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Source: Back to the Bible, India,
Confident Living Magazine, Secunderabad, India

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread! Do We Need To Pray This Prayer Today?

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

(Is this Petition Relevant Today?)

                                                      

                                                     by George V Thiruvanathapuram

Picture Credit: www.imagekind.com

In Mathew Chapter 6 verses 9-13, we have what is generally called as the Lord’s Prayer.”  In using this title, however we should remember that Jesus never prayed it Himself.  It was given to the disciples as a model after which they could pattern their prayer.  In some Christian groups this prayer is often used, as a matter of routine, without knowing the real meaning of each petition.  Out of the seven petitions here, the first three concerns the name, kingdom and will of God.  The Lord must occupy the highest place, and indeed in our whole lives.  The four petitions for ourselves rise by degrees from “bread” up to “deliverance from evil”: teaching us that we ought to grovel in prayer, but to increase in spirituality while we pray. (C H Spurgeon)  “Give us this day our daily bread.” Give us necessary food, bread for the day; our own bread, yet thy gracious gift; give it not only to me, but to all of us thy children.  Is this petition needed today when our purses are thick, bank balances sufficient, and our store houses and fridges are full with food materials from salad to chicken?  There was a time when our forefathers and evangelists like George Muller or M E Cherian and many others fully depended on our gracious Lord for each meal?  I still remember a time when a friend of mine, was examining the rooftop of their wooden house to check, whether he could get few pieces of dried Tapioca, which was stolen by rats from them.  Such was the hard time!  Now the situations have changed!  Who needs such a prayer when many could join with that fool in Luke 12 who said, “soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry”! (v. 19).  

Let us examine this Lord’s teaching on the basis of the Scriptures:

Picture Credit: www.slideshare.net

Physical Needs:

“Our daily bread” refers primarily to the supply of our temporal needs.  With the Hebrews,  bread was a generic term, signifying the necessities and conveniences of this life.  (Gen: 3:19; 28:20), such as food, raiment and housing.  Inherent in the use of the specific term bread  rather than the more general term food  is an emphasis, teaching us not to ask for dainties or for riches, but for that which is wholesome and needful.  Bread here includes health and appetite apart from which food does us no good.  It also takes into account nourishment:  for this comes not from the food alone, nor does it lie within the power of man’s will.  Hence God’s blessings  on it is to be sought.  “For every creature of God is good, and on it is nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:  For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer”  (1 Tim. 4:4,5).

Spiritual Needs:

Mathew Henry has correctly pointed out that the reason for this request for the supply of our physical needs heads the last four petitions in this prayer is that “our natural well being is necessary for our spiritual well being in the world.”  In other words, God grants to us the physical things of this life as helps to discharge of our spiritual duties.  And since they are given by Him, they are to be employed in His service, and not for our selfish activities for making money.  What gracious consideration God shows toward our weakness: we are inept and unfit to perform our higher duties if deprived of the things needed for the sustenance of our bodily existence.  We may also rightly infer that this petition comes first, in order to promote the steady growth and strengthening of our faith.  Perceiving the goodness and faithfulness of God in applying our daily physical needs, we are encouraged and stimulated to ask for higher blessings (Cf. Acts. 17:25-28).

Solomon’s Attitude

In begging God to give us our daily bread, we ask that He might graciously provide us with a portion of outward things such as He sees will be best suited to our calling and station.  “Give me neither poverty nor riches;  feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny Thee and say, Who is Lord? Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain (Prov. 30:8,9).  If God grants us the superfluities of life we are to be thankful, and must endeavor to use them to His glory; but we must not ask them.  “And having food and raiments let us be therewith content.   We  are to ask for “our daily bread”  (1 Tim. 6:8)  It is to be obtained not by theft, nor by taking force or fraud what belongs to another, but by our personal labor and industry.  Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty, open thine eyes, and thou shall be satisfied with bread”  (Prov. 20:13)  “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness”  (Prov. 31:27)  Is this request restricted to our daily bread)   No.  First, we are reminded of our frailty.  We are unable to continue in health for twenty four hours, and are unfit for the duties of a single day, unless constantly fed from on high.  Second, we are reminded of the brevity of our mundane existence.  None of us know what a day brings forth, and  therefore we are forbidden to boast ourselves of tomorrow (Pro. 27:1)  Third, we are taught to suppress all anxious concern for the future and to live a day at a time one day at a time.  “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought of the things of itself.  Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6: 34) Fourth, Christ inculcates a lesson of moderation.  Finally, observe that our Lord’s word “Give us this day our daily bread” is appropriate for use each morning, whereas the expressions, He teaches in Luke 11:3 “Give us day by day our bread” ought be our request every night.  Then the question that comes before us is “Do we have family worship (prayer) every morning and evening?  Let us all re-confirm this in our lives during this year, to have family altar.  Let me conclude this by quoting our Lord’s words from Matthew Chapter 6:25-28  “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?  Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:  It then came to the ground to pick up a crum and rising merrily again seemed to repeat its simple song “Mortals, cease from toil and sorrow, God provideth for the morrow.”  This greatly comforted the Reformers heart”  (C.H. Spurgeon)  

Let us cheer our hearts by reading that delicious song of contentment: Psalm 23:  The Lord is my shepherd is ENOUGH:   “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:  and  I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”  The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge (Ps. 46:11).  It is good to sing this twice; It is a truth of which no believer wearies, it is a fact too often forgotten.  

John Wesley was sick and could not be understood.  He attempted to speak.  At last, with all his strength he cried.  “The best of all is, God is with us.”  Again, raising his hand and waving it in triumph, he exclaimed with thrilling effect,  “The best of all is, God is with us.”  These words seem to express the leading feature of his life.  God had been with him from early childhood.  His providence had guided him through all the devious wanderings of human life.  Now when he was entering the “valley of the shadow of death,” the same hand sustained him (Spurgeon: “The Treasury of David”).  

Beloved, is the Lord on your side?  

Is Emmanuel, God with us, Your Redeemer? 

(An adaptation from Harvest Times, Mumbai.  A GLS publication. Used by permission)

Source: 

Back to the Bible, Secunderabad.

Gospel Literature Service (Harvest Times, Mumbai)

Confident Living Magazine

THE FOOL'S FOLLY

THE FOOL'S FOLLY

— Warren W. Wiersbe

Read Psalm 53:1-6

This psalm describes the atheist and gives eight reasons why he is a fool. First, he does not acknowledge God (v. 1). He lives as if there is no God. He does not obey God (v. 1). Some people think that human nature is basically kind and good. Not so. We are abominably corrupt by nature (Rom. 3:9). He does not understand God (v. 2). If you don't have the Spirit of God, you can't understand the things of God. Atheists say they won't accept anything they can't understand. Actually, there is little in the world they do understand!

The fool does not seek God (v. 2). No one by himself seeks God and comes to know Him. God invites us to seek Him, and He has mercy on us. He does not follow God's way (v. 3). God has ordained the right path for us. Being a Christian is not easy, and many people do not want to pay the price. The narrow road leads to life and is tough; the broad road is the easy way until the end (Matt. 7:13,14).

The fool does not call on God (v. 4). Such people are mercenary and do not treat others right. He does not fear God (v. 5). The day will come when the fool will be afraid. He lives with a false confidence and one day will face judgment. He does not hope in God (v. 6). The person who leaves God out of his life has no future.

God's people have a future of eternal life. However, anyone who professes to be a Christian, but lives like an atheist also is a fool. May Jesus, help us to acknowledge the goodness, greatness and majesty of Almighty God.

***@***

The atheist lives as if there is no God. You, as God's child, eagerly await eternal life. However, if you fail to walk with the Lord, you behave as a fool. Lay hold of your spiritual resources in Christ and hope in Him.

To Read More Please Visit Our Website: www.backtothebible.org

(An adaptation from the book  “Prayer, Praise and Promises” A Back to the Bible Publication, Few copies of this devotional book is now available with Back to the Bible Head Qts. for a reasonable donation. Please contact:@ info@backtothebible.in OR philip@backtothebible.in or by Telephone 040 27796353)

Source: Back to the Bible Intl. 

Picture Credit: Google.

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Confident Living Magazine

G for Glory: Glory in the Morning

Glory in the Morning

by Dr.Woodrow Kroll

And in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD.  Exodus 16:7

Some days make you wonder if you should have stayed in bed. You cut yourself shaving, you spill coffee on your clothes, you have a computer crash at work, you receive overdue notices in the mail, and your son breaks his arm on the jungle gym at school. It's enough to make you want to crawl under the covers and hide.

The Israelites also were experiencing difficulties. They were hot, tired, hungry and upset. They even wondered if they should have stayed in Egypt. This trip was more difficult than they thought it was going to be.

In the midst of these trials, God did two things: He gave them manna for their physical bodies, but He also promised to reveal His glory to them "in the morning" for their spiritual well-being. God knew that the trials of the day needed a spiritual response as well as physical relief. And He chose to meet that spiritual need while the day was yet young.

When the day is hectic, the frustrations plentiful and the disappointments thick, it's  time to turn to God. Yet how different the day might have gone had we turned to the Lord before we ever got started. Whether the events of the day change or not, when we have first spent time fellowshipping with God, we are better prepared to face them.

Perhaps you aren't a morning person—many people aren't. Yet getting up even 10 minutes earlier and spending those moments reading your Bible and praying will yield greater dividends than you might imagine. When you meet with God first in the morning, it's much easier to keep Him first all day.

How you begin your day will frequently determine how you end it. 

ALL OF GRACE - Devotional Thought For The Day

ALL OF GRACE (Devotional Thought For The Day)

Theodore H Epp

EPHESIANS 2:1-10:
God dealt in judgment at Babel when He scattered the people and confused their language, but God dealt in mercy and grace as He called Abraham. Abraham did not receive God's call because he merited God's esteem. Rather, in God's foreknowledge He knew Abraham and chose him for a special purpose. God's election must always be traced to God's will and purpose. It is all of grace, for it is by God's sovereign choice.

Theodore H Epp
(Founder Back to the Bible)

It is the same with our salvation. If it were not for God's grace, we would be doomed to an eternity in hell. But notice what God has done because of His grace: "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:4-6). God did not do this for us because we merited it—it was while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us. It is important that we realize that our salvation is all of grace.

Abraham was not chosen because he was a special kind of person nor because he had a high 10 nor because he had great faith. It was totally of the grace of God that He called Abraham out of idolatry, and it is only of the grace of God that we have been called out to salvation.

But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Rom. 5:20). 

Source: 

Back to the Bible Intl.

A Heart Problem

A Heart Problem

(Does your day begin with God?)

by  Warren W. Wiersbe
(Present Bible Teacher Back to the Bible)

Picture Credit: simplyjuliana.com

It’s imperative for us to meet God in the morning if we want to have a good day.  Jesus got up early in the morning to pray, according to Mark 1:35.  Here we find the psalmist saying, “My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up” (v.3).

When I used to work in the night shift, I would sleep in the morning.  So when I got up in the afternoon, I would meet with the Lord.  Meeting with God is not an appointment on a clock but an appointment in your heart.  Does God hear your voice in the morning?  When He looks on you at the beginning of your day, does He look on you as a priest who has come to offer Him sacrifices of praise?  That’s what direct means (v.3)—“to order my prayer.”  It means to arrange the sacrifice on the altar.

When you wake up in the morning, remind yourself that you are one of God’s priests.  How did you become a priest?  Through faith in Jesus Christ.  “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father” (Rev. 1:5,6).  You’re one of God’s priests.  That means wherever you are is God’s temple, because your body is His temple.

The first thing we do in the morning is the first thing the high priest used to do every morning.  He laid the burnt offering on the altar.  The burnt offering is a picture of total dedication to God.  If you want to have a good day, start by giving yourself to the Lord as a burnt offering, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Rom. 12:1).  A good day begins in the morning, and it begins at the altar.

 Warren W. Wiersbe with his wife Betty

Does your day begin with God?  If not, decide to start each morning by dedicating yourself to Him as a living sacrifice and ask His guidance for the day’s decisions and actions.  He wants to direct your life.  So view each day as a gift from God and determine to be a good steward of the day’s resources.  Make your time with Him a daily appointment.

Source: 
Confident Living Magazine, Secunderabad
Back to the Bible Intl. Lincoln, Nebraska.

                                                                                                      

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