5 Things God Wants You to Know About the Lord’s Prayer Chikamu

Give us today our daily bread....

Now comes the first part of Jesus’ two-part ask: “give us our daily bread.”

So simple it is. Jesus teaches us just to ask God for all that we need that day, nothing more.

But how does that fit with all the other verses in the Bible that promise of God’s blessing of wealth and prosperity, like this one:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." – Jeremiah 29:11

Aren’t those Bible promises for us also? And, if so, why does Jesus teach us to pray only for our “daily bread?”

You might not be aware of this, but all of the promises for worldly wealth, for material blessing, and for success as we think of it in the world today – all of those promises – occur ONLY in the OLD Testament.

That was a surprise to me and may be a shock to you as well. But search results for the words, “prosper/prosperity”, “wealth”, “success” and even the word “blessed” in the Bible return hundreds of promises related to material blessing, but none of these are provided in the New Testament and none of them are promised for your success today!

Really, it’s true! Check for yourself if you don’t believe it.

In the New Testament, Jesus spoke many times about worldly success, wealth and riches, but he never once referenced even one of the promises given in the Old Testament as being for us today.

Instead, his teachings indicated that worldly success, wealth and riches make it difficult to enter the Kingdom of God:

”Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” – Matthew 19:24

Still not sure? Then check how Jesus goes out of his way to draw a distinction between Old and New Testament times:

Until John the Baptist, the law of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is eager to get in. — Luke 16:16 (NLT)

The OLD Testament passages (like Jeremiah 29:11) were specifically directed at God’s people and the nation of Israel in those times.

Sure, God may still pour out material blessing on each of us today, and yes, He does have a plan for you also, but we must be careful to assess the words of the Bible, especially in relation to our expectations of material blessing from God.

After all, check what Jesus teaches in the NEW Testament:

“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” — Matthew 19:21

and,

“What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.” — Luke 16:15b

So things have indeed changed from OLD to NEW Testament times. And now, in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray more simply as well – to just ask and trust God for our “daily bread.”

Can you do that?