The Lord's Prayer: The PatternSample

How to Eat Daily Bread

Are you a bread lover–or gluten free? Whole wheat, white, or rye? If you’re into bread, do you like it fresh and buttered, fried up into French toast, or dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar? Bread is a big part of daily life in cultures across the world, and it was a big deal in Jesus’ day too, so it’s worth exploring why Jesus tells us to pray for our daily bread. And while that does mean trusting God for toast on the breakfast table, it means so much more.

It’s good for us to pray for our natural (physical) provision. God wants us to pray for it (see James 5:14, 3 John 1:2, and Philippians 4:6, to mention a few scriptures on the subject). You needn’t feel guilty about it. Interestingly, instead of just saying, "Give us this day our bread," or "Give us our daily bread," Jesus is deliberately repetitive: "Give us this day our daily bread." Jesus is reminding the disciples of how God provided just enough manna for His people in the desert, daily (Exodus 16). The body’s physical need for daily food activates reliance on God. He was, is, and always will be, His people’s source, and we need to rely on Him every day.

Of course, we’re to pray, not just for our natural provision, but for our spiritual provision too. In John 4:34, Jesus says, "My food is to do the will of God." He also says, "People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4) When God sent the manna to feed the Israelites in the desert, they had to work it into an edible form (like cake). Similarly, when we receive the truth of God’s Word, which has the capacity to sustain, provide, encourage, reshape, and give life, we need to work with it by allowing God’s Spirit to use it to change our attitudes and actions. Grappling with God’s Word, and "feeding" on it, powerfully transforms our thinking, feeling, and doing.

Before you head into today, pray this paraphrase of Jesus’ powerful pattern for prayer:

Our Father, our heavenly origin and source, from whom we receive our truest identity, reveal to us who You are. We surrender our lives to Your calling and Your authority. We say yes to your purposes. Let what happens in Your world now happen in ours. Christ, You are our provision, You are the Bread of Life that daily sustains us! The persuasion and the thoughts of our Father are our all-sufficiency in every situation. Amen.