READING:
One-year plan: Judges 4-6, Luke 10:25-11:13
Two-year plan: Leviticus 19, Mark 2:1-12
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I’ve prayed the Model Prayer of Luke 11:2-4 many times. I suspect you may have as well. Today, though, I’m focusing on the petition, “Give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3). Scholars debate how best to understand the words “daily bread,” but they generally agree that the request is for God to provide us the necessities of life.
My concern today is that these very things can be so basic, so normal for us that we fail to ask God to provide them. Frankly, I awakened this morning without much thought about my daily provisions like clothes, heat, food, shelter, health, love, and life itself. I far too often take for granted these things while turning to God for help only when I have bigger needs come up. I ask Him to grant me the big “stuff,” but I don’t always ask for His daily provision for me and my wife.
Beginning today, I want to halt that potential problem before it ever sets in. Each morning, I plan to pray that portion of the Model Prayer while also thanking God for at least one particular provision each day. Today, for example, I’ve prayed the Model Prayer, and I then focused on thanking God for providing enough food on our table that we can often share it with others. God is so good to keep teaching us through His Word!
PERSONAL REFLECTION: When’s the last time you genuinely thanked God for provisions?
PRAYER: “God, give us today our daily bread.”
MONDAY’S READINGS:
One-year plan: Judges 7:1-9:21, Luke 11:14-54
Two-year plan: Leviticus 20-21, Mark 2:13-28