A Call to prayer (4)

Pizza Hut

This week I was taking the bus driver course. One day for lunch I went to Pizza hut in Woodstock because they have an inexpensive buffet. No they didn’t pay me to tell you that.

Anyway when I walked in I saw a man sitting by himself. It was clear by looking at him that something wasn’t quite right. I sat and began to eat when he came over to ask me for a cigarette. But I was all out. I ran out in 2000 and haven’t restocked since.

When He came over I could tell he was dirty, withdrawn and a bit agitated.

Between his appearance, mannerisms, and prompting of the Holy Spirit I could tell he was homeless. Of course it wasn’t until he went out to find a cigarette that I knew for sure. As he walked out I looked at his shoes. you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes.

In the middle of winter this gentleman did not wear winter boots, he had sneakers on. Of course so was I but it wasn’t that he was wearing sneakers. It was what they looked like. They were old and in rough shape above each big toe was a hole.

You know like when your toe gets hungry and eats a hole in your socks. It looked the same way, on each sneaker. He had no socks, either that or his toes were really hungry because his big toes were both sticking out.

The way he carried himself and spoke to the waitress and the 5 trips he made in and out in the 30 minutes I was there suggested some possible mental health issues, but I could have just been reading into that.

I will tell you this he looked very out of place for Woodstock Pizza Hut. I was pretty sure one of the trips out he was going to just leave without paying, and I could tell the waitress was concerned to. So I told her I would pay the bill and asked if he was a regular.

He was not. Before I left I offered to take him to Harvest House to get new shoes but he was adamant he was not interested. He asked if i had any money, I did not, he asked if I could pay for his meal, which I already did.

I tell you this story because I want you to understand there are people in the world, even in Woodstock NB who do not have the very basic necessities of life, which are what?

adequate Food, Shelter, and Clothing.

Now I want to remind you of our series we are in.

Refocus

Remember Christ return

Seek Realignment

and Today we will be talking about the next section

Matthew 6:11 NLT

Give us today the food we need,

The question I want to try and answer today is

What do we need to remember when seeking God’s provision?

The difference between Needs and Wants

Me: Growing up the line between wants and needs kept getting blurred for me. Interestingly my needs never migrated to the want column, but my wants kept trying to sneak into the needs column. I wonder if I am the only one. So this morning we are going to play a game. called

Wants and Needs

We: When we pray for God’s provisions It is important to remember the difference between wants and needs.

God: lets look at the passage again.

Matthew 6:11 NLT

Give us today the food we need,

Matthew 6:11 NIV

Give us today our daily bread.

Matthew 6:11 NLT

Give us today the food we need,

The most accurate translation is

Give us today food for today and tomorrow.

This is the most basic of needs. And in this we can see that this portion of the prayer is our opportunity to seek God’s provisions for it says in

Philippians 4:19 NLT

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

Phil

There are certain things we need to survive. Breath, food, shelter, water, clothing, salvation, a relationship with God. This is the bread we need to seek daily.

You: You need to know there are people who do not operate off a weekly budget or monthly budget, but there are many who live their lives day to day, not knowing if they will have all they need.

We: As the wealthiest 2% of the world we often confuse need with want. This portion of prayer is a prayer of need not want. Now does that mean God never gives us what we want? No every good and perfect gift comes from Him. Often in His generosity He gives us more than we need, because He is generous. I won’t have us raise our hands but how many of us have more than we need?

What should we do with that excess?

Praise God for it and

Use it to bring glory and honour to Him.

Next step: When we pray lift up needs and if in His generosity God gives us more than we need, seek God on how we can use that excess to provide for someone else's need.