God gives you daily bread so that you never forget your constant need for Him—moment by moment, hour by hour.
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SHAUNA: Welcome to Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. I just bet that you know the Lord’s Prayer by heart – just like our friend Joni.
JONI: I was raised on the Lord’s Prayer. Maybe you were, too. And if I recited it right now, you probably could join in. But when I was much younger in the faith, I used to stumble over that part in the Lord’s Prayer where I would ask, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Actually, that phrase is from the Gospel of Luke. Anyway, I would recite that phrase, and I would wonder, why should we have to ask for bread every day? God already knows that we need it; that we can’t live without it. So, why doesn’t He just supply it? And why ask Him every day? Why not ask for a whole week or a month or a year of bread? Those are practical questions a kid might ask, but there is a good answer: God knows us better than we know ourselves.
He has determined that we should feel [I mean, really, really feel] our need; He wants us to recognize our daily—even hourly—dependence on Him. That way, we will have to go often to His throne for help. We will be daily reminded of His love. We’ll be daily reminded that we are needy and that He is the provider. That we are weak, and He is strong. That we are nothing without Him and have everything through Him.
Now, it is hard to make ourselves aware of this. To make ourselves remember it. It’s hard until we feel our lack; we feel our weakness; we feel our desperation. For me, it happens when I’m feeling discouraged or distant from God. I mean, there I am, just going along in my Christian walk, when suddenly I realize, oh, my goodness, my spirit has become dull. I just don’t sense the nearness of the Lord; my sense of joy and expectancy, it’s just not there. It happened to me the other evening when I was in bed. I was trying to pray, and I just didn’t have the heart for it. My heart wasn’t in it. And suddenly, an alarm went off in my spirit. It told me I had somehow drifted away from God, almost imperceptibly, but enough for me to notice. So, right away, I’m buckling down and getting serious; I’m pleading with the Lord for a sense of His presence. I’m quoting to Him the promise of James 4:8, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” And so I’m praying, oh, Jesus, please see that I need you. Forgive me for somehow forgetting, for drifting, for somehow wandering away; God only knows what happened; even if only a few feet away from you. Lord, it’s enough to make me run to you right now, urgently, insistently. You are my bread of heaven; so, please give me this day, this hour, this moment, you my daily bread.
Oh, friend, we are so foolish when we allow ourselves to subconsciously slip into cruise control and get by without coming into God’s presence. We need fresh manna from heaven. We need a fresh filling of His Spirit. We need a new set of directions from God’s Word. We need a renewed sense that the Lord is with us – right today, this moment, right now. It’s what God wants you to feel when you pray the Lord’s Prayer and get to that part that goes, “Give us this day our daily bread.” If you are in that strange place where your spirit is a little dry, your heart’s a little numb to the Bible and its commands; if you’re sensing that somehow, you’ve drifted; then please draw near to God right now. And He’ll promise, He’s going to draw near to you.
SHAUNA: And if you need a little help, visit joniradio.org and let us know how we can pray for you and for the people you love. We want to pray for anyone who feels distant from the Lord; for anyone on the edge of depression. Remember, that’s joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends