Lesson 7 (Give us this day our daily bread)
In Philippians 4:6, the apostle
Paul writes, “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” In the model prayer the Lord says, “After this
manner therefore pray ye: Our Father ……… Give
us this day our daily bread,” In short, he was saying petition God what you
desire from him. The apostle James addresses the same topic when he says, “You
lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and
war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask” James 4:2. Jesus again said, “Ask,
and it shall be given you” (Mt7:7) and the apostle James in verse 5 of his
first chapter writes, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who
gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
Our lesson here is that we must
entreaty the Lord for that which we want. Tell God what exactly you want. In
the model prayer the request is, “Give us this day our daily bread.” If you
desire a house you must pray, “Lord give me a house.” In Mat. 20:30-34 Jesus
was confronted by 2 blind men. Jesus could see that they were blind but he
asked them what they wanted him to do for them. By this act he was availing
them an opportunity to make their request to him. Had they said they wanted
bread he would have availed them the bread. The good news is they knew what
they wanted so they said, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened” and the Lord gave
them sight.
This takes us to the next aspect
which is, know what you want before you pray. Many people pray amiss because
they do not know what they want. James write in Jas 5:14-15, “Is any sick among
you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall
save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins,
they shall be forgiven him.” In Matthew 20:20-23 we see the mother of Zebedee's
children making a request to Jesus. As was the case with the blind men, Jesus
asked her what she wanted him to do for her. Her response was, “Grant that
these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the
left, in Your kingdom.” Jesus’ amazing answer was, “You do not know what you
ask.”
Can you see the danger of not
knowing your need? What this woman payed for was not what she really needed. In
a bid to let her and her sons realise that they knew not what they were praying
for he asked, “Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” a clever person would have
sought to know what that cup and baptism were but because they were blinded
with pride and greedy they said, “We are able.” Because of lust as pointed out
in James 4:2 they gave this answer because they were obsessed with the to be
the most powerful people in the kingdom of Christ. Because of this obsession
which led them to wrong motives the Lord answered their request by saying, “Ye
shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to
give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.” So
the sons of Zebedee must not complain about the persecution they went through
because they prayed for it.
In yet another Luke case the Lord
gives us examples of persons who really knew what they wanted and as a result
made the correct petition. First to come to my mind is a certain widow in a
certain city who petitioned a certain judge who did not fear God and had no
regard for man. She petitioned this uncaring judge until he said within
himself, “Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow
troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.” (Luke
18:4-5) The other example that comes to my mind is case of the Publican and the
Pharisee who went up into the temple to pray. The Pharisee did not know he
needed forgiveness and as a result boasted about all his self-righteousness and
even reminded God that the Publican was a sinner. On the other hand, the
Publican was aware of his inadequacy and made a very simple prayer which was, “God
be merciful to me a sinner.” The Lord said, “I tell you, this man went down to
his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself
shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Luke 18:14
The good news is that when we
ask, the Father will always answer us. The Lord said, “Most assuredly, I say to
you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you
have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be
full. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is
coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will
tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in My name, and I
do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself
loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from
God.” Jhn 16:23-28. In Luke’s gospel he said, “And I say unto you, Ask, and it
shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto
you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to
him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you
that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a
fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a
scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask him?” Luk 11:9-14
We therefore have the assurance
that when we ask any thing in Jesus’ name, the Father will give us. However, we
must always remember what we learnt in lesson 5 that everything must be
according to his own will. Elijah the great prophet tried it and got a shock of
his life when God gave him a new assignment rather than grant him his request. In
1st Kings chapter 19 we are told that as Elijah sat under a juniper
tree he requested for himself that he might die. His prayer was, “It is enough;
now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” Rather than
take his life, God gave him a fresh assignment because (1) it was not God’s
will for Elijah to die before accomplishing his calling and (2) Elijah did not
know what he was asking as he was blinded by emotion. Had he died jezebel would
have been the winner and Elijah himself the looser.
A chapter before chapter 19 Elijah
had been an example of a person who knew exactly what he wanted. He prayed, “LORD
God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art
God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things
at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art
the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.” God did just
that by answering with fire all the people were convicted that YHW is God. 1st
Kings 18:39 says, “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces:
and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.” Soon after
that he prayed for rain and the Lord gave them the rain. He did not ask for
Ahab and Jezebel to die because that would not benefit him and was against God’s
will since he does not delight in the death of a sinner. He prayed for the
nation’s greatest need and God granted it.
Therefore, the lesson here is,
know what you want and let your request be specific. Don’t beat about the bush.
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