John 6:31-32. ‘Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat’. Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven’.
This verse in the heart of the Lord’s Prayer ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ opened my heart to the truth that there is so much more depth and treasure to the word of God than I had realised in the past.
As I read this a number of years ago, I wondered why Jesus was telling his disciples to daily seek God for their daily needs when in the next passage he is telling them not to worry about what they shall eat or wear. Some people would call this a contradiction!
On the surface there is the truth that on one hand we seek God for all we need and on the other we trust he has already provided us with what we need so we live out our lives in thanksgiving.
God seems to be the focus of this prayer rather than us being the subject of the prayer we can assume what God is teaching us about is not only him as our physical provider but we are to turn to him for our spiritual nourishment too. And we see this truth confirmed in John 6: 31-32. We also see this throughout the Old Testament and New Testament that our physical needs, physical desires, physical appetites , physical lives are to help us to understand how to live out our new spiritual life in Jesus.
At the heart of this prayer and at the heart of the gospel message is that our greatest and ultimate need is Christ himself.
As we pray this prayer ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ our heart is to cry out for the manna from heaven, Jesus Christ who is our true bread, who we are to feed from daily just as we daily cry out for food we are to cry out for the one true God who alone brings complete satisfaction to the desires of our hearts.
Instead of praying for the daily requests of getting a leg up onto the next step of the social ladder, for the comforts of life to be bestowed on us, or even for the elusive car parking space that requires a miracle from God, let us learn from God’s word what our hearts should be desiring.
Let us pray that Jesus will transform us into his likeness
2 Corinthians 3:18: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness, from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Let us pray for a heart the overflows with love for the world
Matthew 28:17-20 ‘When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Let us pray to be Christ minded
Col 3:2-4 ‘Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory’.
Every time we pray, every time we read scripture, we are to pray it into our lives and into the lives of our family and friends. This is the daily bread we need; this is the daily bread our souls cry out for; this is the daily bread that comes straight from heaven.
Does this means the little things in life don’t matter, does this mean that our physical lives are unimportant……absolutely not but the daily bread of Jesus gives us spiritual sight so we can see where these earthly things are to be placed……. under Christ instead of in place of Christ.
I pray that today we all find satisfaction in the feeding from the word of God, after all just like our stomachs our souls are already hungry.
Living His Word 