7.11.23 | Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

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PRAYER ROOMS

Tuesdays (online only today)

PRAYER GUIDE

After focusing our prayers upward, for God’s name to be hallowed, God’s Kingdom to come, and God’s will to be done on earth as in heaven, Jesus guides us to begin praying for our needs. The first of these prayers is “give us this day our daily bread.” 

It is noteworthy that Jesus instructs us to pray in the plural – “give us this day our daily bread.” He does not tell us to pray “give me this day my daily bread.” Rather, this is corporate. We are not merely petitioning God for the things we need personally, but Jesus is inviting us to lump ourselves in with others. “Give us this day…” 

Who, precisely, is the us to whom he is referring? 

The “us” is expansive, not merely an “us” that refers to me and my best friends, or me and my church. Obviously, it starts there, just as the universe started in one location at the Big Bang…but then it keeps expanding, as far as we and our hearts will allow. This “us” is designed to open our hearts to include the entire Church of God…and beyond that…the whole human family. 

Jesus began the Lord’s prayer with “our father,” to remind us that God is the head of a family, of which I am part, but which extends far beyond me. Now in this part of his prayer he instructs us to ask our Good Father for our daily bread. When we pray for daily bread for ourselves, and our families, and our friends, and our community, and our city, and our nation, and our world, our hearts are stretched and expanded to be more like the Father’s own heart who loves all His children and wants good things for them.

For Response and Prayer:

  • Who do you normally pray for?
  • This morning, ask the Holy Spirit who He wants to expand your prayers to include.
  • Spend a few minutes today asking who is on God’s heart today, and who He would like to be on yours?
  • Pray for the folks or groups of folks God brings to mind, for God to give them their daily bread…the things they need today.