HoHum:
In the days of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the Roman army was trapped by the wild tribes of Germany in high mountains where there was no water. The soldiers were choking to death when the Miletine Legion, which was largely Christian, asked if they might pray. When they knelt to pray the thunder was heard in the distance and rain poured down on the needy men. The Emperor renamed them the “Thundering Legion” and eased his persecution of Christians. The Lord supplied what they needed in answer to the prayers of his people.
WBTU:
Recite together the Model Prayer (Lord’s Prayer)
Started with “Our Father who art in heaven,” or “Our Father in heaven,” and then proceeded to “Hallowed be thy name,” or “Hallowed be your name”- May Your name be kept holy. Talked about “Thy Kingdom come,” or “Your Kingdom come”, then “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Or to put it another way, “Glorify Your name, spread Your Kingdom, accomplish Your will.” These are unnatural for us but these are a good place to start. The fourth petition takes a surprising turn. The Model prayer goes from the heavenly to earthly. He says we should pray, “Give us today our daily bread.” After instructing us to pray about the holiness of God’s name, the coming of His reign, and the accomplishment of His will, now this?
There is a slight difference between the wording of Matthew and Luke’s Model Prayers on this request. In Luke 11 after his disciples ask Jesus teach them to pray, he gives a Model Prayer there that is the same but scaled down. This petition in the middle is, “Give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3). In any case, those few words from the prayer Jesus taught His disciples make it clear that praying for the most basic, practical, ordinary needs of daily life is perfectly consistent with praying also for such things as God’s reputation, kingdom and will. In other words, when we pray, Jesus says…
Thesis: Pray Practically focussing on Luke 11:3
1. Pray for our every need
We are in a different situation that those in 1st century Palestine. Palestine was one of the poorest areas in the Roman Empire. We have access to books- more than we can read. We have access to bread and many times the bread goes bad before we can eat it all. We have meat and vegetables in our freezer. A little change in our pockets, a few pairs of shoes in our closet, a car in our garage. Our standard of living is far removed from when Jesus first gave these instructions on prayer. When Jesus said to pray “Give us this day our daily bread,” He is urging us to depend on God for our most basic, elemental human needs. In the 1st century this was literally a prayer for bread. For us it is a reminder that we can’t even walk without God holding our hand. I think we pray best when we exhibit a day by day dependence on God for the most basic, elemental human needs. Oh sure, we can pull a frozen pizza from the freezer to eat tonight, but doesn’t God have his hand on this in some way? Long before Jesus taught his followers the Lord’s Prayer, God spoke these words to His people through Moses in Deuteronomy 8:10-14, 17-18: When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery… You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” 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 ancestors, as it is today.
Louise Webb once had a missionary from Holland who was on furlough and she said grace before and after her meals. It is one thing to give thanks when we are hungry- and another thing to give thanks when we are full. It is a different story when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” when we don’t know where our next meal is coming from- and another thing to pray this just as sincerely when our cupboard is full. Jesus didn’t say just to pray this when in dire straights but all of the time. It is a prayer for all seasons because we should never say to ourselves, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” We should daily remember the Lord our God who gives us the ability to produce wealth, to buy bread, and even to chew it, swallow it, and digest it (in hospice know several where this is a major struggle).
“Give us this day our daily bread” does go beyond bread, however. Love Bob Hostetler’s idea of posting a short prayer every morning. Several different kinds of prayer but a favorite of bob’s is what can be called text prayers. Many of these text prayers echo this petition Jesus gave to his disciples. Here are a few examples: Give us this day our daily breath. Give us this day our daily break. Give us this day our daily coffee. Give us this day our daily discovery. Give us this day our daily strength. Give us this day our daily fun. Give us this day our daily work. Give us this day our daily health. Give us this day our daily oxygen. Give us this day our daily creativity. Give us this day our daily hope. Each prayer here is a reminder that, just as the children of Israel had to depend on God for a daily delivery of manna to keep them going, so praying, “Give us this day our daily bread,” teaches us to pray for the things we need- even those thing we take for granted. Maybe especially those things we take for granted.
This petition also encourages us to trust God for what we need, not necessarily for what we want. “Daily bread” is not our “daily luxuries.” These words from James 4:2-3: You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. Jesus teaches us to “seek first the kingdom of God,” (first 3 petitions) and then to pray practically- not for God to indulge our selfish desires but to meet our needs, from the most mundane to the most wonderful.
2. Pray daily
When Jesus gave this petition he intended this to be a daily prayer. Now, Jesus was speaking to people (Jews) for whom prayer defined the rhythms of their lives. Many times the Jews calculated parts of the day based on the times of prayer. We live in a different world that Jesus first followers. Prayer no longer defines and dictates our schedules. From the first, God installed a rhythm into His creation, a daily rhythm, one of “evening and morning.” I think the life of Jesus reflected this rhythm. Mark 1:35: Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Luke 4:42: At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. Praying 3 times a day was a common practice, not only for Jews in the time of Daniel (3 times a day) and Jesus, but also beyond. The didache, a manual of Christian life from around the turn of the 1st century, includes this Model (Lord’s) Prayer followed by instructions to pray it 3 times a day. Many still follow this practice. Good to start somewhere, morning and evening by Charles Spurgeon. Anne Lamont says: Fight to find time, to make the time. It is our true wealth, this holy moment. How might things change if we seek first the kingdom of God and then pray practically- for every need. So stressed out, follow the advice of Paul in Philippians 4:6-7: Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
3. Pray Unselfishly
“Give us this day our daily bread”- our is there so our practical prayers should include others. Yes, pray for the hungry- in our community and around the world. Pray for the desperate. Pray for the homeless. Pray for all in need. Pray for the grace to share our bread with others and the wisdom to do it well. A Christian from Sudan was being interviewed and asked the interviewer, “How can our rich Christian brothers and sisters in America ignore the fact that we in Sudan are starving to death?” I thought to myself, “I’m glad I don’t have to answer that question!” For this Christian in Sudan this is a cry of desperation. For me, it needs to become a vow of generosity. I could use a little less daily bread. When I pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” I am pledging to do all in my power to see that my brother in Sudan has daily bread. “Give us this day our daily bread” is a prayer of equality. It is a recognition of God’s interest in more than just my needs. God cares for the needs of all… He wants everyone to have what they need.
What are the physical needs of all human beings?
A. Food- Each day, 25,000 people, including more than 10,000 children, die from hunger and related causes. Some 854 million people worldwide are estimated to be undernourished, and high food prices may drive another 100 million into poverty and hunger. More than 13 million children faced hunger in 2022. According to the USDA, one in every five children is unsure where they will get their next meal.
B. Clothing- Free clothing at LCAC and clothing is readily available. In other countries it is not this way. Some children run the streets naked because no clothing or too expensive.
C. Shelter- Growing homeless problem in this country. Go from bridge to bridge. Also the lack of affordable housing is making homelessness more prevalent. Habitat for Humanity.
2 Corinthians 8:13-15: Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”
