need before God.

So God cares about your needs and encourages us to bring our needs before Him. 

But there is that very important word in this prayer that distinguishes our needs from our wants; and that is the word “daily.” 

Jesus is teaching us to pray for our daily needs, and then trust God to meet those needs day by day.  He is calling us to depend on Him on a daily basis…not necessarily for what we want, but for what we need. 

A good distinguishing characteristic to know what the difference of something being a want and a need is. Can you get through the day today without it.

Give us this day our daily bread.

We are also seeing that He is talking about spiritual bread as well as physical bread.

Jesus is mentioned as the Bread of Life

John 6:33 MEV

For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

So Jesus is considered part of the bread, and we obviously need Him daily.

Another part is the Word of God.

We must consume this bread daily.

Scripture likens the Word of God as bread when Jesus was tempted of Satan He said, “For man cannot live by bread alone but every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Jesus is implying that we are reliant also on a Spiritual bread that comes from God. The Word.

Jesus is our Bread, and the Word of God is our bread we must have these daily to stay consistent.

Without the Word being a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path I can fall into the darkness and stumble off the road.

I heard my Uncle Phil preach a message and the idea was Do you have your GPS set and you know where you’re going? What a timely message for this day and age. And if you are not living by the Word of the Living God and in a relationship with Him then you are going to have a hard time figuring out where you’re going.

This daily bread is a life giving bread. And you know without eating you would likely die from starvation the same thing happens to your Spirit if you don’t eat the Word so to speak you will die a Spiritual death of Spiritual starvation.

Jesus is telling us here in this Scripture do not worry about tomorrow, or the past, or even this moment. Just trust rely and lean into the Word.

I believe when we’re praying this we are praying a peace upon us. We are praying essentially what Paul wrote to the Phillipians.

Philippians 4:8 MEV

Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think on these things.

Paul is writing here about what Jesus had said… Jesus says that when we pray for God to give us our Daily bread.

We are praying that His peace be upon us for today.

We are praying that we trust God to give us our needs for today.

We are praying that His Kingdom is sufficient for today.

We are praying that we will not worry about tomorrow, nor will we dwell on the past.

We are praying that God give us what we need for today and what we need is all we are focused on.

Praise God and that’s what Paul reiterates here. He is saying that those worries those problems that we can’t seem to keep our minds off of don’t worry about that God has it in His control give it to Him and think about there here and now. Live in the here and now.

One of the hardest things to do is to live in the moment with trust and reliance on what God is saying and giving to us, yet that is what we are told to pray about when we pray Give us this day our daily bread.

2. The peace that surpasses all understanding. Is our Daily bread.

Matthew 6:34 MEV

Therefore, take no thought about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take thought about the things of itself. Sufficient to the day is the trouble thereof.

Part of praying for daily bread is understanding that Jesus is sufficient.

We become worry warts. The adversary is all the time trying to combat against us, and detract us because of the items and dealings we go through on a daily basis. We end up worrying more than we ought.

Let me tell you what I know God opens doors and He closes doors.

If that Promotion doesn’t come through.

Or that Job doesn’t work out.

Or the money doesn’t get there in time for your bills to be paid.

Or that church position opens and gets filled fast.

We worry, we fret, we wonder what did I do to make this not happen. That is the adversary working against us. Can I encourage you that more often than not That’s just God closing a door for one of two reasons.

One is that He has a better plan for you and does not want you to go that way.

The other is God wants to put you in a position to have you trust Him.

One of two reasons that door doesn’t open. Do not push it down, do not fret and worry it into existence, but trust God pray for the daily bread that sustenance that surpasses logic. That regardless of the opportunity that you feel like you are missing, you will stand on the Word that His Word is enough and you will trust Him!

And God WILL open another door for you.

Praise the Lord.

So that’s Jesus’ way of telling us to relax.

He’s got it.

Enjoy Creation.

Enjoy Family.

Enjoy Life.

If you go through life worrying about every little thing you will never accomplish anything.

If you try to rationalize well I can’t give to that or bless this person right now because you start thinking about the bill this weekend. Then you will never be the blessing that God intends for us to be.

But if you live in the here and now. ‘

If you are not worried about tomorrow and you Trust God to bless you, and help you, and prepare you, and give you what you need for each day. Then you can be a more effective witness.

You can be the blessing you are called to be.

This is daily bread living. To live with expectation and acknowledgement that no matter what comes my way.

The Master, The Maker, The Creator, The God who named the stars and hung them in the sky, He is here, He is with me, He will NEVER leave me nor forsake me, He cares for me. He is just like us we care for our kids He cares even more for us. He desires that we trust Him. Obey Him. And LIVE in there here and now.

Daily Bread Living is Knowing that God will supply ALL MY NEED according to His Riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.

Let me share with you a story of a people who lived in a daily bread living.

Imagine if you will for a few seconds that you were a slave. A slave to Egyptians. Then one day a guy comes along. He says that He has talked with I AM, the one true God. This man’s name is Moses. Then he says God has a plan to take us out of slavery and bring us to a land of milk and honey. Then all of a sudden these strange things start happening to the Egyptians but not to us Israelites. The start getting flies, locusts, frogs, their water turns to blood, the get boils, and it increases day by day until finally Moses tells us one day to slaughter a lamb and put it on our doorposts because the Angel of Death is coming tonight. We do, you can hear the wind howling and feel the presence that night of the Angel going through every place and passing over those who obeyed and put the blood of a spotless lamb over their doorposts. Then you hear screams from the Egyptian camps increasing and you know that something has happened. You get up the next morning and you are rushed out headed to that land that Moses promised. They were in such a hurry they even gave us gold and carriages and animals. God parts a river for us and we cross on dry land and drowns Pharaoh in the same river we just crossed. The one day on our way we start to hear this person murmur and then that person murmur about how it was easier as a slave because they had something to eat. And like an infection the complaining grows. Then God tells Moses that He will provide for us food. He will give us Manna which is a bread like substance that takes a little like Honey. But there was one Criteria and that was we are to only get that which we need every day save the day before Sabbath and to gather a double portion because no work was to be done on that day. Some of us didn’t really want to do what God said and gathered more than we needed because we were afraid that it wouldn’t be there the next day. That next day came we went to eat some for breakfast before we gathered more and grabbed a handful or mush and worms. Then we realized what it was that I AM was wanting to teach us. And that was to trust Him. And not worry.

That is the very first example of daily bread living. Found in Exodus 16. If you noticed the murmuring was infectious and turned into complaining.  Church that’s what worrying can and will do to you.

Worrying will turn your joy into complaining.

Worrying will suck out your Joy.

And God is a God of Joy, and Peace therefore there is no worry in Him.

For this reason I believe we are to live with a Daily Bread mentality and TRUST GOD in all HE does. Praise be to God!

1 Peter 1:8 MEV

whom, having not seen, you love; and in whom, though you do not see Him now, you believe and you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory,

What Peter is saying here is that because we believe, the amplified says puts trust in cleaves to adheres to, HIM we have JOY UNSPEAKABLE AND FULL OF GLORY! Praise God this Is daily bread living!

Do not worry for tomorrow because HE has it in His hands. He brings us through!

3. Daily Bread living consists of trust 4 steps

The first step to daily bread living is gratitude to God for all His blessings.

Everything we have comes from God. Everything. The clothes, the food, the friendships, the education, the mind we use, the words we speak, everything comes from God. Understanding that fact is the first step on the road to living a daily life of trust.

Consider the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 8:10

Deuteronomy 8:10 MEV

When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.

1 Chronicles 29:14 MEV

“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so freely as this? For everything comes from You, even from Your own hand we have given to You.

Psalm 145:16 MEV

You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

Everything you have comes from God so be grateful to God for what you have. Do not be like the Israelites who are caught complaining. But be like David who thanks God and is marveled at the fact he is given the opportunity to give back to Him.

The second step to Daily Bread Living is contentment with what God has already provided and expectation of that which God has not provided yet.

Proverbs 30:7–9 MEV

Two things I have required of you; do not deny me them before I die: Remove vanity and lies far from me— give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me; lest I be full, and deny You, and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

1 Chronicles 4:10 MEV

Then Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh, that You would indeed bless me and enlarge my territory, that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that it may not bring me hardship!” So God granted what he asked.

These Scriptures remind us that God’s supply is sufficient, we are to be content with what He has already given us. We receive what He has already allotted us and we be content with it. If that is all God gives than I am fine, however, just like these Scritpures represent we should pray with expectation and belief that God desires to give us more and receive it when He does.

Church, do not let your pride keep you from being content with what God has given you.

Do not let your humility keep you from expecting and believing for more than what He has given you.

After all Scriptures record that we are BLESSED to be a blessing. You cannot be a blessing to someone if you are not blessed. If you are always worried about what’s going to happen if you bless that person with your last little bit of food you are not going to be an effective blesser. So I believe God has and desires to bless with abundance to be a blessing.

But while we wait and receive those blessings slowly we are to be content with God’s timing Amen.

The Third step to daily bread living is confidence that God will meet my needs day by day.

Sometimes it can be difficult to have confidence that God will do what He says He will do. We cannot be naive here, it sounds easy, it preaches well, but when things go wrong we lose confidence. Can I tell you however, that we can have confidence in the King. He has never left us nor forsaken us and we can have confidence that He will accomplish His desire in and through us. Be strong and courageous in the Lord.

The fourth step to daily bread living is generosity toward those who are less fortunate.

If you notice in this prayer, Jesus instructs us to pray, “Give US this day OUR daily bread.” Jesus teaches us here to not just be concerned about ourselves, but to also be concerned about the needs of others. Don’t just pray for yourself, but pray for the needs of others. And don’t JUST pray for others, but share that which God has blessed you with with those people.

Here are four principles of Biblical Economics to help drive this point home to us today.

Principle 1: Everything you have comes from God

Principles 2: Everything that is given to you is given in trust to you.

Principle 3: The blessings that you have are not given to you for your own personal benefit.

Principle 4: What is given to you in trust is given that you might share it with others.

Conclusion: Be a blessing with others this week. We are to live life with expectation and trust. You can sum it all up like this What you have, God loaned it to you that you might give it to other people. God desires us to live in a Daily Bread Mentality. To trust Him that He will open and close doors that no man can open. Throughout this week I want you to try your best not to worry about tomorrow or fret about the past but to live in the here and now. And look to be a blessing to other people. Pray like Jabez. And expect an answer like Jabez, And GOD granted him that which he requested.