Give us this day

Mat 6:9 Our Father which art in heaven…


Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.


This day. Not tomorrow, not the next day after tomorrow, not next week, not next month, not next year, not always, but 'give us this day'. What's this tell us? Seriously, what is this telling us, what is Jesus telling us? We question our prayer life and some will say you should pray three times a day, others say five, still more will say two times a day, and you'll also hear once a day is fine, along with people saying we are to pray always. At the VERY least this is telling us we need to pray every day.


Whether its one time or ten times in one day that you pray, it is important to remember to pray every single day, to acknowledge God the Father, OUR FATHER directing our lives in good and bad, in everything always.


Give us THIS DAY… let's not overlook these two words- GIVE US. When we make a request of someone we ask them to give us something… we are requesting something from them and God wants us to make a request of Him. Some say that God doesn't want us to ask for things- He only wants praise and honor- but this isn't true. Jesus is teaching us that we are to make requests of our heavenly Father. We are to ASK our heavenly Father for something.


First we acknowledge our heavenly Father.
Then we acknowledge His holiness.
After that we acknowledge His promised kingdom and His will.
Then we switch from praise and honor and are told to ask God for a daily blessing.


Do you see, we first must establish whom we are praying to, and His worthiness to be prayed to, and our understanding that one day HIS kingdom will rule over all, and His will must be done- first and foremost because we in our sinful natures tend to want our will done. We tend to believe our will is what is best and to be denied our will is to injured- but this isn't true at all. When we understand God's will is to be done- then we can ask that God's will include giving us daily all we need, knowing HE knows best what that need is in the eternal realm of things not only temporal.


Jesus tells us-


Mat 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you


Mat 7:11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?


Mat 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.


Luk 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?


Joh 14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Joh 14:14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.


Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.


Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.


Joh 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
Joh 16:24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
Joh 16:25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.
Joh 16:26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:
Joh 16:27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
Joh 16:28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.


Asking is a good thing, we are told to ask, God wants us to ask, Jesus wants us to ask. By asking we acknowledge that in and of ourselves we cannot provide for all our own needs. We must ask because asking reveals our knowledge of dependence. Too many people do not want to be dependent upon anyone. More and more we are taught to depend on no one but ourselves, and if that's not possible then at least to desire to depend on no one but ourselves. We are groomed from a very young age to realize that we will have to fend for ourselves one day and we spend our childhood and young adulthood striving towards this end. No, I'm not saying we shouldn't grow up knowing how to provide for ourselves- I'm saying we SHOULD grow up knowing God provides first and foremost and by His grace and will we are able to provide for ourselves- but of ourselves alone we cannot provide for our most essential need in life. People might scoff and say the most wicked live in luxury obviously providing quite well for themselves, but they don't include the most important thing of all- eternal life. No one will ever receive eternal life who doesn't acknowledge their complete dependence upon God, no one. So being taught independence might be good in some respects but ONLY if it's taught with the knowledge that first and foremost we are dependent upon God- even for our ability to have independence from parents and such. God NEVER wanted us to be independent from Him, never. Adam and Eve knew in the garden that they had a Creator they were dependent upon for their very lives, a Creator who visited them in the garden. God did not create man and not communicate to him, expecting him to just figure out everything on his own. God did not create man as an experiment- create man then sit back and see what happens. No, no, no! God communed with mankind right from the start, God desired to be an important part of man's life- not to disappear and let man fend for himself. It was MAN who decided that listening to God wasn't something they desired to do and then sin entered and sin separate man from God. Even after sin separated man from God, God had a plan to bring man back into full communion with Him- through the sacrifice of Jesus. God did not abandon us even after we abandoned Him. So to even think that God wants us to be independent from Him is ludicrous.


So when we are told to pray- Give us this day… We are being told SO MUCH!


Of course we can ask for things *amiss* and we must be careful not to do so.


Jas 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.


Again we must want God's will done before we ask for anything at all. As long was we are desiring God's will and not our own we are not trying to ask for things selfishly, things that will fulfill our flesh natures. And if we want God's will done and do ask for things that are selfish we know that we will NOT receive them because they are NOT God's will but just ours.


By His grace may we ask and when we ask daily let it be for all that we need- no more, no less.


In His amazing love!


Amen.