How to Pray for Our Daily Bread

SPEAKER 01 : 0:00

Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here’s Adrian Rogers.

SPEAKER 02 : 0:16

As I read this prayer that our Lord gave, I want to remind you it is the model prayer. The Lord did not necessarily say pray this prayer, but he said pray in this manner. And He taught us something very wonderful about prayer. He taught us it’s not the length of our prayer. He taught us it’s not the logic of our prayer. He taught us it’s not the language of our prayer, but the faith of our prayer, the focus of our prayer, the force of our prayer that causes this prayer to be heard in heaven. Listen to what our Lord said in verse 9. After this manner, therefore, pray ye, our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our bread. daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen now look again especially at verse 11 give us this day our daily bread do you have a need today God delights to meet your need. It gives God honor to meet your need. It is really a dishonor to the heavenly Father if He does not meet the needs of His children. Now, verse 11 teaches us to pray for our daily bread. But bread is symbolic of any need that you may have. Of course, it is a chief need because we must have bread in order to live. May I give you four steps teaching you how to pray for your need, to have your need met. How to pray for daily bread. Number one, put it down big, plain, and straight. You must establish a proper priority. Do you have it? You must establish a proper priority. Notice the priority in this prayer. Look again in verse 9. After this, man, I pray ye, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be, watch it, thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Do you see that? Thy name, thy kingdom, thy will. And then notice how the prayer changes. In verse 11, our bread, continuing our debts, our temptations. First of all, there is God’s name, God’s kingdom, God’s will, and then our need. Now, if you don’t get that priority straight, you’ll never have power in prayer. God is not some sort of a heavenly bellhop up there running around to meet your needs. And prayer is not some sort of a place where man gets his will done in heaven. Prayer is the way that God gets his will done on earth. That’s so very important that we understand this. One of the keys to understanding it all is the way the Lord Jesus Christ summed it up in Matthew chapter 6, verse 33. That is an incredible verse. Look at it. We’re in Matthew chapter 6, but look in verse 33. Our Lord sums it up by saying this, but seek ye what? First. First. That’s the priority. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things… shall be added to you. See, thy name, thy kingdom, thy will, our bread, our debts, our temptation. Do you see it? It’s so very plain. There must be a priority established. And if you don’t establish that priority, you’re not going to get your prayers answered. Answered prayer is not for rebels. Can you say from your heart, dear God, the desire of my heart first of all is your kingdom? First of all is your will. Now you see, you’re asking God to give you bread. Now what is bread for? Well, bread is to strengthen and nourish your body. When you eat bread, the chemistry of your body turns that bread into strength. Well, what is strength for? For activity. Why should God give you more strength to serve the devil? Good question. Why should God strengthen you to serve the devil? Why should God give your body strength if you’re not going to use that strength to serve him? So you must pray, Lord, thy will before you pray our bread. I’ve done many things working my way through school. I did not have parents who were able to pay my way through school. You know, they say that today college bread is a four-year loaf on daddy’s dough. Well, I didn’t have that four-year loaf on daddy’s dough. I had to work my way through school, and I did a myriad of different things. One of the things I used to do every summer was to do construction work. I can remember down in West Palm Beach, Florida, we were remodeling the Palm Beach Mercantile Store. I was working for McLaren Construction Company, and I had the very exotic and high-skilled job of pushing a wheelbarrow. we were pouring a concrete slab on top of a building, and it was a huge thing that we had to pour, and all of the steel network was in there, and there were runners made of wood there, just planks to run the wheelbarrows over. And we were taking wheelbarrows full of concrete and running them back to the great big slab where the crane could not reach to dump the concrete. And we had been working all afternoon, and there was still work to do. And when you’re pouring concrete, you just pour it until you get finished. You just don’t stop. You have to keep on going. And the quitting time came, but we could not possibly quit. And our employer, Mr. McLaren, said, “‘Man, you’ve got to just keep working, just keep working, keep working, keep working.'” Well, friend, after a while, he’d got time for bread and beans. And I was getting not hungry, but hungry. And if you’ve ever been that way, I will never forget. After a while, a truck came up and it was loaded with the best sandwiches and hot coffee and other things. And Mr. McLaren just said, fellas, just go help yourself. He didn’t make us pay for it, nothing else. He said, it’s right there. Just go help yourself. Just grab a sandwich, but don’t slow down. Just keep working. And so I realized what he was doing. He wanted my strength, and so I got his food. And that’s what the heavenly father is saying. Listen, as long as you’re doing my work, as long as you’re serving me, as long as you have your priorities correct, then when you say thy name, thy kingdom, thy will, then you can say, dear God, give me this day my daily bread. But if you’re not submitted to the will of God, if you have not established that priority, if Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33 is not tested, tried, and proved in your heart, then why should you expect God to answer your prayer? Again, I want to ask this question. Why should God give you more strength to serve the devil? Why should he? Of course he shouldn’t. Now, listen. An old saint… when she used to read her Bible, would find a verse, and she would put T and P by that verse. You know what that T and P stood for? It stood for tried and proven. Tried and proven. And by Matthew 6, 33, she had put T and P. Tried and proven. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. There’s one place that God will not work, and that is second place. The Bible says in all things he must have the preeminence. God does not want a place in your life. God doesn’t want prominence in your life. God demands preeminence. Seek ye what? First, the kingdom of God. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. So if you’re praying for bread or praying for any need, a priority must be established. So the first point is establish a proper priority. establish a proper priority. When you come to God in prayer, you have to ask yourself, dear God, is the burning consuming desire of my heart that your name would be glorified? Is the burning consuming desire of my heart that your kingdom will come? Is the burning consuming desire of my heart is that your will will be done in earth as it is in heaven? Now, Don’t tell me it won’t work if you’ve not tried it. Don’t tell me that Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33 is but a vain promise if you’ve not put it to practice. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and these things shall be added unto you. Have you got that one? All right, now let’s move on to the second thing. Not only should you establish a proper priority, but then you must express your prayerful petition. You ask God. You see, Jesus taught us to ask. Jesus taught us to pray this way, give us this day our daily bread. May I tell you why some people don’t have their needs met? They don’t ask. It’s that simple. They don’t ask. You’re in Matthew 6. Turn over to Matthew 7 and look in verse 11. If ye then… Being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children. How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him? Look in verse 9. What man is there of you to whom if his son asks bread, will he give him a stone? Lord, give us some bread. We need some bread. When you establish the priority, you express the petition. You just simply say, Lord, I have a need. You know what James said, the Apostle James, in James chapter 4 and verse 2, that many people have not because they ask not. They don’t have because they don’t ask. Did you know that you deny yourself when you don’t pray? Did you know that prayer is the key that unlocks heaven’s treasury? One day, many, many years ago, down in Florida, I was in my study, and I had a thought that literally staggered me. It just staggered me. It hit me like a sledgehammer. I don’t believe I’ve ever had a thought in all of my life that had the impact on my heart that this thought had. When I tell you what it is, you’re going to say, well, everybody knows that. Well, I knew it too. I knew it up here. But it hit me with such a force I have never forgotten. May I tell you what the thought is that I had? Do you want to know? This staggering thought. You’re going to be disappointed, but maybe not. When I tell you, you’re going to say, oh, I was expecting something different. Here’s the thought I had. God answers prayer. I thought to myself, self? Is that true? The one… who created the universes, the great eternal God, will hear me, that I can talk to him, that I can call upon him, and he will answer me and show me great and mighty things. And then I said to myself, self, if that is true, and it is true, you are an unmitigated fool if you don’t learn how to pray. Isn’t that true? Now, if there is nothing to it, I mean, if God doesn’t answer prayer, if there is nothing, let’s forget the whole thing. But if God does answer prayer, let’s pray. What fools we are. What fools we are if we don’t learn to pray. You have not because you ask not. I used to pastor a little church when I was in college and First Baptist Church of Felsmere was also the last and only Baptist Church of Felsmere, a town of about 500 people. Little town out there in Indian River country where the Indian River citrus grows. I had a dear senior deacon there, Mr. Ingram. I used to stay in his home when I’d go down there to preach, drive down about 130 miles from Stetson University where I was in college and preach on the weekends to that little congregation. One day, Mr. Ingram, who had all these orange trees in his yard, said, Adrian, I’m going to give you some grapefruit and some oranges, some tangerines and so forth. I said, well, thank you, Mr. Ingram. But I wasn’t prepared for what he did because he brought several great big, what we would call duffel bags, canvas sacks full of oranges and put them in the trunk of my car. I said, Mr. Ingram, I can’t eat all of those oranges. Well, he said, son, take them back to college and give them away. So I put them in the trunk of my car and took them back to DeLand, Florida, where I was going to school and lugged them upstairs because Joyce and I were living in a little garage apartment, and had them in a closet. I had a closet full of oranges. And we were having a meal, a lunch one day, and sitting up there in our garage apartment, and I looked down in our backyard, and in the backyard of our garage apartment, we had a sour orange tree. Do you know what a sour orange is? That’s an ornamental shrub. The oranges are beautiful, dark orange, beautiful, kind of a pebbly skin, but you don’t eat them. They’re not fit for man and a beast. I mean, one taste and you have lockjaw. Absolutely bitter and sour, but beautiful. And I looked out there and I saw a little guy about knee-high to a grasshopper sneaking around in our backyard. And he looked suspicious. He’s looking around to see if anyone was looking. Of course, I was looking. Just like God watches us all the time, I was looking down. And it dawned on me what he was going to do. He was going to steal a sour orange. And I thought, well, I just think I’ll let him. And so I just watched, and as he got that limb, pulled it down and got one of those oranges and unhooked it and started off with it. Now, I didn’t have any extra money in those days, but I believe I would have given a dollar bill to see him take the first bite. You know, it was just so strange to me to see that fellow stealing a sour orange. And then I got to thinking, you know, that’s so pathetic. Had that boy simply come and knocked on my door and said, Mr., can I have one of those oranges? You know what I would have told him? Absolutely not. because that’s not what you need. But, son, if you will come in here, I will load you down with the best oranges that you’ve ever seen. I’ve got oranges that are spoiling. I’ve got oranges that are going to waste. I have oranges I don’t know what to do with. I’d be glad to give them to you. But he didn’t ask. And so he got his little sour orange and went away. I wonder if someday when we get to heaven… God’s not going to take us on a tour through heaven and then he’s going to say, by the way, just stop right here. I want to open this closet door. I want you to look in there. Do you see all those things? Those were yours, but you never asked for them. Those were blessings I wanted to give you. I wanted to help you. I wanted to bless you, but you did it your way, didn’t you? Those were the blessings you could have had, but you did not have simply because you did not ask. Friend, after a priority, then there comes a petition. The Lord taught us to pray, give us this day our daily bread. Ask and you shall receive, the Bible says. Now, that doesn’t mean that you have the key to Fort Knox. That doesn’t mean that you’re going to get everything you want. As a matter of fact, in the King James Version of the Scripture, it says, give us this day our daily bread. Isn’t that what it says? But you know, the word daily bread may be translated different ways. Daily bread is a fine translation, but it may be also translated, give us this day bread sufficient for us. Bread sufficient for us. The idea of daily is there because it begins this way, give us this day bread sufficient for us. That means that God is going to Meet our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4, verse 19. It doesn’t say God’s going to meet our greed. God is going to meet our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And our Lord taught us to pray for bread, not for cake, necessarily. Sometimes we want things we don’t need. Isn’t that true? And sometimes we need things we don’t want. My dad used to say, you need a spanking. Well, I didn’t want one, but I guess he was right. I needed one. And my God shall supply all of your need, your need according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Give us this day bread sufficient for us, what we need. Proverbs 30, verses 7 and following. Two things have I required of thee. Deny… Me, them not before I die. Remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me. Feed me with food convenient for me. Give me this day bread suited to my need. Listen, friend, there is no need too small. There’s no need too big. Whatever you need, you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and God delights to meet your need. He says, ask of me, and I will answer thee. I took my wife Joyce and went to Moscow. I’m talking about Moscow and Russia. And there I preached along with Josh McDowell and Bill Bright in Red Square. There was erected in Red Square a $30,000 soundstage. A choir of hundreds of people from across America and some from the former Soviet Union sat on that platform. And here was a service that was telecast nationwide presenting the Lord Jesus Christ during the Orthodox Easter. That night, Josh McDowell and I were to share the platform. There was a concert. We had prayed, oh God, give us good weather because it had been snowing off and on all that week. And sometimes snow mixed with rain. And it was an outside concert. At 7 o’clock when the concert was to begin, thousands had gathered out there at the foot of that stage. We were going to have a musical concert and then present the Lord Jesus Christ. It would be my joy to tell people how to know Christ, how to be saved. These former Soviets who had been taught there is no God, to tell them and preach the glorious gospel of Christ. And months and months of preparation had gone into this. The choirs had practiced. We preachers had prayed. The stage was set. The people were gathered. And it began to rain. The rain started coming down. I was with Bill Bright in a trailer that had been parked near to the stage, and we were there praying. Someone came in the door brushing the rain off and said, the concert has been canceled. Bill Bright said, what? They can’t cancel the concert. He said, oh, yes. The rain has caused the concert to be canceled. They had a great grand piano on the stage, a very expensive instrument. The contract said… If it begins to rain, the piano must be covered. That was in the contract. Very expensive instrument. Well, you can’t have a concert without a piano. The sound people said, we cannot have all of these wires running everywhere and this mammoth sound stage and all of this electrical equipment with it raining. Somebody might get electrocuted. The concert is canceled. Bill Bright went to the platform. He said, no. He said, we prayed too much. There are too many souls at stake. The concert cannot be canceled. The man in charge said, we’ll give it 10 minutes. If it doesn’t stop raining in 10 minutes, the concert will be canceled. The sky is absolutely gray, the rain coming down. We have this on film. A little group of leaders there got underneath the scaffolding and they began to pray. Lord, let the concert go on. Lord, stop the rain, Lord. They lifted their face to heaven in that rain and began to sing this. Stop the rain, Lord. Stop the rain. Stop the rain, Lord. Stop the rain. I’m here to testify to you, in nine and one half minutes, it looked like God just wiped His hand across that sky. It got as blue as if you’d painted it with a brush. In nine and one half minutes. The concert went on. I stood and preached and gave the invitation and thousands lifted their hands that they were coming to Christ. Now you can tell me that that was just a coincidence. It would have happened anyway. Will you believe it your way? I’ll believe it my way. But friend, I want to tell you that I believe that there is a God in the heaven who answers the prayer of God’s people, whether it be a small thing, if it concerns you, it concerns him, whether it’s controlling the weather in Moscow, there’s a God that reigns in the heavens, and many times we have not because we ask not. Not only must you establish a proper priority, not only must you express a prayerful petition, but also you must exercise a personal performance. Now this is very important. Prayer is not a substitute for work. It is not a substitute for diligence. If you pray for bread, do you know how you say amen? You work for it. Let me give you some verses. Somebody says, well, you know, I’m not going to work. God just feeds the fowls of the air. Well, He does feed the fowls of the air. Chapter 6, look, if you will, in verse 26. Look at it. Behold the fowls of the air. They sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? You say, well, God feeds the birds, then God will feed me. Well, that’s true. But how does God feed the birds? Does God throw it in the nest? No, they get out and scratch for it. How is God going to feed you? You want God to give you bread? Let me give you some verses. Genesis chapter 3, verse 19. Here’s another verse. 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 10. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. Is that cruel? That’s not cruel. That’s Bible. Proverbs 20, verse 4. The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold. Therefore shall he beg in harvest and have nothing. Too lazy to plow? Then you won’t have anything to eat. Proverbs 28, verse 19, He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread, but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough. There’s a priority. There’s a petition. There’s also a performance. When you ask God for anything, do you just sit back and do nothing and say, well, I’m going to show my faith by doing nothing? To the contrary, no. You will show your faith by doing something for faith without works is what? Dead. Dead. It is the proof of your faith. You want a house? Pray for it. Then say amen with a hammer and saw. You want a wife? Pray for one. Then go shave and put on some cologne. Learn some manners. How to be thoughtful. Dwight L. Moody, he was a Billy Graham of his day, but he was in many ways an unlettered man, but full of a lot of wisdom. And Moody was asked to pray for the health of this preacher, a fellow preacher. Pray for Brother So-and-so, he’s sick. Do you know what Moody said? I will not pray for him. Well, why, Mr. Moody? Why won’t you pray for him? He said because he does ten days’ work in five and eats everything in sight. That is, why should I pray for him to have health when he himself will not even practice the very rudiments of health? You’re asking God to give you carte blanche to do whatever you want, or to be lazy, to be indolent, to be selfish, to be indulgent, and then just say, dear God, just through prayer, counteract all of that. Oh no, God doesn’t do that. Friend, again, the Bible says you pray for bread. I will give you bread, God says. But he also says if a man will not work, neither should he eat. And so there is a performance that we are to exercise. Exercise a proper performance. Enjoy a present provision. Now notice the prayer. Give us this day our daily bread. Not tomorrow. Just today. Just today. And Lord, help me to enjoy what you’ve given me today, whether it be little or whether it be much. I know how to abase. I know how to abound. I’ve learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. One of the wisest things I’ve ever read was written by a philosopher who said this, to whom little is not enough, nothing is enough. Did that get in? Yes. To whom little is not enough, nothing is enough. If you’ve not learned in whatsoever state you are to be content, you will never be content. Be content with a little and don’t worry about tomorrow. Give us this day our daily bread, having therewith food and clothing, the Bible says, let us be content. Now I know what I want and I know what you want. I want to have enough that I don’t have to depend on God. I think I won’t have to depend on God. I want to have some money in the bank, you know, and I want to have something there so that when tomorrow comes, then I don’t have to worry about it. Isn’t that what we want? We call that security. Question, is that really security? Who is more secure? The man who has a warehouse full of stale bread or the man whose father is a rich baker? Which would you rather have? The warehouse full of bread that the rats can get or that the thieves can get? Or just have a father who is a very, very rich baker? See? Our Father, give us this day our daily bread. Now, we want to have it all laid up, you know. The Bible says, don’t trust in uncertain riches. That can take wings. You say money talks. That’s right. It says goodbye. I mean, it’s gone. You say, well, I’ve got it all. Well, you may not have it all. Give us this day our daily bread. Now, the old trolleys would run with an arm up there and that arm. would be attached to an electric wire, and the power for that trolley comes from that wire. So this is the way the trolley runs, all the way to the end of the line. It just keeps its arm up, connected to that power up there. How does an automobile run? Well, an automobile has a gasoline tank. So the automobile pulls into the gasoline station, fills the tank, And it will go as far as the tank will go, the tank full of gasoline. But when the gasoline gets low, he has to start looking for another gasoline station. Isn’t that right? That’s the way it works. Well, so many of us want to live like the automobile. We want to have a tank full. And so we say, well, I can see 300 miles or 200 miles, whatever kind of mileage you get. And I want to see my way all the way clear because I’ve got this much in the tank. But you know how God wants us to live? Not like the automobile, but like the trolley. I always have enough as long as I’m in connection. Always have enough. It’s not how much I’ve got in the tank. It’s just what I’m connected to. That’s the way the child of God is to live. Just stay connected to God. Just stay connected to Him. Your source is not in the tank. Your source is not in the bank. Your source is above you. Our Father, give us today our daily bread. I heard a preacher preach one time. He said, I don’t need any money. Well, very frankly, when I looked at him, I thought, is that true? I don’t need any money. Then he said something that I’ve never been able to forget. He said, my wife and I have $40 in the bank. And he said, we don’t need any money until that’s gone. You know, we’re saying, oh, God, just, you know, give us so much and so we can just rest in that and trust in that. What was he saying? He was saying, God has given me today my daily bread. Well, listen, what do you do? What do you do? How do you pray for daily bread? Number one, establish a proper priority. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Secondly, express a prayerful petition. Ask God. Ask Him for what you need. Come to Him. Tell Him about it. If you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall the heavenly Father give good things to them that ask Him? Ask and ye shall receive. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. A priority, a petition, a performance. If any man will not work, neither should he eat. God has not promised to bless your laziness and your indolence. And then last of all, dear friend, there is a provision, a daily provision to enjoy. This day, just thank God for what He’s given you this day. Has God taken care of you today? Then don’t worry about tomorrow. The Bible does not tell us not to plan. But the Bible very clearly tells us not to worry. And as we continue in this series on the Sermon on the Mount, we’re going to find out where Jesus said, take no thought for the morrow. The morrow will take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. One last thing, listen. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 4, man shall not live by bread alone. Isn’t that what He said? That’s what He said. Now He says, give us this day our daily bread. But he also said, man shall not live by bread alone. And then he said, I am the bread of life. There’s more than one kind of bread. Every piece of bread that you eat, in order for you to eat that, a corn of wheat had to fall in the ground and die in order for you to eat that bread. Jesus is heaven’s bread for earth’s hunger. And Jesus, the Son of God, came, died, and was buried, and raised again, and became bread. the bread of life that you and I could have our deepest, deepest hunger met. Do you know Jesus? Friend, if you fared sumptuously every day and had bread enough and despair and you died and went to hell, so what? And you can eat and it can be wonderful. But if you don’t have Jesus, there’s a hidden hunger That will never be satisfied until it’s satisfied in the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 4, verse 4. Man shall not live by bread alone. Jesus is heaven’s bread. After World War II, there were some little boys. They called them the Junior Gestapo. Twelve and thirteen-year-old boys had been taken by Hitler, moved out of their home, put in youth camps… The future Gestapo for Hitler. Well, Hitler lost the war. These boys had been displaced from their parents. Many times their parents were dead. And these little boys had gone from city to city, from slum to slum. And the humanitarians got these boys, the junior Gestapo, and put them in tent cities to try to straighten them out. The boys were frightened. They would wake up in the nighttime screaming with nightmares. They couldn’t get them to sleep all night long. A psychiatrist said a part of it is that the boys have such an uncertain future. They’re not supposed to face this kind of thing at 11 or 12 years of age or at any time. The boys waking up in the middle of the night, having nightmares, just screaming. The psychiatrist said, I believe I have a plan. This is what he did. He fed the boys a big meal at nighttime and then gave them a piece of bread and said, hold this in your hand tonight. Hold it with both hands. It’ll be your breakfast in the morning. And they went to sleep and slept all night because they had their breakfast in their hand for the next morning. Somehow just going to sleep at night, holding in their hand A piece of bread. Help them to sleep all night. My friend, when I go to bed tonight, I’m going to have bread not in my hand, but in my heart. His name is Jesus. And I know that I know He’ll be sufficient for tomorrow.

SPEAKER 01 : 36:19

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