Christ's Blueprint for Prayer: Recognition Of God's Power to Live

Give us day by day our daily bread. Luke 11:3

The next phrase asks God for daily bread. Certainly this looks to our food which ultimately comes from God, but within the framework of this model prayer it goes much further.

Bread was the "staff of life." It was the most important part of the middle eastern diet. Meat, fresh vegetable and fruit were luxuries at most tables, but bread meant they would not starve. "Daily bread" is that bread which is necessary to sustain our lives today. It means we stand upon the promises of God to care for his children and provide for their needs. It does not presume upon tomorrow except to believe that God will as always provide for us once we are there. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary says, "The Greek is concise and graphic, 'Keep giving to us our daily allotment'."

This room in the building of my prayer may be constructed quite differently than the simple idea of "daily bread." This room must not be thought of as license to ask for the luxuries of life, it is an affirmation of God's promise for the necessities of life. It is praying from faith not want. It is recognizing that it is God who must supply life itself to me.

Look at the following verses in which the first daily bread was given by God to his people of the Exodus.

Exodus 16:15 - 20

15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat. 16 This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. 17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. 18 And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. 19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. 20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.

What was the lesson of the manna to the Israelites? It showed God's provision yet it also showed the people's need of faith. God only would provide enough for the day. They had to trust him for tomorrow's provision.

What is the lesson of the manna to us? The daily bread is an object lesson in God's care for us. The greatest thing isn't the bread but learning to trust God. Notice what Moses said in Deut 8:3.

Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

Years ago I took my young daughter to the doctor for a checkup. He listened to her heart and then said words every parent dreads to hear. “There is something wrong.” He couldn't be sure but he was hearing something that wasn't quite right with our little daughter's heart. He told me to bring her back in for a echo cardiogram. He explained because I had never heard of this test that the ECG would use sonar, sound waves to look at the valves and chambers of my little girls heart.

The day arrived for the test and the technician had me place our child on the examination table. She was too young to even understand what was happening and cried and cried because I couldn't hold her while the tech attached all the leads to her chest. She finally cried long enough that she fell asleep with all the wires running from her to the ECG machine. The tech then turned on the machine twisted some dials and suddenly there on the screen was my daughter's beating heart. Not only could we see her heart but with a few twists of the dials and repositioning of the the leads we could see inside her heart, right into the chambers and their valves.

I remember standing there watching the valve of my baby girl open and shut, open and shut, open and shut. I realized that with all the love and power of a father for his child I could not will that valve to open and shut even one time. I realized how helpless I was to keep my baby alive and I prayed. “Oh, Lord. Please don't let that valve stop working. Please dear Father watch over my child and give her life for I cannot.”

When we all come to realize that it only by God's power that our heart beats another beat, our lungs breath another breathe and our eyes open to see another day then we will understand the reality of the room of recognition in our house of prayer. Only by God's grace and mercy to I live another moment and my prayers should recognize this, our lips should acknowledge it and the way we live our lives should demonstrate it everyday.