Devotion
November 24, 2019
“Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”
What is Thanksgiving Without Bread?
Matthew 4:4
Sermon Prayer: “Heavenly Father, I stand before Your people, to deliver Your message. Though the words are mine and I prepared this message, I pray that this message is Your message in its entirety. I pray your blessing and anointing on its delivery, its reception and most of all its application in our lives.” Amen
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4
We are taught how to pray the Lord’s prayer early on. We come to understand at some point that when we pray “Give us this day our daily bread”, it means more than meeting our need for physical sustenance but also for the spiritual sustenance that feeds our soul. Let us look at the historical role of “bread” as offered to us in Holy Scripture. The word bread is mentioned 492 times in the bible.
It is first mentioned in Genesis 19. God responds to the disobedience of the first man and woman in all creation, who partook of the tree of knowledge after being told: ‘but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”’ Genesis2:19
God’s response to Adam after the disobedience: ‘In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”’ Genesis 3:19
What does that mean to you? Adam certainly did not cease to live, yet as we have come to learn he was dead to sin, a very specific sin of disobedience. Now he and all man must labor in sweat and feed on the bread of his labor.
When the Israelites were in the wilderness and murmuring for food, God provided a daily sustenance of manna. Manna appeared daily in the early morning dew and was collected and eaten by the Israelites. This “manna” is often referred to as “bread”.
Unleavened bread was prepared with no leavening agents, that is no yeast, no oil and no salt. My understanding is that it symbolized the essence of purity and simplicity. For this reason, unleavened bread was used in religious feasts of the day. Many devout Jews today, celebrate feast holidays using only unleavened bread.
“Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters.” Exodus 13:7
We can sure apply this reading to our prayer life, can’t we? Our prayers should be very plain, not contrived of fancy or intellectual wordings. God is not impressed with showmanship. Our prayers must also be free of contaminants, which is the very basis of our prayers of confession prior to our prayers of supplication.
Recalling the parable: The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector – Luke chapter 18 and our message of October 21,2019. entitled “Lord, It is Thee Not Me”.
Let’s move on to Matthew 4:4 “But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
When Satan made effort to tempt Jesus to turn stones to bread. Jesus’ response was to deflect Satan and teach us. Though Jesus had gone 40 days without food and yet as hunger must have tormented Him, Jesus refused to yield to temptation.
What do we understand from “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God?” Jesus isn’t saying that we forsake bread or food nourishment. What Jesus is saying is that bread (food nourishment) is not enough for us to enjoy a FULL life. Our bodies do indeed need nourishment but our very being, our souls must also be continually nourished. He goes on to say that nourishment comes from “every word” that proceeds from the mouth of God. That would be Holy Scripture – your bible. Not to beat a dead horse but just reading the WORD doesn’t always equate to being fed. We must understand that word. NOPE, not done yet – we also must apply what that Holy Word instructs us.
“And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” John 6:35
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” John 6:51
Jesus, the Christ IS the bread of heaven. The breaking of bread in services is to represent the broken body of Christ. When we partake of that bread, we symbolically are being fed the bread of life. We partake of the bread of life as a celebration of eternal life that we trust in by virtue of HIS sacrifice. Jesus died on the cross to pay our sin debt, that we may inherit eternal life.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
Summing up: When we pray for our daily bread, we are asking for way more than food nourishment and spiritual nourishment; we are praying for the presence of our Savior in our lives and within our hearts.
Let’s conclude with the Lord’s Prayer. Join me won’t you?
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Let us now go forth loving and serving God by loving and serving each other – EVERY each other.
I humbly and sincerely ask for your prayers!
