Today’s Thought “A Prayer’s Construct” G. Ward

 

Matthew 6: ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.

 

Our Lord Jesus taught these words of reverence to the Almighty to His disciples and the surrounding crowd in His famous message from chapters 5 through 7 of Matthew. His desire for them is that they’d reject performance-based, ritualistic worship and move towards a personal, genuine, intimate relationship with the Father. Their lives mostly witnessed the external standard the Pharisees and Scribes conveyed and whereas those religious leaders were impossible to impersonate (due to all their religious expertise), the efforts for the commoner maintained an intimidation that subtracted from a love relationship with their Maker.

Our efforts to satisfy Holy God’s highest standard – requires absolute submission to HIS omniscience (i.e., HE alone is All-Knowing) and whereas mankind fails to comply perfectly to that highest standard, our Lord Jesus became the sufficient sacrifice in our stead, imputing HIS own righteousness in us - upon our repentance of sin, that won’t ever contrast my sinfulness against others, but look solely to Jesus, then ask, how do I compare to HIM(?)…

Father God, we know this daily bread You offer nourishes our soul; so much so that we find it joyous to exist in Your shelter, never desirous to move away from that protection against seeing and wanting, but to know You’re all we need. May our every prayer circumvent more trust of You for basic, everyday physical and emotional sustenance as we venture to imitate the Way of the Lord. In Jesus Name, Amen.