Our Daily Bread

    The fact that we begin in the Lord’s Prayer with hallowing God’s Name, then asking for His Kingdom rule in our lives, then for His will to be accomplished, shows that this is hardly a self-centered prayer. We tend to think in terms of “not thy will, but MY will be done.” Sometimes we would be more honest to pray, "Thy will be done-so long as it coincides with mine"! Someone once said; “We will do God’s will when we prefer His will over our will.”

    God permits or allows things to occur that are not part of His will: He wants people to live lawfully; however, people are free to rebel against God and commit sin, which in turn has built-in consequences. Scripture says that "God is not willing that any should perish" - yet many do reject Him and His gift of eternal life. God’s permissive will may differ from his perfect will. God desires that all come to a saving knowledge of the truth, but unbelievers are free to reject the gift God wishes to give. God is not the Author of sin; we are responsible for our choices. We are personally accountable for how we conduct our lives. Sometimes we ask God to guide our decisions, and at other times we regretfully decide things on our own apart from God.

    In I John we’re told that we can approach God "with confidence…that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." (5:14) God doesn’t just offer us a blank check; our prayers must be in harmony with His will. When we seek God’s will, we need to ask God to place in us a desire to want what He wants - then when we pray, we will be praying intelligently, according to His will- and we can expect results.

    When we pray "Give us this day our daily bread" we’re showing that we’re depending on God a day at a time. Jesus urges us, "Don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing…Do not worry about tomorrow." (Matthew 6:31, 34) Within our request is the faith-knowledge that God will provide. So, with confidence we make our needs known to God. However, we must also understand that we have a role to play and we must do our part as well; God is not just going to “throw it in the nest every day” so to speak.

    The first half of the Lord’s Prayer is directed to God - His paternity, His person, His program, His purpose. Now we move to our need for provision, pardon, protection, and preservation. The order is intentional - we honor God before raising personal needs. Jesus expresses this order when He says, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you."

    We usually have more than enough food for ourselves, so this request may seem remote. We can have any kind of food we wish. In our abundance we forget that God is the source of our provision; that without God we would not prosper at all. He brings the sun and the rain; He causes the crops to grow; He gives us intelligence and the ability to earn bread. He has provided our experiences, our knowledge, our skills, and talents.

    Back in Biblical times bread was a whole-grain staple of life. It was baked fresh every day and was an essential part of life. Jesus was instructing His disciples to ask God for what they needed to live for the day. Jesus also taught that we do not live by bread alone, but by the words of life found in Scripture.

    Bread is a symbol for everything necessary for life and well-being-to include food, good health, shelter, clothing, a means of income, peace, safety, friends and family. The book of Proverbs gives the right perspective: "Lord, give me neither poverty nor riches; give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny You and say, ’Who is the Lord?’ And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy Name." This prayer doesn’t imply that we’ll have all we want, but that we will have all that we need; if we do our part, God will do His part.

    Physical nourishment is only part of what this petition of the Lord’s Prayer is about. People need hope along with lunch! God has established the church to serve what no one else can cook up - the Bread of Life.

The Hexagon of The Lord’s Prayer – Matthew 6:5-15

                                         

The six sides of the hexagon represent and remind us of: God’s Character – God’s Kingdom – God’s Provision – God’s Forgiveness – God’s Guidance – God’s Protection that are all a part of the Lord’s Prayer.

    The Lord’s Prayer however is not a prayer that Jesus had to pray, but a prayer that Jesus’ disciples should use as a model for their own prayers. The value of the Lord’s Prayer is not found in the repetition of the prayer in church services, but in using it as a model. The Lord’s Prayer is a skeleton, you could say, of things we ought to know about God when we pray. Using each part, we put "meat" on that skeleton to produce a prayer that is pleasing to God.

    ”Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name” - We begin by thinking of our approach to God in Prayer. It is so easy to rush into his presence, forgetting to whom we are speaking. When we approach God in prayer, we need to pause and to focus on just who we are talking to. When we come to our Heavenly Father, we must realize that we only have access into God’s presence because of what the Lord Jesus did for us. When I come to God in prayer, I am on speaking terms with the God of the Universe. Yet, I am coming to someone who cares. I am coming to someone who wants to listen. I am coming to someone who knows me and under-stands me better than anyone else in this whole world! That’s awesome!

    But when I pray, "Our Father, which art in Heaven", I am also reminding myself that my Heavenly Father is in charge of the throne room of the universe! It is God who sits on the Heavenly Throne and runs the show!

    I am also reminded of the fact that there is a heavenly realm…a spiritual realm that is beyond what I know and see. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,” (Ephesians 3:10)

    The words "hallowed be Thy name" means "holy". To "hallow" also means to sanctify, to be sound, fit or whole, to be perfect, free from defilement, uncontaminated. It means to have a different quality of being, to be extraordinary, above and over all. To hallow God’s Name is to recognize, regard, respect, reverence, profess and proclaim God as holy. We don’t add to God’s holiness in prayer - we treat Him as holy. Although we have free access to God, we should always remember that when we take advantage of His open-door policy, we speak to Him with reverence.

     The many Names of God in Scripture describe His nature and attributes; they explain Who He is: Yahweh- God ; Elohim- Creator, Lord of Lords; El Shaddai-God Al-mighty; El Elyon- God Most High; Jehovah-jireh- God our provider; Jehovah-shalom- God of our peace; Whatever name or descriptor we use, his name is to be “hallowed.”
    When we pray "Thy Kingdom come" we are asking God to advance and expand that Kingdom in the hearts of people, and we are anticipating the day when that Kingdom literally comes when Jesus returns. It is a Kingdom that is both present and future - it is here and now and will one day come in fullness. "Thy Kingdom come" is an evangelistic prayer. We are part of the answer to this, for we have a role in bringing God’s Kingdom to completeness. "Thy Kingdom come" is a call for God to increase His Kingdom, to convert the hearts of unbelievers, to draw people to a saving knowledge of Christ. It is also the realization that one day God’s Kingdom will literally be a kingdom on earth “as it is in heaven” with Christ on the throne and “we shall rule with him forever and ever”! It is an awesome privilege inherited only by those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

    Paul describes "the Kingdom of God”…as righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.  If the Kingdom is within us, this means we’re children of the King. We can’t honestly pray for His rule over others unless want Him to rule us. Therefore, "Thy Kingdom come" means we are under the Lordship of Christ.

    As Christians, we hold dual citizenship. Paul states, "our citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20). We are governed by human law, but also by Biblical truth. We are loyal to our nation, but we recognize that we belong to God’s Kingdom. Nations may rise and fall, but we are part of a holy, perfect Kingdom that will last forever, whose Architect is the Lord God Almighty. Paul explains that God "has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:13-14). One day, yet future, the forces of evil will be finally routed by the host of heaven. In the meantime, we pray, "Thy Kingdom come."

When speaking to God about yourself or others;

1. Ask for open doors. It’s amazing to me that while Paul is under house arrest he doesn’t ask for prayers for his release, or for better food, or anything else like that. He simply wants an open door for the gospel message. In Scripture, a door is an opportunity, or ability. In 1 Corinthians 16:9, Paul says, “a great door for effective work has opened to me.” In 2 Corinthians 2:12, he writes, “I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me.” Jesus opens and shuts doors for us as we seek Him in prayer.

2. Ask for clarity. Once God opens a door, it’s essential that we have the ability to proclaim the mystery of Christ with clarity. The goal of evangelism is to make the cloudy clear. As we’ve learned in Colossians, the mystery is that Christ has died for the sins of the whole world, and that when we receive Him by faith, He comes to take up residence in our life as Colossians 1:27 states: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”… It’s the mystery of transformation power!

As we study verses 5-6, we’ll gain some insight into how to speak to others about God. This is where prayer dovetails with evangelism as we discover that our ability to impact people is directly related to the intensity of our intercession in prayer. Verse 5 focuses on how we walk. In verse 6 the emphasis is on how we talk. We must balance our life and our lips.

    Let’s look first at verse 5: “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.”

1. Be wise. To be wise in the way we walk means that we’re careful not to say or do anything that would make it difficult to share the gospel. Often this simply means that we need to remember that those who don’t yet know Christ are watching us. When we pray, God will give us open doors. Let’s not shut them by our behavior.

2. Make the most of opportunities. Are you making the most of the opportunities you have every day? Try to accomplish as much spiritual good as you can in all your relationships.

3. Be gracious. Verse 6 challenges us to guard what comes out of our mouths. Our wise walk should lead to wise words: “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” It’s important that we communicate with words of grace when we speak with those who don’t know Christ. Unfortunately, many times believers go off on people who are living in sin. Or, we let loose about a moral issue in our culture, forgetting that there may be someone listening who is caught in that particular sin. When we’re filled with anger and rage people feel judgment, not hope.

4. Be appetizing. Our conversations need to be seasoned with salt. Salt enhances flavor and makes food appetizing “Salty speech” in Paul’s day referred to witty and clever discussion. It was the opposite of being boring or monotone. When we talk about our faith how can we be interesting? In our Growth Group right now we’ve been working on giving our testimonies. One of the common themes in almost all of them is a funny story or interesting comment that peaks the interest of the hearer. Salty speech makes people thirsty for more. We should be talking about Christ in a way that makes someone’s mouth water!

5. Be ready. When we choose to mix it up with people who don’t yet know Christ we need to be ready to give them an answer when they ask us some questions. Another way to say it is that when we are gracious and appetizing, people will want an explanation. This is a natural process that will happen when people see Christ in us. Peter put it this way in 1 Peter 3:15: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” Your reason ought to be because of the things God has done in YOUR life, not to beat people with the Bible or to point out their sin.

    The key here is to always be “prepared”. We cannot be prepared unless we have prayed, studied His Word, listened and applied these things to our own life and have a real relationship with Him ourselves. There is no way we can convince others unless we ourselves are convinced by our own experiences with the living God.

Speaking to God about others.

Colossians 4:2-6 –

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. ³ And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ⁴ Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. ⁵ Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. ⁶ Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

    Our text falls naturally into two parts;

Prayer: Speaking to God about people (verses 2-4)

Evangelism: Speaking to people about God (verses 5-6)

    Let’s look first at how to speak to God about others. Verse 2 answers the question, “How do we pray?” We discover three helpful guidelines in this verse: “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

1. Pray with devotion. The word, “devote” means to “adhere firmly to.” It implies unrelenting persistence and is the opposite of “hit and miss.” It brings back to mind how steadfast the early church was in Acts 2:42: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” In Luke 18:1, Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up; the Parable of the “persistent widow”.
    Being devoted in prayer is similar to cheering on your sports team, regardless of whether they are winning or losing. Paul is saying something quite simple: Keep praying. Don’t bail. Don’t give up. Be faithful. You may have dry times and days when you don’t know what to say but keep praying anyway. It may seem like God is not answering but keep praying until you get an answer.
    To be “devoted” to prayer also means to be “ready at all times.” In Mark 3:9, Jesus told his disciples to get a small boat ready for Him so that the people wouldn’t crush Him. This word “ready” is the same word that is translated, “devoted” in Colossians 4:2. So, Paul is saying, “Always be ready to break into prayer, and do it instantaneously, at all times.” That’s precisely the admonition in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 where we’re told to “pray continually.”

2. Pray with watchfulness. Verse 2 continues by saying that we’re to be “watchful” or awake when we pray. Paul told the believers in 1 Thessalonians 5:6 to not fall asleep but to instead be “alert and self-controlled” as the time approaches for the Lord’s return. This exhortation brings to mind the words of Jesus to His disciples the night before He was crucified in Mark 14:34, 38: “Stay here and keep watch…Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Watchful prayer provides the spiritual fortitude to face down temptation. Because Peter could not stay awake when he was supposed to pray, he gave in to temptation and denied Christ a few hours later. It could also mean to be always watchful for things to pray for or people to pray with.

    Consider the difference between two military sentries. One is guarding an Armory here in the U.S… The other is guarding a platoon in Afghanistan. Which one is probably going to be more attentive? The one who realizes he’s in a battle. Friends, because we’re in a spiritual battle, we need to stay on high alert at all times. 1 Peter 5:8 paints a real picture of the war we are in: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

3. Pray with thankfulness. We should never pray without thinking of at least one thing to thank God for. Gratitude is a stimulus to prayer. When we see answers to prayer, we will pray more.
He’s given us so many things. Listen to how Paul puts his own preaching into practice in the Book of Colossians:

1:3: “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.”
1:12: “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”

2:7: “Rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

3:15-17: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

More on this next week...

Action Steps in Prayer

Colossians 1:9-13

    Martin Luther said, "To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. But, how can we pray prayers that will really make a difference… to us…and to those for whom we pray?

    Is there a difference between gossip and prayer requests? Someone once said; "Christians don’t gossip. They just share prayer requests!" Sometimes prayer requests are really prayer requests. But too often they are gossip wrapped in prayer shawls.

    One thing we find about Paul is that Paul cared about people. The primary way he showed his love was praying for them! One of Paul’s trademarks in his epistles is the assurance of his prayers on behalf of the recipients of his letters. To the Romans he said; "I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.” (Romans 1:9-10) To the Ephesians he wrote, "I...do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers" (Ephesians 1:15-16). To his beloved Philippian church, he writes, "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all." (Philippians 1:3-4)

1^st. Action Step: Develop A Personal Prayer Journal.

Separate it into parts; prayer requests; people and family with needs; people and family that need God; church; pastor; work; world etc. Then highlight the name or prayer when God answers. (If you use a different color for each prayer, you will have a book of rainbows after a while.)

    Then keep a separate part of your journal for scriptural prayers. When you come
across scriptural prayers – like the ones we will look at today – write it down, write it out… Replace words like “you” and “your” with personal names.
2. Action Step - Pray more CONSISTENTLY.
Notice Paul says in Colossians 1:9b "we have not stopped praying for you." (NIV) Luke 18:1 says “Men always ought to pray and not lose heart."  

3. Determine a time and a place.

Seek to maintain a regular pattern of prayer. This may necessitate a set time and place where you can go to pray. You may have to be somewhat flexible in your scheduling, and that is okay, just know that prayer is a disciplined work. It will require your diligent, conscientious attention. If you don’t make plans to pray, you probably won’t!

3. Action Step – Pray more SCRIPTURALLY.

Take the time to search out scriptures that contain things you can make into personal prayers.

What happens after you begin to do this? 

1. You learn scripture.

2. You increase your prayer vocabulary.

3. You will lose your fear of prayer.

Let’s start with this one; How many prayers can you find in this one prayer? (14)

Colossians 1:9-14 -

     “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

How about Romans 1:8-16…

How about Ephesians 1:15-19…

How about 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12…

You see? You can search the scriptures and find many key words or phrases to enhance your own prayers. Eventually, the prayers will begin to flow and you will become more confident.