DAILY BREAD

Luke 11 records a discourse between Jesus and his disciples. Jesus had gone up into the mountain to pray, and at the conclusion of his prayer, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples,” to which Jesus recited to them what we presently call the Lord’s prayer.

Within that prayer, there is an important request that I believe many believers say but do not fully comprehend, and it is “Give us day by day our daily bread.” When we pray, we think about tomorrow, we think about the future, and we request many things pertaining to future endeavors. These things or provisions are what we consider important; however, Jesus gave his followers a formula to practice that would alleviate stress and worry. Just pray for today’s provisions and when tomorrow comes, pray for the provisions for that day, in other words, take one day at a time for God provides for us daily as he did for the Israelites in the wilderness.

The Lord’s prayer is also recorded in Matthew 6, which is part of Jesus’s sermons on the mount, and it was part of several discourses which Jesus shared with his followers on that day. Furthermore, in this particular chapter, Jesus tells the people to, “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.” He continues to explain to them that if God feeds the birds, and makes the grass which withers quickly to look beautiful, surely he will take care of a man. Less they forget Jesus repeats himself in verse 31 “Therefore take no thought…” and ends the chapter with verse 34 reiterating, “Take therefore no thought for tomorrow.”

So, let us adhere to the words of Jesus and daily pray for the bread (provisions) for that day and take no thought for tomorrow’s bread.