Hot from the Oven

¹¹ Give us today our daily bread. Matthew 6:11

It has been a restless night, but you awaken to the aroma of freshly baked bread Just one slice slathered in butter and maybe some jelly, and suddenly you feel refreshed and ready to face another day. If only this could happen every day! Well, according to Jesus, it can! Jesus taught us to ask for fresh bread every day to refresh us and meet our needs. We were created as relational beings with needs – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. We need God, Our Father, to meet those needs directly or through others on a daily basis.

When Jesus told His us to ask daily for bread, I believe He had in mind two types of bread, physical and spiritual. My mind immediately goes to the children of Israel in the dessert crying out for physical bread and He gave them manna. How often? Daily. Use it or lose it; it will rot if you try to save it for tomorrow. Today we often find ourselves eating that manna like there is no tomorrow and it rots around our waistlines. Ouch!

But what about the most necessary aspect of this prayer, the most important bread of all which takes care of all other needs, praying daily for spiritual bread.

John 6:32-35: 32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty

We need the Bread of Life daily. We cannot give God a long list of our needs on Monday and then go through our week independently as if He will remember them and take care of everything, no need for further contact. Well, He certainly does not forget anything, but WE DO!  Especially at the ripe young age of 79, I forget where I put my phone as it is ringing in my back pocket. God tells us to seek daily, pray without ceasing and come for daily renewal and commitment for His will to come to earth in our lives and our world as it is in heaven.

Are there any needs too insignificant or too impossible for Him to meet?!Praying for a handicapped parking space to open so you don’t have to walk the length of the parking lot? Praying for that the item you need to be within your budget?  Praying for your impossible neighbor to find Christ? Praying protection over your grandkids from the evils of this world Praying that the seemingly hopeless alcoholic in your family with turn to Jesus before it’s too late. Those can all be given daily to our amazingly powerful Father..

We can resolve that in 2025 we will take your thoughts captive, attend worship and tithe regularly, seek God in His Word and pray daily, but by the middle of January we find ourselves forgetting, struggling, failing. Help!! Hum? Could that be why, Jesus, knowing our human nature and limitations, reminds us to call on Him daily for forgiveness and renewal

Dear Father, give us today everything necessary to meet all our needs. Give us ears to hear, eyes to see and a heart full of love to seek, believe and obey You , we pray.