Give Us Today Our Daily Bread

This is the only line of petition in the entire prayer, which is strange because if you ever listen to any prayer time, most of it is spent in petition. We pray for people, for things, for events . . . We ask and plead and demand. Yet this is the only mention of our needs, and it goes far beyond the ‘stuff’ of this world. It’s a prayer of total trust in Him.

I must totally trust that He has tomorrow already taken care of. I must live on today’s manna. I must accept today’s word from Him. I must take this moment and indwell it fully. Not with an eye to tomorrow or a regret of yesterday. I will be totally satisfied with this moment from Him. One of the neat things about this is that age now becomes irrelevant – all that matters is today. This is His birthday ‘present’ to us.

As stated earlier, when God revealed His name to Moses, He said “I Am.” He is a ‘present – tense’ God, and we need to embrace the fullness of that. He is always about today. His mercies are new every morning. (Lamentations 3:23) He gives us strength for this day. (Deuteronomy 33:25) He tells us that today is the day of our salvation. (II Corinthians 6:2). He is all about today, about embracing this very moment that we are living in.

Paul knew this. He knew that secret of his contentment, in Philippians 4, was to trust totally that he could do all things – present tense – through Christ who gives him strength. Present-tense strength. Whether he was in plenty or in want, he was fine. Because the bread of Christ was sufficient for that day. God is always about today.

A Word for Today

On a personal level, the release of this phrase has also helped me immensely as a preacher. I must be totally willing to allow all of His word – His bread – to be broken and spoken through me each week– and then gone, if that is His will. No eye toward long-term book deals or sermon series that inspire generations for years to come. A word for today – this person, this group – at this moment. Then gone, like the dew in the morning sun. I must surrender completely to Him the use of my voice. Bread for today – for this congregation. And then, like the manna, to be used no more.

This concept released me in a way that’s hard to explain. I can dig through the Scriptures and prepare this week’s sermon, this week’s Bible Study, without wondering if they’ll be anything for the next one. This allows me to empty the jar every time, knowing that the next time I lift the cover, there will be oil enough for that message, with no thought of personal gain or praise. I’m working on His agenda, not my own.

The problem of selfish ambition and personal agendas is killing today’s churches. A prayer for daily bread removes any ideas of personal gain – for personal gain always has an eye to the long-term. We want people to think amazing thoughts about us and our church. But if we are praying, as a Christian worker, for just enough for today, that removes any chance of desiring to become the next Spurgeon or Moody or Billy Graham.

Spurgeon himself writes: “We do not need tomorrow's supplies; that day has not yet dawned, and its wants are as yet unborn. The thirst which we may suffer in the month of June does not need to be quenched in February, for we do not feel it yet; if we have enough for each day as the days arrive we shall never know want. Sufficient for the day is all that we can enjoy.” He’s right – anything else reveals a lack of gratitude to God.

The Power is Not in the Tool

Too many churches are trying to feed off yesterday’s manna, and instead of keeping in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25) they are always one step behind Him. I remember one day I was out with Luke, and we were working on the yard. We had a rake, a broom and a shovel as we tried to clean out an area next to the driveway. Every time I started to do some work, he asked me for the tool I was using, because to him, the ‘tool’ seemed to be doing the work. He was missing the point – it was the fact that the tool was in my hands that it was doing something. I was supplying the power. When it was put in his hands, it became useless again. But he didn’t understand. He wanted the tool.

This is exactly what we do as churches. We look at the manna God has given some other ministries and try to grab that ‘tool’ and see if it will work in our hands. The problem is that it was God that was doing the work at the other church, not the ‘tool’ that they were using. We need to be satisfied with our daily bread, the bread given to us and to our church, and look for Him to give us something of our own.

Oswald Chambers writes: “Worldliness is not the trap that most endangers us as Christian workers; nor is it sin. The trap we fall into is extravagantly desiring spiritual success; that is, success measured by, and patterned after, the form set by this religious age in which we now live. Never seek after anything other than the approval of God”

Content – Yet Expectant

There is another part of this phrase – and it is something that is often overlooked. Inherent in asking God for just enough for this day is that we are asking God for new bread, new experiences. We are not content with living off yesterday’s victories or tomorrow’s possibilities. We are asking Him for a new experience. Too many of us are content with living off of yesterday’s bread. But this is not simply a ‘contentment’ verse – it’s an ‘expectant’ verse. We are asking for new manna, something fresh for today.

I’m not saying that we are to be relying on our emotional experiences – but they should occur. Any good relationship is an emotional relationship with new experiences happening on a daily basis. In Psalm 40:3 it says that “He put a new song in my mouth” – but many of us are still singing the tunes from our childhood or our early walk with God. Where are the ‘new songs’ that He promises? It’s certainly not His fault, for as we know, He is a present-tense God. He is the great “I Am,” the God of right now. But we tend to be Christians of yesterday. We shy away from emotional experiences, because Satan has managed to take that very normal aspect of Christianity and make it look crazy. However, emotional experiences are normal in any vibrant, dynamic relationship. This prayer for ‘daily bread’ asks God to give us a new song!

The Daily Bread is Found in His Word

Every emotional experience, however, should drive us straight to the Scriptures. Lives change when we encounter the unchanging truth of His Word. Lives change when we get into His Word. Because what ultimately is our ‘daily bread?’ Is it not His Word? John 6 is a difficult chapter for many people, as Christ says that we must “eat His flesh and drink His blood.” But He is saying that we must consume Him on a daily basis. He is our daily bread. As you consume something, it enters your bloodstream and it becomes the source of energy and matter for your cells – it literally becomes you. It’s the same with Christ – when you consume Him, He literally becomes you.

40 Days of Doctrine

Before His ascension, Christ spent 40 days with His disciples, filling them with His Word. Then He told them to wait in Jerusalem until His Holy Spirit was poured upon them. At this point they were to pour forth into the world, invading every land, filling every void with the testimony of the risen Lord. But the method was clear: first they were filled with His Word, then His Spirit. The “40 days of doctrine” were necessary to have a solid foundation when His Spirit empowered them to move.

Every “explosion” – every “awakening” – was preceded by immersion in the Word. The great revival of Josiah was prompted by the discovery of the Word as they repaired the Temple. Martin Luther was inspired by his readings in Romans, leading to the Reformation. Jonathan Edwards preached nothing but the Word, week after week, year after year, followed by a great ‘awakening.’ You want a revival? Preach the Word. You want a personal awakening? Dig into the Word - truly make it your daily bread.

Of all people, the disciples after Pentecost would have the right to be the ones to rely on the awesome experience that they just had in the upper room. But what’s the first thing they did? They went deep into the Word to both verify that their experience was truly within God’s expressed will, and to solidify the experience as one that they could trust forever because it was based on His written Word. When they hit the streets, the message that they preached was not this great experience, but the Word. When they hit tough circumstances, they relied not this experience, but on the Truth of the Word.

Objective proofs, testimonies and doctrines are vital to a vital faith. We think of a vital faith only as experiential. But the objective and the subjective go hand in hand. The great heroes of the faith had a healthy balance of both. Men and women with sound doctrine, reasoned arguments, rational beliefs – and a vibrant, living, powerful, joyous faith. “Normal” people, full of the knowledge of God and the raw power of His Holy Spirit.

We are told to be ever-increasing with our understanding of the Word and our ability to use it effectively. Many people who downplay doctrine are simply using it as an excuse for not digging into the Word. Do not fall into this trap. If you want the ‘experience’ of God, get deep into His Word. Those who hunger and thirst for Him will be filled. Pray with a desperate heart, “Give us this day our daily bread!”