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Lord's Prayer
by George Jacob Ph D.
A Basic principle taught by "Give us this day our
daily bread," is the principle of moderation.
Follow me carefully through this petition as it
is a very important point.
The Gospel of Luke says in LUK 11:3, "Give us day by day our daily
bread." There is just a little difference in the
way the Gospel of Luke presents this petition.
Matthew says "Give us this day," where Luke says,
"Give us day by day." Luke tells us we need bread
daily, day by day, day after day, to be supplied.
Why? Bread is the staff of life. It's the basic,
most stable food source. We must, day by day,
come to the Lord with every need and necessity of
our life. He is not speaking of only one element,
bread, He is teaching us "After this manner
therefore pray ye..."
The Lord chooses an item that we take for
granted, and shows us how every one of these
needs must be supplied by the Lord day by day.
Our need for daily bread is a picture of our
daily necessities of life. This is not a prayer
for luxuries, but for food, shelter, and
clothing. We are dealing with moderation. This
prayer teaches the moderation that the Lord
teaches throughout the Word of God. The Lord
says, "Let your moderation be known unto all men.
The Lord is at hand," PHI 4:5.
There is an illustration of what we should pray
for in the prayer of Agur in PRO 30:7-9, "Two
things have I required of thee; deny me them not
before I die [These two things teach us why we
must have a prayer of moderation]: Remove far
from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty
nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is
the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take
the name of my God in vain." When we ask, "Give
us this day our daily bread," we are asking for
moderation, not a stalled ox, luxuries, or
anything to consume upon our lusts.
This is what we learn from 1TI 6:6-8, "But
godliness with contentment is great gain. For we
brought nothing into this world, and it is
certain we can carry nothing out. And having food
and raiment let us be therewith content." From
this Scripture we are learning Godliness; our
heart is not fixed on the things of this earth.
The Lord can give us great blessings. He can give
us great abundance in many things, but He is
teaching us that our heart is not to be fixed on
these things. We are not to trust in uncertain
riches. When our heart is fixed on loving God
with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and we
are content with that, it is great gain. We have
brought nothing into this world. It is certain we
shall carry nothing out, "And having food and
raiment let us be therewith content."
This prayer for daily bread is a prayer that not
only teaches us our need for bread, but for
moderation. Our needs must be supplied on a daily
basis; we are not asking for a stockpile to last
for years ahead. We are asking for today's needs
to be supplied. The Lord wants us to live day by
day, eating from His hand. When we experience
that, it is the most blessed thing. I am not a
stranger to not knowing today how tomorrow's
needs will be supplied. We must live by faith
believing that tomorrow the Lord will supply
again. He supplies for this week when we don't
know about next week; He supplies for this month
when we don't know about next month. The Lord
wants us to be dependent and to live out of His
hand in moderation.
The children of Israel gathered manna day by day,
and we can read of this tremendous lesson in EXO
16:21, "And they gathered it every morning, every
man according to his eating: and when the sun
waxed hot, it melted." They were living in a
wilderness without one thing left to eat for
tomorrow, but they had enough for today. By faith
they had to look to the Lord for their bread the
next day because when the sun became hot, it
melted and was gone. That is the way it is with
you and me. We may stock up much, but those who
gathered much have nothing left over. Those who
gathered little have no lack. I have marveled at
this as we look at today's economy. Those who
have much have absolutely nothing left when they
are carried to the grave. Those who gathered
little have not come short. They are able to eat
and have the necessities of life until they are
also carried to the grave.
See Also:
Comforting Thoughts When You Face Obstacles
Our strength and comfort comes from our Lord. He is our strength
and refuge. He is a God of sympathy and understanding. He knows
our hurt and loneliness. He knows how we feel.
How To Follow Jesus
It is a wrong notion in Christian life that leading a Pius life brings us all materialistic favors
from God. The only answer of innocent suffering in our life is the
imitation of our Lord’s suffering. To culminate our spirituality we need
to deny our self, carry His Cross and follow him unto the last.
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