TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
“Give us today our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11
Read: Matthew 6:9-13
Listen: Matthew 6
TODAY’S MESSAGE
The Lord’s Prayer can be divided into two main sections. The prayer’s first half (verses 9-10) focuses on God. Jesus teaches us to pray about God’s name, kingdom and will. When we pour over these words, we see God’s greatness, closeness and how his kingdom should shape our prayers. But beginning in verse 11, Jesus teaches us how to pray about our needs. The first of three specific requests, these words speak to what we desperately desire.
Jesus’s instruction shows us we’re to bring our daily needs to God. It’s easy to think Jesus only refers to our physical needs when instructing us to ask for “daily bread.” But as we’ll see this week, our daily needs are much more than just asking for food. God wants us to bring our deep spiritual needs in prayer too. This not because God doesn’t know what they are (he does!). Doing this deepens our trust in him and his ways.
The words in today’s verse are not magic to get God to do what we want. It’s also not a prayer to mindlessly recite. Jesus’s model prayer shows us how to approach our loving Heavenly Father God, who has promised to meet all our needs.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
As you intentionally and slowly pray The Lord’s Prayer today for the 40 Days of Prayer, meditate on the first five phrases: (1) Our Father, (2) hallowed be your name, (3) your kingdom come, (4) your will be done and (5) give us today our daily bread. Write in your journal how your prayers are changing and what you have learned about God.
40 DAYS OF PRAYER
Join us for 40 DAYS OF PRAYER where all of us will find a quiet space and slowly read The Lord’s Prayer. May forty days of praying like Jesus prayed, and desiring what Jesus wanted, make a big difference in our hearts and our communities.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.
NEW TESTAMENT READING PLAN
Join us this year as we read through the New Testament.
Today’s reading is John 18.
