Prayer 101: #8 - Always Today

“Give us today our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11

Jesus teaches us to pray about today’s bread not tomorrow’s. God provided Israel with enough bread for today but not enough for tomorrow.¹

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day.”…Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning. However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. Exodus 16:4, 19-20

It’s in the nature of God to desire that His people have a sense of daily dependence on him for meeting their needs. It is tempting when we have a week’s worth of provision to lose that sense of daily dependence. If you want to bring your prayer life in line with God’s ways, pray in terms of daily need.

As stated in Prayer 101 #7, bread is more than wheat baked in an oven. It is clothing, shelter, health, friends, etc. When you have plenty of these things, recognize they are transient. Recognize from whom they come. Don’t worry about tomorrow’s needs. Whatever today’s needs are, ask our Father for today’s provision. This is how Jesus taught his disciples to pray.

¹ There was an exception in which two days worth of manna was collected before the Sabbath.

Prayer 101: #7 - Asking for the Inevitable Answer

“Give us today our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11

I have a managers meeting in Albuquerque once a month that I am required to attend. Nevertheless, I have to ask the same boss who requires me to attend for permission to travel to Albuquerque each time I go. It’s the same way regarding leave requests. My boss has never turned down my leave requests. I’m always certain it will be granted. Nevertheless, I have to ask for leave each time I want to use it. We are taught in Matthew 6:11 to ask for our daily bread and told just a few verses later in verses 25-34 not to worry because our Father will take care of our food needs. So why are we taught to ask for something God promises to provide? What is Jesus teaching here about prayer?

When Jesus was praying and fasting 40 days in the wilderness, it’s not hard to imagine how hungry he was. In this context Satan tempted him to turn stones to bread…something Jesus could easily have done. Yet it would have been a failure, an evil act, and an act of self provision rather than dependency on the Father. An acknowledgment of dependency on the Father is an act of honoring the Father.

Bread is not just wheat baked in an oven. It is whatever is necessary for life. It is our health, clothes, shelter, even our friends.

Asking for bread is about God and dependency on him. It’s about his abundance, his desire to provide, his listening ear, his daily availability to hear us and give. We honor God when we ask for bread. We hallow his name.

Prayer 101: #6 - Father-King

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9b-10

What wonderful words Jesus uses to teach his disciples to pray! He begins by teaching them to approach God as Father in heaven and to hallow his name. He proceeds to teach recognition of the Father as King over a kingdom. And we are taught to pray that his kingdom will come to where it isn’t.

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines the kingdom of God as “the realm in which God’s will is fulfilled.” In heaven God’s will is fulfilled in a positive sense. There is no rebellion or resistance to his will only joyful and glad obedience. In heaven his will is recognized as good, acceptable and perfect. On earth God’s will is generally fulfilled in a negative sense. When the human race fell through a single act of disobedience, God in anger and justice exercised his sovereign will on earth by turning people over to be ruled by their own desires apart from him. It will continue this way in a broad sense until the Lord Jesus comes again and establishes his positive rule on earth.

When we pray for God’s kingdom to come, we are praying that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We are praying that He would reestablish his positive rule on earth. The broad global answer to this is future but within our individual realms we can see the positive rule of God on earth in the present. I pray that God’s rule would come today to me, to my family, to loved ones around me, to those I know who are ruled by their fallen nature. Father-King make our realms today the realms in which your good, acceptable and perfect will is fulfilled!

Prayer 101: #5 - Shallow or Hallow

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” Matthew 6:9b

When Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, he spoke to them the words of the Lord’s Prayer. Rather than beginning the prayer by asking something from God, the prayer is begun by giving something to God…an acknowledgement that His name is to be hallowed. Beyond his person, even his name is to be treated with reverence and awesome respect. Consider the word picture of our Father in Revelation 4:

“At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne… From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back…Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ ...”

This is our Father in heaven. Even his name is to be hallowed…reverenced…treated as holy. Pause, even for the briefest moments when you pray and hallow the name of God.

Prayer 101: #4 - Who Am I Talking To

“Our Father in heaven…” Matthew 6:9b

A couple of days ago, I ran up to a contractor named Mike who I had talked to many times on the phone but had seen only once several years ago. I introduced myself and said I just couldn’t remember his face and that I was glad he had come to analyze our water. Mike removed his sunglasses and had a strange look on his face and a smile. It was Mike…but a different Mike who works occasionally at the facility where I work. I had rushed right into a conversation without really knowing who I was talking to. He thought I was just trying to be funny. Actually, I was being funny without trying!

So my question is: Do we really know who we’re talking to when we go to God in prayer? Does God smiling…wait for us to figure out who we’re really talking to? Jesus teaches us to take a moment at the beginning of our prayer to contemplate this.

Think about it: We are talking to “our Father in heaven”. This suggests we’re talking to someone to whom we’re related; who loves us passionately; who is to be respected; and to whom we owe our existence. We can never stop being his child no more than our children can cease being related to us. Because he resides in heaven, he is God. Nothing is too difficult for him. Nothing is out of the realm of what he can do.

Next time you pray, pause just a moment, stop the habitual prayer “autopilot”, and consider who you’re talking to.