Give us this day our daily bread.
Is there anything more tantalizing that a slice of fresh baked bread slathered with butter? What the smell offers, taste doubles. How could a blob of flour, water, salt and yeast become something so decadent and satisfying?
Because it’s the right mix of ingredients in a good baker’s hands.
Today’s prayer offers the same satisfying nourishment. And the good news is that God delights in giving it.
We must learn that it is a prayer of trust before it is a prayer of fulfillment. We trust what God knows and how He assesses our need. We trust that whatever He gives is not only enough, it is part of the abundance He promised. Eat this bread on the run at your own risk. Or miss this meal and live malnourished in the worst way.
Something amazing happens when we pray this prayer and receive our daily feeding from God.
We become the extra baskets of bread to feed those around us with the same satisfying completeness.
So what is the rhythm we keep to make sure we don’t miss what God has for us? There’s no formula but there must be consistency without assuming this bread will just appear without asking for it.
First, avoid the temptation to tell God what you need. Let that come later. Instead, ask God for the help He wants to give to complete His task list, not yours.
Find a regular, day-beginning activity to attach this prayer to. Pray it during your morning shower or first cup of coffee. Pray it on your drive to work or as you take care of breakfast dishes.
The more you pray this prayer, the easier it will be to recognize when and how God answers it.
Sometimes His answer comes immediately in a word of counsel, warning, or affirmation. Sometimes it is waiting for you as you encounter something you didn’t expect.
Just know, He has bread for you that you cannot make for yourself.
And God serves no day-old bread!
This week, find your own way to pray this prayer and see what happens. Once you enjoy the bread God has for you today, any other substitute is stale and tasteless. Let God prove it to you this week.