1. Begin with prayer asking the HS to reveal to your heart his love and care for you and ask him to teach you today as you look at his word.
2. Read Matthew 6:9-13 (3 times slowly)
3. Use a journal to reflect on theses truths:
As we look again at the Lords prayer I want to focus on vs 11 and another area that our hearts need to be reminded of and re aligned to the truth of the gospel as we pray. Vs 11 Give us today our daily bread. There are two aspects or heart reminders that I want us to reflect on today. The first is more obvious than the second, and it is probably what comes to your mind first when you read this verse. That is the idea of God providing for your physical needs, food, housing, job, etc.
I sense that this prayer is a prayer that many who don’t yet know Jesus would be willing to pray, especially during this time in history an in the uncertainty of the future economic and health realities. It is a very appropriate prayer but it is often a prayer that is forgotten during times when it seem like all is going well in life. But this is a pray that needs to be continually prayed.
It is a prayer that reminds our hearts that God is actually the one who is providing for us. It is one thing to say that God is sovereign like we discussed in vs 9 but that can quickly go out the window when thing are not the way that desire them to be, it is why this prayer appropriately reminds us that we are in desperate need for God to provide all things. As you reflect on that truth, I want to remind you that not only is God in control but He is a gracious God.
The reality is that often we can look at our personal situation as the lives of others we care about and fall into a lie that says God is not really being gracious towards us. That God is not been gracious in this area of my life.
It is why reading the Bible is a vitally important practice in life. If you look at Gods story in the Bible from beginning to end nowhere in the story do we ever see God as one who takes things for himself. Over and over God gives and he gives and he gives. In fact he not only gives things he is shown as the one who gives people what they do not deserve.
The subtle twist we often believe is that God only gives us what we deserve, so if we want His favor, we’ve got to earn it. We must prove ourselves to him so he will reward us with good things.
If I pray more, if I read my Bible more or do more good things like a Christina is suppose to do then God will keep me form illness, give me work, provide the spouse I want, the kids that I want, all the things I think I need, whatever it is if I just live like a good Christian then God will reward me and I will know that I am provided for.
Yet, all throughout the Story of God, we see the opposite we see example after example of God giving people things that they do not deserve. The truth of God being gracious means that there is no earned favor or provision in life.
The graciousness of God equals the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God. Grace is being given something that you did not deserve. Since it is so easy to forget take a few minuets to write down examples from your personal story of “things” given to you by God that you did not deserve.
Following this exercise take some time in prayer to thank God for all the ways he has been gracious to you in the past and ask for future provision in areas of need.
A second aspect of this prayers this prayer is that it is not just a reminder that God is gracious with all our physical needs. It is a reminder to our hearts, that Jesus is the bread of life.
We know this if we look just a few verse further in Matthew, Jesus explains that this prayer is way more than just our physical needs. Look at what He says:
Matthew 6:31-33 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
You see unless we understand what we deserved to get from God, then the gift of God’s Son won’t seem so great. If we don’t need someone to satisfy the righteous wrath of God on our behalf, if we can earn the favor of God, if we don’t need a savior and rescuer, then God giving us His Son is just a nice thought.
We must sit in the reality of our need before we can understand the greatness of God’s grace. The prayer of “give us this day our daily bread” is a gospel reminder. It is a prayer for us to pause daily to say, “God, apart from you I am a wicked sinner who is desperate for any bone you would be gracious enough to throw me,” it is only then that the gift of God’s son will overwhelms us and produces in us the fruit of a person who has been shown undeserved favor, who truly believes God has been gracious.
When we pray this prayer of give us this day our daily bread is way more than please provide for my physical needs it is a prayer of one who has Gospel-based faith. Of one that has tasted and seen that the Lord is good and is always eager to receive as much of Christ as we can. So when pray we go with great expectation that he has a gift for us, more of himself, more of His love.
When we pray, “give us our daily bread” we are asking for more Jesus. He is our reward. He is our provision. The gospel now beckons us to seeks more of Jesus, so that it becomes not what this world can give that satisfies us, but the reward of God himself.
Because of the gospel we know that all our needs are met, we know that everything we need has been purchased for us and every answer we see from this prayer that is good for us, Jesus already purchased by his blood.
We did not and cannot purchase them or earn them. So when we pray, we are not going to make a purchase. We are not going to negotiate a deal. We are going because God has already ordained what Christ obtained for us, and we simply receive it by asking.
We get pray with the knowledge that we have a good gracious father who always provides all that we need physically and spiritually. The gospel is not just something we eat once, but rather we are people who are in need of feeding on Jesus daily. We need of more Jesus everyday. He is our daily bread.
The only way that we can make it through this season and all of life imaging the Father is to daily eat the bread of the gospel, to daily be reminded of Who God is, who we are and who we are now in light of Jesus.
God has been gracious to us, rest in that truth, remind your heart of it often. Ask daily for more of Jesus, for more His spirits reign in your life and rely on Him as the bread of life, for all your daily needs.