Lesson Five • The Lord’s Prayer – Part Two
Devotion 2: Daily Provision Comes from The Father
Pastor John Carter
“Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11
This verse should be put in context with the previous week where we realize and understand that God knows our needs. Jesus shows that after we give God all this praise, honor, and glory, He comes back to a basic need we have (only with a twist). It is “our daily bread.” Food is such an important element of our physical survival. Jesus, in previous verses, taught us that our Heavenly Father knows what we are in need of. Here, He is pointing to something that is not physical but rather spiritual. We need to put some more Scripture to this so we can put it in full context.
Jesus, in previous chapters, points to this very aspect of our need for spiritual food or nourishment. Matthew 4:4 says, “But he answered, ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’’” Matthew 5:6 adds, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
These are the verses from the previous chapter before Jesus teaches us the model prayer. These are Jesus’ very words. It includes every word, and also a “hunger and thirst for righteousness.” We need to understand that our need for spiritual food and spiritual nourishment has to be at the forefront of our prayer life. When was the last time you asked God to show you something in His Word that you did not understand? Have you studied His Word to gain understanding and truth? Like we are doing with this passage in Matthew chapter 6, have you ever dug deep into the meaning and intent of the passage? Do you see this “digging” as the instruction from God to desire spiritual food? Do you hunger after the things that are right and true? Are you learning to live your life by “every word”? Do not just accept the words you like and desire to be true, but literally every word!
That is a hard one to swallow. It is easier for us not to self-examine our spiritual state and hunger than it is to say, “Nope, I need to change my priorities.” Saying them is one thing, but acting on them is totally different. Just to make sure the full context of what Jesus is teaching here is clear, later in Matthew 6:33, Jesus says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Jesus is not inconsistent with His teaching. In fact, this has been the teaching from the beginning of the Bible. Learn God’s ways and live them out. Learn what God considers righteous and walk in them. Seek and hunger after His commandments and make sure you are walking in them.
It is very important that I put this caveat in here. I am not speaking of walking in God’s ways in a salvific manner. That is to say, salvation does not come by solely walking in God’s ways or walking in His righteousness. John 6:35 says, “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.’”
In the book of John, Jesus is recorded as teaching that He is the very source of life and He is the ultimate source of salvation. When He teaches us to seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness in Matthew, He is saying that you had better know Him first. Without Jesus, we have nothing. Paul points to our lives without Christ as being filthy rags. When we talk of walking in the way and example of Christ, it is after we know Him. That is where we see Jesus directing us in this model prayer. We need daily spiritual food and daily living water. We need to be daily rooted in God’s Word to know and understand what God desires from us.
I love that in this model prayer Jesus uses plural words. He says, “Give us.” He did not say, “give them,” or “give me.” I believe this is intentional. We need each other to grow. We need one another to build up and to encourage, but also to keep us from falling into our own foolish, fleshly way of thinking. We need each other to say, “Hey, I was reading this passage and this makes no sense to me at all. Can you help me through it?” It might be, “I was reading this passage, and WOW; God showed me what it means and how to apply it to my life!” This aspect of growing (becoming more like Christ) is not a journey you take all on your own. This is why God gave us neighbors. This is why God gave us each other! If you are not sure who your neighbor is read yesterday’s devotion. Consider today a person (neighbor) that you can encourage. It might be helpful just to tell them you are praying for them. It could be helpful to share a passage of Scripture that has meant a lot to you. Act in a manner that God tells you to respond. Maybe it means inviting them out for coffee or lunch and just sharing all the amazing things God is teaching you. Do something in this regard of being fed daily with the spiritual food that God gives and share it with your neighbor.
1 Corinthians 10:1-6 says, “For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.”
Today, we recognize our holy Father’s Kingdom. It is where our nourishment comes from. We need to pursue goodness and His righteousness. Pursue it together with your neighbors!