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I. INTRODUCTION

A. Series - Praying “In Jesus Name” – We are learning what it means to follow the teachings and example of Jesus as we pray, as well as remembering why we have such a privilege to approach God’s throne to talk to Him.

B. In our last lesson, we talked about how our prayers need to show our desire to submit to his reign in our lives and that His will would be done on earth just as it is in Heaven. Our desire is to seek first the Kingdom… to allow Him to reign in us so that we can grow spiritually and so that we can teach others the Gospel so that they can submit to the reign of Christ also.

C. For our lesson today, we will see that the focus of the prayer shifts some – it shifts to dealing with asking for needs that we have. It could be said that this prayer is divided into two halves. The first half concerns God and His glory. The second half concerns man and his needs

1. First of all, we are concerned in our prayers for God's glory, for God's kingdom, for God's will. We acknowledge God as Father, as holy, as King, as Master, and then we are concerned for our provision, our pardon and our protection.

2. But even though we shift from God's glory to man's need, we surely do not leave God's glory behind, because we recognize that if our needs are to be met, God is the reason.

3. What we pray for concerning our own needs as God’s people comes from a heart that has God as its Holy Father and King. God’s purposes are our highest priority, and this is reflected even when we are praying for our own needs physically and spiritually. We show when we pray for these things a humble dependence on God

4. This will be the emphasis of the rest of these lessons on the Lord’s prayer.

5. Mattthew 6:11 à Today, we move on to verse 11 of . The first request regarding our needs that Jesus teaches us to pray is, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Let’s examine this idea of our humble dependence on God by looking at this verse in three parts…

II. First, let’s talk about the last part of verse 11. The specific thing we are to pray for… for bread.

A. What is Jesus talking about when He says, “our daily bread.” What does He mean by bread? Is He just saying, pray for cooked or baked wheat or flour and oil? I believe there is more to it than this… For the Jew, to ask for bread was to ask for life. This was a staple for them, and came to symbolize all that the Lord provided to sustain life.

B. This is what I believe Jesus is saying here. I believe Jesus is talking about the concept that we need to trust in God to be the one who sustains us physically, no matter what that may entail… It's a way of saying, "Lord, if I'm to survive physically, You have to be the source of my survival. It is a prayer that says to God, “I cannot advance Your kingdom, I cannot do Your will, I cannot honor Your name, I cannot bring You glory unless you provide for me the things you have promised for my life to continue.”

C. verse 8, "Give me neither poverty nor riches." There's a wise prayer. "Feed me with the food that is my portion." Don't give me any more than You want to give me. If you give me too much, I'll be full and deny You and say, “Huh, who's the Lord? I'm a self-made man.” Or if You give me too little, I'll be in want and steal and profane the name of my God. Just give me what I need. Give me the basics. We’ll talk about this shortly, but Jesus focuses on this later on in the chapter, encouraging us not to worry, but instead to trust the Lord to provide the physical necessities that we need to live.

D. This seems to be what Jesus is encouraging us to pray here in .

III. Second, let’s talk about the source of this “bread.” God is the supplier of our needs. He gives us what is necessary to survive.

A. This is not to say that there is NOTHING we do in order to receive what we ask for. We do many things…

1. People plant crops so that we can make things like bread.

2. People raise livestock so we can have meat.

3. We have jobs so we can provide for ourselves and our families

B. But we need to see that ultimately, everything we have been GIVEN is given to us by God. We would not be able to survive physically without the grace and providence of God.

1. Yes, men and women raise livestock so we can eat, but who gives animals life? Who gives them the ability to reproduce? Who graciously allows them to live and not become diseased so that we can eat of them?

2. Yes, people plant crops and harvest them, but who is the One who graciously allows the rain to come in the needed season? Who is the One who graciously keeps famine away?

3. Yes, many of us have jobs where we can earn money to buy what is necessary for life, but once again, who even created the concept of a work week? Who is working behind the scenes to make sure we are able to have jobs and be provided for? And even if we may not have a job and don’t have money coming in, who provides for us through His people so we can continue to survive and not have to worry about these things so we can focus on the work of the kingdom?

4. IS IT NOT THE LORD? I do believe that it is the case that, because of the abundance that we tend to have being in this country that we forget who is really the one who provides for us. We can become proud and think that we amassed our money and food and all that we have ALL ON OUR OWN. This is nothing but PRIDE!

C. God had this concern for Israel (). He warned them about pride in this area. I would encourage you to read and meditate on this section of scripture if you get a chance.

1. In this passage, Moses tells Israel that they were being blessed by the Lord with the ability to enter the Promised Land. They would be blessed with many earthly blessings that they didn't have before. But with blessing comes dangers that Moses warns them about. With the blessing came the danger of thinking you are self-reliant. You can think in your pride that the blessings you have, that you got them for yourself. Moses warned Israel here, but they would forget the Lord… They would become proud… They would give credit for their blessings to themselves and to the idols they were serving at the time… and it led to their captivity…

2. This can happen to us also. We need to see that there is only One in whom we put our ultimate trust to supply what is essential for us – to God who is the giver of every good and perfect gift.”

D. Jesus talks about these ideas more later on in , where He encourages citizens in His kingdom not to worry about the things of this life. He shows who it is we need to trust in to provide. Jesus says, "For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life,” your physical life “as to what you shall eat." You don't have to worry about that. "Don't be anxious about what you shall drink. Don't be anxious about your body, what you're going to put on. Is not life more than food and the body than clothing?" In other words, don't you understand that if God is committed to provide for you – If God was able to give you life, don’t you believe that He can certainly figure out how to give you the food and the clothing you need?

E. Jesus then gives some examples. "Look at the birds in the air. They don't sow, they don't reap, they don't gather into barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" God has put into place a very complex way to feed and sustain the birds. Don't you think He's going to meet your needs? "Which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to His life span?" That isn't what you do when you worry, you don't add to your life, what do you do? You take away from it. "And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow, they don't toil, nor do they spin." You don't need to worry about having enough to wear. God will provide that. And if you don't think He does, "Then look at the lilies of the field, they don't toil and they don't spin, and I say to you, that even Solomon in all his glory didn't clothe himself like one of these.”

F. "And if God so raised the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, oh man of little faith? Do not be anxious then saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?' All these things the Gentiles eagerly seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.'"

G. Here's what you do (getting back to our lesson from last week, showing how these concepts are so tied together)… Here’s what you do: seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness… If you seek first the kingdom – if you seek first His reign and rule in your life – if it is the things of the kingdom that are your concern, then you have no reason to be concerned about bread… Trust in God, your Father and your all-powerful king to fulfill His word and to provide for you what He has promised! He will graciously give you what you need.

H. So when we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," remember that this is the universal acknowledgment of our hearts that all that we have that sustains our physical life comes from God. He gives us what we need to survive.

IV. And finally, let’s talk about how often we need to have this trust in God: This Day… Daily… “give us THIS DAY our DAILY bread”

A. There is not a day that goes by that we don’t need to humbly trust in the Lord’s power to provide what He promises… Each day we need to guard ourselves from pride – that we do not say in our own hearts, “I have gotten all of this for myself so I can be provided for and be sustained physically. Don’t forget the Lord ANY day that you live. He is the source of our sustenance EVERY day.

B. God has always cared for His people

1. He gave “bread” to Israel () and gave them water from a rock ()

2. He fed the prophet Elijah. Ravens brought him food in the morning and evening, and He provided oil and grain for a widow supernaturally ()

3. Will he not be faithful to us today, giving us our “daily bread” as He has promised?

C. Each and every day, my children need to come to Laura and I and say “Can I have food.” Or for Timothy, he says, “FFFF-FFFFF-FFFFF.” You see in children each day that they need their parent to provide each and every day. If we did not give them their food they would not eat and they would not survive. This is the kind of heart we need towards God on a daily basis – to be like little children, as Jesus says elsewhere it in .

V. Conclusion

A. You and I must trust in the Lord to provide. If He gives us work to do, there should not be any doubt in our minds that God will give us the necessary sustenance to be able to do what He has requested.

B. So let’s put our emphasis in the right place. Let’s humbly trust Him to provide and set our minds to the work of the Kingdom, and let’s show our Great heavenly father this trust that we have as we pray to Him and give Him thanks for what He has given