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note1xg4…k4g5Welcome to The Refinery.
The Master’s recipe for Effective Praying is the theme we have been working through and is a study of the petitions found in the Lord’s prayer.
Today we are discussing, Our Daily Bread.
The text we are focusing on today is, Matthew 6:11 NKJV
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
We will also look at Psalm 146 NKJV
The Happiness of Those Whose Help Is the Lord
1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3 Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
4 His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish.
5 Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 Who made heaven and earth, The sea, and all that is in them; Who keeps truth forever,
7 Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners.
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord raises those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow; But the way of the wicked He turns upside down.
10 The Lord shall reign forever— Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!
Introduction.
Prayer begins with God ward concerns, but it does not end there.
The first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer make petitions for the name, Kingdom, and the will of God.
These must be the first concerns in our prayer life.
But then Jesus gave us four petitions to cover our personal needs.
The last four petitions are inclusive.
Give us this day our daily bread touches on the needs of the body.
Forgive us our debts includes the needs of the soul.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil speak to the spiritual needs of the person.
This reminds us that we can take whatever concerns us to the Heavenly Father in prayer.
Give us our daily bread would seem to be a simple statement of need, yet many different interpretations of been set forth.
Some of drawn back from thinking of it as a simple request for daily bread.
They’ve changed it to mean Spiritual Bread from the Word of God or Christ, the Bread of Life, and some have even referred to it as the Bread of the Lord’s Table.
There is no need for such spiritualisation of the request.
Our God is just as concerned that the basic necessities of life be supplied as He is that we have spiritual bread for the spirit.
Oh god is concerned about the total person.
What can we learn here?
- **The petition for daily bread acknowledges God as the source of bread. **
The explanation.
What does the petition for bread include?
The word should be understood as including all of our material needs, whatever is necessary to sustain our physical life in the world.
We are to come to God without petitions for those necessities as required and as an acknowledgement that we rely on God, the giver of every perfect gift, to provide for us.
Leader in this chapter, Jesus rebuked worldly anxiety over the necessities of life.
He declared that we deny God when we become anxious over what we will eat or what we will wear or where we will live.
He affirmed the God knows that we need all these things.
And there’s an example.
God gave His people a lesson on this truth early in their national history.
Their food supply run out soon after they left the land of Egypt, no other supplies were available in the desert.
They became very anxious about the situation and began to murmur loudly about it, but God graciously began to supply all the food they needed.
They learned that the God of creation and redemption has an abundant supply of bread.
He gave them a feast of Angel’s food, or manna, every day.
And we also have an application.
Christians in Australia today I likely to forget the source of the bread, we simply pick up a loaf at the supermarket or at the bakery.
And those who cannot afford it I provided bread by the government.
Jesus wants us to know, however, that the real source of bread is the God who never changes.
He is behind every secondary source of supply.
Without His sunshine and rain, without His creative presence nature, we would have no food, shelter, or clothing.
Those of you who have always accepted responsibility for providing your own bread have not felt any need of asking God for His assistance.
You’ve had plenty to eat and plenty to wear without asking.
Do not be deceived!
The bread you have been eating and the clothing you’ve been wearing have come to you as gifts from God.
God has been merciful to bestow them upon you even though you have neither asked for them nor acknowledged Him.
A little thoughtful consideration on your part will make it clear that ultimately God is your source.
2. The prayer for daily bread affirms God’s method of supply.
The prayer says “this day.”
In this simple petition there are some important lessons about how God supplies your needs.
In “give us this day our daily bread”, “this day”, points out the God’s regular method is to supply our needs as they occur.
Literally, it is a cry for bread for today.
We are not to be praying about bread for next year or in your old age, but for today.
God’s wisdom in this is clear.
If He gave us all that we would ever need for life at the beginning of life, we would forget the Giver as we went about using up the gift.
But since He is pleased to give it to us daily in response to our prayers, we have less opportunity to forget that we are dependent on Him to meet every need in our lives.
“Daily” is also an important word in this prayer.
This word indicates more than the receipt of a daily supply.
It is a petition for just what is necessary to meet your needs.
We must be careful about asking God for material things.
We should ask Him only for whatever is necessary to meet our basic needs.
If God is pleased to give us more than enough to meet our basic needs, we should be grateful to Him and generous to others.
And if He gives us only enough to meet our basic needs, we should be content.
3. The petition for daily bread expresses concern for others.
We are also showed an explanation here.
There is no place for selfishness when we come before the heavenly Father in prayer.
The Model Prayer makes it clear by making the pronouns plural, for example, “Give us this day, our daily bread.”
When we come before the Father, we must bear a concern for any in God’s family who have material needs.
What about the application.
Do your prayers reflect concern for others?
Selfishness is a hindrance to effective prayer.
God will not hear you if you’re only concerned about bread for yourself.
James wrote in, James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
Conclusion.
This petition for daily bread surely mandates a practice of daily prayer.
God wants you to come before Him daily with the concerns of your life.
This petition surely mandates daily thanksgiving as well.
If God faithfully supplies all the necessities of our lives each day, it would be a crime not to express genuine thanksgiving to Him.
Replace your anxieties about daily needs with prayer and know that God will hear and answer.
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.
When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer. Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!
You’re important to God, and you’re important to us at The Refinery.
When it comes to prayer, we believe that God wants to meet your needs and reveal His promises to you.
So whatever you’re concerned about and need prayer for we want to be here for you! Or even if you just want to say Hi, you can contact us at www.refinerylife.org
2024 IS A YEAR OF DECISIONS AND OPEN DOORS
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Laeserin on Nostr: I hadn't thought about how it says "daily", specifically. Interesting take, for those ...
I hadn't thought about how it says "daily", specifically. Interesting take, for those of us more prone to long-term planning and strategizing.