Today...continued...

Last week I focused on Jesus teaching His own to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread..." This week I want to add just a bit more to this.

The prayer implies a couple of things to me: one, that the Father provides for today; and two, the very wording of this prayer makes it clear that we are to pray daily, expressing our utter dependence on Him to fully live each day.

I mentioned in last week's posting that I wanted to begin to ask the Father each day for my "daily bread", and His Spirit has been faithful to remind me everyday so far to do this. I believe it will cultivate in me a way of thinking and living that is aligned with His kingdom ways and thoughts.

The Lord wants His children to be fully alive in the present, and the worries and concerns about tomorrow rob us of enjoying the only moment that we are given to live, which is this present moment. Jesus, in addressing the issue of the Father's care and provision for our temporal needs, says in the Sermon on the Mount, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." I understand Him to be saying that living today is all that I can manage and still remain fully alive in Him and in tune with His Spirit and His purposes for this day.

I believe these truths are applicable to our need for "daily bread" in all areas of our lives. I have daily need for nourishment in my spirit and in my emotional life, as well as my physical life. In fact, I need it for my inner life even more than for my physical body, which can survive without food for awhile. Jesus called Himself the Bread of life. Without asking each day for my daily Bread and feeding on Him, I can't live in fullness. Jesus says in John 6 that "...unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you."

I have so far to grow in this, but I'm grateful for His infinite patience with me and His abundant grace by which I can grow. I pray that the year 2009 will find us trusting Him more and walking in the childlike virtue of living this day in fullness because He is our daily Bread.