Pray Dependently

INTRODUCTION

If you have never heard the name George Muller, do yourself a favor and go read about him. Müller ran five orphanages and cared for 10,024 orphans in England in the 1800s and made a commitment never to ask people for money — only to pray.

One morning, Muller awoke to the news that the orphanage, which housed 300 children, had no food. Muller instructed the housemother to seat all the children in the dining room. He thanked God for food, and they waited for God to provide, as He always did. Within minutes, a baker knocked at the door.

“Mr. Muller,” he confessed, “last night, I could not sleep. Somehow, I knew that you would need bread this morning. I got up and baked three batches for you. I will bring it in.”

The next knock revealed a milkman whose cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. The milk would spoil by the time the cart was fixed, the milkman explained, so would the children like some free milk?

George Muller didn’t just casually accept God’s promise to provide for His children. He radically lived depending on that promise.

>>TRANSITION<<

POSTURE, PRIORITY, PROVISION

Matthew 6:9–11 “Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread,”

>>PRAY<<

After three weeks…halfway through this series…we finally get to praying for our own needs. But...don’t forget…this is SO important…we’re seeing our “needs” in light of who God is. Now you can understand why Jesus says, in vs. 33, to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

MAIN POINT: Jesus teaches us to pray in such a way that our lives are completely dependent on our Father for today and tomorrow's needs.

“Today and tomorrow…” Most scholars agree that Jesus is teaching us to ask for God’s provision for today’s needs and also trusting him to provide for tomorrow’s needs—the ones we have now and the ones we’ll have tomorrow that we don’t even know about yet.

This is so foreign to us in America. The vast majority of Americans don’t know what it’s like to live day-by-day. In Jesus’s day, you didn’t have a “salary.” You had daily wages. Life was waaaay less predictable than today. It was far less certain.

But…in our fallen world, nothing is certain.

OLD TESTAMENT BACKGROUND

The manna and quail in the wilderness. They were only allowed to take enough for that day…and trust that God was going to provide the next.

Now…I want us to think of this not just in terms of physical bread. To be clear…that’s the immediate application of Jesus’s prayer but there are a lot of things we need today. Maybe you need God’s mercies today that are new every day.

Maybe you need strength for today.

Whatever it is you need today and tomorrow, you can ask your heavenly Father, and trust that He will provide.

Praying dependently produces...

Faith

We’ve said this before…but, what if God’s priority when it comes to prayer is twofold:

Glorify Himself

Shape us

Do I trust God to provide?

What about in the health situation? What about in the financial situation?

Things that are beyond your control.

We need God’s provision

My dad always says, “Whatever makes you pray more is good for you.”

Prayer is an act of faith…and I don’t mean blind/toss-up kind of prayer. A confidence and assurance in our Father in heaven kind of faith. When we pray we are believing that He hears and that He will answer.

Contentment

What happened if the Hebrews tried to store up more? It would spoil. Why? Because it demonstrated a lack of faith and a lack of contentment.

God doesn’t promise to provide what we want. He promises to provide what we need.

Proverbs 30:8–9 “…give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.”

Philippians 4:11–13 “…for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Contentment doesn’t mean that you’ve got every single detail of your life organized and well planned out. Contentment means that God knows what you need and provides according to His will for your life.

The opposite of contentment is not just “wanting more.” The opposite is dissatisfaction. At the root of a lot of the anxiety that we feel when it comes to things beyond our control is discontentment.

**6:19-34**

Gratitude

Faith, Contentment, Gratitude—WORSHIP (Psalm 146)

Psalm 146:7 “who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;”

PROVISION—PRAISE

Andy & Jillian testimony

CONCLUSION

John 6:27 “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.””

John 6:32–34 “Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.””

John 6:35 “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

John 6:40 “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.””

John 6:44–50 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.”

This is the daily bread we need for eternity.

Is there something you need that you’re struggling to trust God with?

Are you struggling with contentment?

When was the last time you responded with worship?