The Lord’s Prayer: Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
Our Father, give us this day our daily bread. Feed us. Nourish us. Provide what we need for sustenance every day. Our bodies and brains can’t exist long without the nourishment they need. So, this part of the Lord’s Prayer is our asking for what we need today, this day, so that we can live well-nourished lives. Then, for our part, we have to make the right choices for our lives, for our mental and physical health, for our nourishment. Our prayer here has enormous implications for our faith and trust in God. If we are not sustained physically, will we trust God in all the areas of our lives? If we live on the margins in our health and other areas of our lives, will we trust God?
I believe that this part of our Lord’s Prayer is about more than daily food. It’s also about the mental nourishment and spiritual nourishment that we need. It’s about our daily need for God’s presence and our communication with His Spirit within us. It’s about our need to immerse ourselves in the Biblical teachings and to grow in our understanding of who God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are to each of us. It’s about our ever-growing understanding of what God is directly saying to each of us, not just what our minister and our denomination make of the teachings.
We are praying to God: Give us today all that we need for nourishment in all areas of our lives—physical, mental and spiritual, so that we can continually grow in our faith, in our dedication, in our trust in You, God. Once we have admitted our need for God in our lives, once we have been born again, we have entered into a relationship with God/Jesus Christ/Holy Spirit that should continue to grow and deepen until the day we die into Their arms. If we are not growing in the depth of our commitment to God, if we are not fulfilling our purpose that God implanted in us at our conception, if we are not growing in our understanding of what God is revealing to each of us, then we are only believers in God, not faithful servants of His.
We grow in the Lord when we set all our resistances on His altar and ask for His healing. We grow when we are able to hear the Indwelling Spirit of God in our minds and hearts and do what He is asking of us. We grow when we read the Bible asking God what He wants us to know this day in this passage. We grow as we turn over the whole of our lives to Him—our work, our family life, our leisure and friends. In everything that we do, we have our hearts and minds attuned to God and to what His agenda is for us in all that we do and say.
And how gratifying that surrendered life is to us! How we no longer live on the surface of our lives, ignoring our depths! How we have found what matters most to us—the purpose that fulfills us! And how we are never alone, as God not only accompanies us, but leads us in everything we say and do! It is the richest, most fulfilling life possible when we have cut the ties to what the world wants for us and have found out all that God wants for us! All of this because He answers our prayers to supply us with all that we need for this day and every other one, too!
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Questions to ponder over the week: In how many areas of my life do I trust God to lead me? In my family? In my work? in my leisure? In my deepest soul? How dependent on God am I? If I were to write a restatement of the Lord’s Prayer, how would I pray?
Blessing for the week: May we be the people of God who depend on God in every area of our lives. May we pray for all our needs and carefully listen for His response. May we look to God in everything we do.
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