May 13,
2003
OUR
DAILY BREAD, Part I
"Give
us this day our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11, NKJV).
"The
first half of the prayer Jesus has taught us is in regard
to the name and kingdom and will of God--that His name may
be honored, His kingdom established, His will performed. When
you have thus made God's service your first interest, you
may ask with confidence that your own needs may be supplied.
If you have renounced self and given yourself to Christ you
are a member of the family of God, and everything in the Father's
house is for you. All the treasures of God are opened to you,
both the world that now is and that which is to come. The
ministry of angels, the gift of His Spirit, the labors of
His servants--all are for you. The world, with everything
in it, is yours so far as it can do you good. Even the enmity
of the wicked will prove a blessing by disciplining you for
heaven. If 'you are Christ's,' 'all things are yours' (1 Corinthians
3:23, 21).
"But
you are as a child who is not yet placed in control of his
inheritance. God does not entrust to you your precious possession,
lest Satan by his wily arts should beguile you, as he did
the first pair in Eden. Christ holds it for you, safe beyond
the spoiler's reach. Like the child, you shall receive day
by day what is required for the day's need. Every day you
are to pray, 'Give us this day our daily bread.' Be not dismayed
if you have not sufficient for tomorrow. You have the assurance
of His promise, 'Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the
desires of your heart.' David also says, 'I have been young,
and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,
nor his descendants begging bread' (Psalm 37:3, 4, 25).
"That
God who sent the ravens to feed Elijah by the brook Cherith
will not pass by one of His faithful, self-sacrificing children.
Of him that walks righteously it is written: 'Bread will be
given him, his water will be sure' (Isaiah 33:16). 'They shall
not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine
they shall be satisfied' (Psalm 37:19). 'He who did not spared
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He
not with Him also freely give us all things?' (Romans 8:32).
He who lightened the cares and anxieties of His widowed mother
and helped her to provide for the household at Nazareth, sympathizes
with every mother in her struggle to provide her children
food. He who had compassion on the multitude 'because they
were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd' (Matthew
9:36), still has compassion on the suffering poor. His hand
is stretched out toward them in blessing; and in the very
prayer which He gave His disciples, he teaches us to remember
the poor."--Thoughts From The Mount Of Blessing,
pp., 110, 111.
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