Give Us Today Our Daily Bread

Wednesday night prayer meeting 8/19/2009

Give us this day our daily bread- Matthew 6:11

Introduction:

A. This petition seems so earthy. It seems so tied to human needs that it seems out of place. Is anything too small and earthy for God? After all, Jesus Christ lived here.

B. Even a spiritually mature man has desires and needs. This petition is an expression of our dependence on God. It is an honest expression of our wants and needs.

E. This petition gets our heads out of the heavens and gets them back to earth.

Thesis: Tonight we are going to note 4 things about this petition.

For instances:

1. The Prayer for Bread.

A. Most of the time we are concerned about earthly wants, needs and desires. This is unchristian. We are to be focused on the eternal. (2 Cor 4:18 NIV) So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

B. There are a few (not many in our day) who over spiritualize everything. They say that human desires and needs are sinful. Jesus Christ was both God and man. We find Jesus in (Mat 4:2 NIV) After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. Was this sin? No, it tells us he was human. He had to eat.

C. Food (Bread) is a need that must be satisfied. To pray that our desires be satisfied is not sinful, it is normal and healthy and also spiritual. Now mankind takes those desires and satisfies them in ungodly ways but to have these desires makes us human. Need to pray that we will satisfy our desires in God pleasing ways.

D. Need to just pray for holiness and to be surrendered to God’s will. This is good but our prayers should include all that we desire, all that we need.

E. If we cannot ask God for something, then we should not seek it.

F. (John 16:24 NIV) Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

G. This prayer for our basic needs to be met is to recognize that God is the Giver of all good things. (Psa 104:28 NIV) When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.

I. Jesus gave thanks to God the Father for his food. (Luke 24:30 NIV) When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. (Luke 24:31 NIV) Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

J. We have a bad habit of putting God as far away from our daily lives as we can!

K. Father said a prayer before the meal and then began complaining about the food. A little boy, “Didn’t we thank God for this?”

K. This petition is also asking God to bless our labor that provided the means to get the bread. If we cannot ask God to bless our work then should we be doing that work?

L. Bart Simpson’s prayer- Thank you God for nothing. (Deu 8:18 NIV) But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

2. All mankind shares in this prayer.

A. What are the physical needs of all human beings?

1. Food

a. It is estimated that 1 billion people in the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition. (2003)

b. About 24,000 people die every day in the world from hunger and hunger related causes (2003)

c. 12 million children in the US are hungry or unsure of where their next meal will come from (2003). Many children in this parish are blessed to have free meals at public schools. For some of them that is the only meal they will get.

2. Clothing

a. In this country we can get clothing. No excuse for not being clothed.

b. In other countries it is not this way. Some children run the streets naked, not because they want to but because their parents cannot afford clothing.

c. Several years ago, in this country, children did not have shoes in the summer time because their parents could not afford them.

d. Need clothing for dignity, need clothing to protect from the elements, and need clothing for warmth.

3. Shelter

a. In foreign countries this is a serious problem. Cardboard houses, etc.

b. Growing homeless problem in this country. Why are they homeless? No job and lose everything. Chemical dependency. Mental illness. Domestic violence.