The Lord’s Prayer 2 - Provision Series

THE LORD’S PRAYER - PROVISION

A college student walked into a photography studio with a framed picture of his girlfriend. He wanted the picture duplicated. This involved removing it from the frame. In doing this, the studio owner noticed the inscription on the back of the photograph: "My dearest Tom, I love you with all my heart. I love you more and more each day. I will love you forever and ever. I am yours for all eternity." It was signed "Diane," and it contained a P.S.: "If we ever break up, I want this picture back." When you receive Christ as your savior you never have to worry about a P.S. because God will never leave you or forsake you. We are His. We belong to Him -- forever. We have this position in Christ but we often fail to cultivate our relationship with Him in prayer.

Matt 6:11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

We serve a faithful God who meets all of our needs – both physical and spiritual. When we come to prayer we recognize His faithfulness and pledge our own.

1. Give us Today – needs for the day (physical)

God is faithful in that He provides everything that we physically need from day to day. The children of Israel new this provision when they wandered in the wilderness. Every day they would wake to find that God had supplied again their needs for the day.

In prayer we recognize our needs and acknowledge God’s provision of those needs. These words are not to remind God of His duty to us but to remind us of His love. God knows what you need and has promised to supply all of your needs.

Dr. Helen Roseveare, missionary to Zaire, told the following story. "A mother at our mission station died after giving birth to a premature baby. We tried to improvise an incubator to keep the infant alive, but the only hot water bottle we had was beyond repair. So we asked the children to pray for the baby and for her sister. One of the girls responded, ’Dear God, please send a hot water bottle today. Tomorrow will be too late because by then the baby will be dead. And dear Lord, send a doll for the sister so she won’t feel so lonely.’ That afternoon a large package arrived from England. The children watched eagerly as we opened it. Much to their surprise, under some clothing was a hot water bottle! Immediately the girl who had prayed so earnestly started to dig deeper, exclaiming, ’If God sent that, I’m sure He also sent a doll!’ And she was right! The heavenly Father knew in advance of that child’s sincere requests, and 5 months earlier He had led a ladies’ group to include both of those specific articles." E.g. the Doulos

Matt 6:31 So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

Are you worried about anything this morning? Odds are that someone here is. Worry seems to be an epidemic in the world in which we live. Some years ago, the Mayo Clinic stated that statistically 80 percent to 85 percent of their total case load were ill either in reality or artificially due directly to mental stress.

According to the National Bureau of Standards, a dense fog covering seven city blocks to a depth of 100 feet is composed of something less than one glass of water. This can be compared to the things we worry about. If we could see into the future and if we could see our problems in their true light, they wouldn’t blind us to the world -- to living itself -- but instead could be relegated to their true size and place. And if all the things most people worry about were reduced to their true size, you could probably stick them all into a water glass, too.

It is important to always acknowledge and reflect on God’s provision. This is why we teach children to say grace before meals.

My friend Bob was trying to teach his daughter, Jenny, how to say grace before meals. After a few weeks of coaching, Bob decided Jenny was ready to say grace all by herself. Jenny started out fine, thanking God for her mommy and daddy and brother and sister and for the rolls and the salad, etc. She ended with a big, "Thank you, God, for the spaghetti!" and lifted her head. The tradition in Bob’s house, though, was to end each prayer with "In Jesus’ name, Amen." So Bob prompted Jenny, "In ..." At first, Jenny seemed confused. Then she proudly exclaimed, "In tomato sauce. Amen."