“Give us today our daily bread.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭11‬ ‭CSB‬‬

This is a very simple part of a very simple prayer that Jesus gave the disciples as an example of how to pray, especially when praying out loud with a group. (Hence His use of “we,” “us,” and “our”, not “I,” “me,” and “my”.) We call it the Lord’s Prayer today. I was taught to memorize and recite it in Sunday School. But Jesus didn’t mean for me to pray these exact words necessarily. He intended this as a blueprint that I can use to create prayers that are more personal. Using my own words I can fill out the topics that Jesus indicated are important. Those topics include things like praise, requests, confession, gratitude, humble submission… Today’s verse highlights the topic of ‘requests.’ It’s easy to fall into the habit of making this topic the only topic of prayer. Or at least the biggest. Secular society seems to think that’s all prayer is. You “pray for” this or “pray for” that. You don’t just pray. I notice though that today’s verse is the shortest sentence in the Lord’s Prayer. Prior to teaching the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus mentions that brevity in describing my needs to God is perfectly fine, especially in corporate prayer. God knows what we need so I don’t need to go on and on with details and explanations. Just ask for what we need and move along, trusting that God loves us and will provide what is best. That said, Jesus also didn’t say I had to be brief in my personal prayer, as if God were too busy. Jesus Himself spent entire nights in prayer. God’s goal with prayer is to build my relationship with Him. What an amazing thing that the Creator of everything wants to chat with me, to have a relationship with me! There’s no relationship in a laundry list of requests. Prayer is so much more than meeting my basic needs. In fact it’s hardly about me at all! It’s all about God – who He is, what He’s done, what He can do, and what He wants.

Dear God,

Thank you so much for sending Jesus to teach us practical things like how to pray. In fact, thank you for prayer in general! I’m so grateful that you know what I need. Help me to trust you to take care of me when I’m focused on working toward your Kingdom coming and your will being done.