TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation. Luke 11:3-4
Read: Luke 11:1-4
Listen: Luke 11
TODAY’S MESSAGE
Jesus’s disciples watch his every move. They see his daily dependence on God the Father and how he seeks the Father’s direction in prayer. One day after Jesus finishes praying, the disciples ask him to teach them to pray. Jesus answers by giving them a model prayer, often called The Lord’s Prayer. These simple but powerful words provide Jesus’s followers a way to honor God’s name, pray for his kingdom and seek his provision. The reminder to ask for “daily bread” hearkens back to God’s provision of manna for food daily in the wilderness (Exodus 16:35). It’s a reminder that God’s people depend on his daily provision.
Dependence on God involves these two things: (1) recognizing God’s provision and (2) asking him to provide for today. We often want God to provide for the next month or year. But The Lord’s Prayer helps us daily focus our dependence on God for whatever we need. It might be our next meal, a job, ongoing physical pain or a healed relationship. Jesus’s teaching on prayer encourages us to identify what we need for today and ask our Father for it.
TODAY: What do you need to ask God for? Spend a few minutes journaling about your current needs in a notebook or on your mobile device. Ask God to help you turn to him daily and throughout the day, trusting him to provide just what is needed. A simple prayer could be, “Father, I need your provision in _______________. I trust you will give me what is needed today. Amen.”
JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Read Zechariah 14. Highlight anything that points to Jesus.
Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.
