Pray in This Way (Part Five)

“In this manner, therefore, pray:
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 debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.”
(Matthew 6:9–13)

You might be able to live without most everything else, but you cannot live without food and water! Praying that God would “give us this day our daily bread” teaches us to trust our heavenly Father for our most basic needs—physical as well as spiritual—and to direct our ultimate thanks to Him when they are provided. And if God provides our most basic needs, then He is sure to meet any and every other need as well. If we look to God in prayer for the very substance of our lives—food, water, clothing, shelter, protection, deliverance—then certainly we should look to Him (and not elsewhere) for the other needs of life, such as love, wisdom, faith, forgiveness, grace, peace, and countless other things vital to happy human existence.

Jesus brought this point home in His Sermon on the Mount where He taught His disciples not to worry about anything—not even the food you eat nor the clothes you wear—for, He said, “Your Father in heaven knows you have need of these things even before you ask.” If instead you make your primary aim the glory of God and the coming of His kingdom (in your life and elsewhere), then He your faithful King will see to it that all of your needs are provided. A faithful Lord takes care of His faithful subjects.

This of course in no way means we are not to seek to provide these things for ourselves, for our families, and for others. Of course we are, and it is only in doing so that you are being like your heavenly Father. Bums and moochers do not inherit the kingdom of God. “If you don’t work, you don’t eat,” the apostle Paul legislated. So we are not to be praying to God, tail in the easy chair, waiting for manna from heaven or for the ravens to drop food into our mouths. But we are reminded from both these very out-of-the-ordinary instances that all of our food does indeed come from heaven, even if it goes through the toil of the farmer, grocer, delivery truck driver, “breadwinner,” and mom to get to your belly. Pray for what you need, work to receive it, and distribute it as God gives you opportunity, and then thank God at the end of the day for His answer. But do not be found praying for something in which you are not willing to be part of the answer.

“Father of all life, we give thanks to You this day for the breath in our lungs, the food in our bellies, and the Bread of Life which is Christ our Life. Give us this day all we truly need—food, clothing, shelter, love, wisdom, forgiveness, faith, and repentance. Remind us, O Lord, to come to You with every need, great or small, and to look to You for life and true satisfaction. Inspire us also, dear God, to work hard at meeting our own needs and the needs of others, that we may be like You, Good Father, and like our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.”