Pray Like ThisSample

The Provision of God 

Jesus next instructed us to ask God to “give us today our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11).

This week we see Jesus make a transition to personal petition. When we ask God to give us our daily bread, we’re acknowledging some important facts about who God is and who we are. In His Model Prayer Jesus next told us that we should ask God to give us today our daily bread.

God is our provider. Whether or not we recognize it, we’re dependent on Him each day to give us everything we need. When we pray like this daily, we acknowledge that God alone can fulfill all our needs and satisfy us. We also humbly acknowledge that we can’t provide for ourselves. 

Jesus tells us to present our requests to God—even requests for the most basic things of life like daily bread. When we do so, we recognize not only God’s great care and power for provision; we also recognize His wisdom in providing what we need when we need it, even when that might look differently than the way we think it should. This outlook requires not only a realistic faith in the power and wisdom of God, but also a great sense of humility that recognizes our dependence on Him.

God can be trusted. We know this from our past experiences because He has given us everything we need. But we also know this because He has ultimately provided for our greatest need through the death and resurrection of Jesus.