The Lord's Prayer
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.
The image of our daily bread universally represents our daily need for sustenance, particularly in the subsistence economy of the first century, where often one day's wages provided what was need for food in the next. So in this heading Jesus reminds us that we are ultimately reliant on God for our physical needs. But it is also a request for Our Father to provide for our daily spiritual needs. In the Old Testament God provided Manna to sustain the Israelites during their journey from their slavery in Egypt until they reached the Promised Land. It symbolised Him providing everything they needed to make it there. And Jesus takes us this imagery for our spiritual needs as we journey in this life until we reach the new creation. So asking for our daily bread, is asking that God would provide everything we need spiritually and physically to keep going in following him today.
Here is an extended prayer under this heading:
Faithful God, thank you that you are unchanging in your steadfast love and provision for your children; that nothing can ever separate me from your love; that I can be confident you will always provide everything that I’m going to need to live a life that is honouring to you. Lord, teach me to look to you to supply my every need according to your riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Help me become increasingly clear that every good gift is from above, flowing out of your grace, and not because I’m entitled or have earned any such provision.
Thank you Lord for the way this current crisis has woken me up to my dependence on you. So often I take it for granted that I can access supplies of what I want, when I want. Protect me from responding like the world, with panic and self-centred hoarding. May my daily sense of security come from knowing you and your promises, rather than the amount of goods that I’ve been able to stock pile!
Thank you so much that you know what I need before I ask; and that the very act of asking you in prayer helps me remember my utter dependence on your provision. What a blessing Lord to know your righteous character - for if sinful fathers love to give good things to their children, how much more can I be confident that you delight to give what is good for me.
Forgive me for the way material things have become so important to me. Thank you for the way you’ve used delays in online orders, and a lack of certain goods, to expose my greed and insatiable appetite for more. Father, please use this time to wean me off the things of this world, and to grow in me a sincere gratitude for your provision of my deepest needs in the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep showing me how my constant thirst is already quenched through relationship with you; that the true bread which has come down from heaven provides ultimate security and satisfaction.
Teach me daily dependence Lord. And help me enjoy the material things you have so generously provided as gifts from you - that I’d be neither greedy, nor ascetic, but instead cherish your kind generosity in providing all I need and so much more. Whenever I pause in the day to thank you, not least before eating a meal, may my gratitude be ever more deeply-felt.
In all these things, I pray there would be a lasting legacy, to the praise of your glorious grace. Amen
Matthew 6:8, 25-34, Matthew 7:7-11, Philippians 4:19-20
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