By Ronald E.
George Jr. at the Fayetteville Baptist Church
One evening, a little girl was saying bedtime prayers with her mother.
"Dear Harold, please bless Mother and Daddy and all my
friends," she prayed. "Wait
a minute", interrupted her mother, "who's Harold?"
"That's God's name," was the answer.
"Who told you that was God's name?" asked the mother.
"I learned it in Sunday school, Mommy. "Our Father, Who art
in heaven, Harold be Thy name.'" -- Bruce Larson in the Presence (Harper
& Row), used by permission.
The entire Disciples' Prayer must be something that flows out of a truly
committed heart. It ought to be a
definition of your spirit, your attitude toward God, what is inside you.
An unknown author put it this way:
I cannot say "our" if I live only for myself.
I cannot say "Father" if I do not endeavor each day to act
like His child. I cannot say
"who art in heaven" if I am laying up no treasure there.
I cannot say "hallowed be Thy name" if I am not striving for
holiness. I cannot say "Thy
kingdom come" if I am not doing all in my power to hasten that wonderful
event. I cannot say "Thy
will be done" if I am disobedient to His Word.
I cannot say "in earth as it is in heaven" if I'll not serve
Him here and now. I cannot say
"give us this day our daily bread" if I am dishonest or seeking
things by subterfuge. I cannot
say "forgive us our debts" if I harbor a grudge against anyone.
I cannot say "lead us not into temptation" if I deliberately
place myself in its path. I
cannot say "deliver us from evil" if I do not put on the whole armor
of God. I cannot say "Thine is the kingdom" if I do not
give the King the loyalty due Him from a faithful subject. I cannot attribute to Him "the power" if I fear
what men may do. I cannot ascribe
to Him "the glory" if I'm seeking honor only for myself, and I
cannot say "forever" if the horizon of my life is bounded completely
by time.
Scripture Text: Matt
6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in
heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth,
as [it is] in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And
forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, for ever. Amen.
After we have sought to get in touch with the living God
of heaven and earth we can then begin to think and ask for those things in our
lives that He is interested in. First
we must seek to know Him and glorify Him, then we can ask Him to help us in
our daily lives.
1.
Doesn’t this sound like a selfish request to God?
If this were selfish then Jesus wouldn’t have told us to ask God, the
father in heaven to give us our daily bread.
This is a God honoring request.
2.
What about “God helps those who help themselves?”
This is not in the Bible.
God wants you to recognize His role in providing for your life.
We are taught all of our lives to be independent.
We are taught how to think for ourselves, how to take care of
ourselves, how to feed ourselves, how to work for ourselves, and how to
survive. But now Jesus says that
we should be willing to ask God to provide for ourselves.
He is the Father who provides for the birds and the animals.
Will He not provide for you?
3.
If God knows what I need before I ask then why should I?
a. He
cares about you and especially the details of your life. Does God care about me?
Why should I bother God with all this small stuff?
Shouldn’t I just take Him the things that I can’t handle?
b.
He wants you to recognize the desire He has for you.
c. He
wants you to call on Him for help.
d. He
wants you to invite Him into your life to provide for you.
e. He
wants you to try Him to see if He will do what He says.
Mal. 3:10 (NIV) Bring the whole tithe into the
storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says
the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of
heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for
it.
f.
He wants you to be satisfied with all He will give
to meet your daily needs. A
simple life of obedience and trust is the desire of God’s heart for His
people. This will hallow His name.
Will He provide for you if you are disobedient?
How can He? You have
chosen to go your own way and not His. To
experience His provision you must go with Him.
This shows you are depending/trusting on God to provide for your needs.
This shows you are humble enough to ask for help?
This shows that you want God to help.
This shows you recognize where your help comes from. This shows you
have to believe that God can and will provide for all of your needs.
4.
Can God provide me all that I need?
Physical, spiritual, emotional, and social are important needs that I
need to ask the Father to provide for me.
Does God know what I need? Does He know about all of my needs, not just
the obvious ones? God created us with needs.
Doesn’t He know about all of them?
But, we are taught not to depend on anyone so we begin to learn how to
fulfill our needs without help from anyone.
If you live in West Virginia you have learned how to survive without
much help from anyone. Many of
the folks I grew up with have had to leave to find work. Those who stayed have learned to do with less so that you
could stay. I don’t blame you.
I like it here too. I have
also chosen to stay. But, when
the job in mines was finished I then began to learn what it means to depend on
God. Up until then I was making
it pretty good on my own. Have
you recognized all that God has done? Have you looked?
5.
Will God give me my daily bread/needs?
Is a blue bird blue? Certainly
He would, but too often we have already planned out how that we can do that
for ourselves, so we don’t need His help.
As a matter of fact in many cases we have had about all the outside
help we can stand. So we say that we don’t want or need anyone or anything
because we can make it on or own. You
can make it on your own, but where will you make it to?
You can never make it without God’s help. You will fall short. Will
you try God? Doesn’t God give
you all you need now? Have you
been asking for His help or have you been helping yourself without thought of
His intervention in your life? Give
Him a chance to help you and provide for your needs.
6.
Will you ask God to provide for all of you?
If I ask Him to give me my daily bread then won’t I be in debt to
Him?