For a few weeks we are featuring material from Teach Us to Pray ©1995 by Discipleship Publications
International and edited by Tom and Sheila Jones. This week’s post is excerpted
and adapted from a chapter by Terry Adame who is now women’s ministry leader in
San Diego, California.
“Give us today our daily bread”
(Matthew 6:11).
“And why do you worry about clothes?
See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you
that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If
that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and
tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of
little faith? (Matthew 6:28-30)
Every one of us has daily needs—needs that so easily can become
worries and anxieties if we are not trusting and relying on God through
prayer. First, Jesus teaches us to pray,
“Give us today our daily bread.” Then he
calls us to trust that God will meet all these needs.
Matthew 6 came to mean a great deal to me when we were blessed by
God to live in India for six years.
Daily life was a challenge: learning to eat the spicy food, having water
only certain times during the day, finding a good pediatrician for my three
small children, health risks, bugs, rats and the daily challenge of being an
American who did not speak the local language.
There were times I gave in to frustration and a lack of faith, but I
grew through my daily reliance on God through prayer. I was able to be totally happy and fulfilled
with my life and the daily challenges we faced.
While many of us do not have too much concern about having food,
shelter and clothing, we have plenty of needs we can worry about—from meeting a
deadline to finding a job to paying off the credit card to the growth and
development of our children. Dealing
with these daily challenges can be the greatest drain on our joy if we aren’t
responding with prayer and faith.
Taking our daily needs to God and learning to trust him day by day
prepares us for the big challenges that sooner or later will come to all of
us. I firmly believe that the daily
trials our family faced during our time in India increased my faith and prepared
me for greater challenges which certainly have come.
Tom. How needed was this passage! My daughter who is 4 yrs old is in the hospital w brain cancer. I find myself not "trusting" a lot. I think a lot of it has to do with how u view God and learning to persevere through all of life's challenges. I love your heart for God so much brother. You remind of Paul, when he said: "follow me as I follow Christ". Thx for giving us a good example to follow:)
ReplyDeleteDear anonymous, my heart hurts to hear what you are going through! Children are so close to my heart and when I hear of such things my heart breaks! But how encouraging & faith building to hear that you are pushing on! Even though I do not know your name God does and you and your family will be in my prayers!
DeleteMuch love in Him!
The daily grind of life truly takes the joy out of living! Who "feels" like getting out of bed each morning, excited, energized, and ready for the day!! This thought helped me this morning as I was getting in touch with the truth that a lot of life is perseverance. God designed our lives this way in order for us to see our need for Him. Lord Help Us!
ReplyDeleteThank you Tom, it brought my eyes to tears just thinking about how I can trust and lean on God through the challenges. I was just praying about that this morning. My husband has been applying to jobs and has many interviews and nothing. I am trying to take off and do good in school and with a homebase business and nothing is turning out the way I expected. So reading about this verse and how I need to not worry about all these things encouraged me to keep persevering because today I felt like throwing in the towel.
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