Matthew 6:9 - Forerunner Commentary

Matthew 6:9

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Matthew 6:9-11
Excerpted from: Faith and Prayer

I think that is far enough because I want to concentrate on one principle here. When Jesus was teaching them He said, "Give us this day our daily bread." This was the first personal request in this prayer. I want you to think about the practical wisdom that is here. Without saying so directly, Jesus is telling us to shut out tomorrow and concentrate on today. Give us this day our daily bread. Why? Because we are not living in tomorrow; we are living in today. We will see the importance of this in just a bit. In order to successfully get to tomorrow, we have to meet today's challenges or tomorrow will be of no value.

He is telling us not to seek tomorrow's gifts or tomorrow's bread because we are going to thrive best if we concentrate on living in the present. Why? One of the most obvious reasons is we may not even be around tomorrow. We may be dead. We do not like to think about that.

Jesus is very practical. If we take care of today, and make the most of today, then when tomorrow comes, if God blesses us with a tomorrow, we apply this same principle and we are going to grow the most. Because rather than procrastinating, we are going to move today, right now, because that is the important one. We will take advantage of what today's challenges are.

If we do die, then the prayers that we made about tomorrow are going to be redundant and really unnecessary. "Bread for today is bread enough," is what Jesus is saying. Do not think here that the word "bread" simply means food, but rather it symbolizes everything physical that we might need such as bread, clothing, water, housing, you name it. Everything is covered by this word "bread."

The first part of this prayer "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name," takes care of the future. I want you to notice that every one of these requests is in God's province. He is the only One who can really do anything about them. He is the only One who can really hallow His name. He is the only One who can bring His government on earth. He is the only One who can send His Son. He is the only One who can enforce His will being done on earth. When it gets to us and our requests, Jesus quickly shifts the focus to the present. What He is saying then is that we must trust God today and leave tomorrow in His hands. The present is ours. The future is God's.

Another part of this is (the implication is) that prayer is a task, a duty, for each day. Even as each day demands its bread, so does each day demand its prayer. No amount of praying today will suffice for tomorrow. When tomorrow comes, you pray in it.

Where in the world do you think that Jesus got this idea? Did He get it out of the Old Testament? Yes He did. Where is it? It is in the wilderness experience of the children of Israel. God gave them manna every day. He only gave them enough for that day. If they tried to save it over to the next day, it spoiled. God was setting a pattern. He is teaching us a lesson. Concentrate on the day in which you are living.

No, you never quite lose sight of the great and awesome future, but you do not concentrate on it because you are going to grow the most if you concentrate on today, and then when tomorrow comes, God will give you the manna for it. And when the next day comes, God will give you the manna for that. And when the next day comes, God will give us that manna for that. God will supply all of our needs but He wants us to focus on the present, not the future. The future is a part of our vision, but the focus is on today.

There is no storing up what God supplies today any more than we can store up what He is going to give tomorrow because we do not have it yet. God expects that every day we will pray to Him and we will recharge our spiritual batteries in that prayer.

The Pope Edits Jesus

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Passover, Obligation, and Love
Serving Through Prayer

Bible Studies
The Model Prayer (Part Eight): Testing and Deliverance
The Model Prayer (Part Five): Your Will Be Done
The Model Prayer (Part Nine): Kingdom, Power, Glory
The Model Prayer (Part One): Introduction  (2)
The Model Prayer (Part Seven): Forgive Us Our Debts
The Model Prayer (Part Six): Our Daily Bread

Essays
Vain Repetitions  (3)

Sermons
Four Warnings (Part One)
Private Religion
Lead Us Not Into Temptation
Studying the Bible
The Prayers of Jesus
The Glory of God (Part 4): Glorifying God
Prayer Makes a Difference
Matthew (Part Eight)
Redeeming the Time for Unity
Teach Us To Pray! (Part 1)
Jesus on His Second Coming
Forgiveness and the Perpetual Covenant of Peace

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