Prayer as Petition
Our prayers must begin in the right place and with the right heart attitude. We are talking to the Lord our God, our Father in heaven, Creator, Savior, and King. We pray that his holy Name will be made holy. We pray that his kingdom will come and his will be done, in our lives and in the world. All so that God will be glorified. In the second half of the Lord’s prayer, we continue to glorify God. Even though we focus now on our needs, it is ultimately still about His glory because God gives, God forgives, He protects, and delivers us. Therefore, we pray boldly, humbly, and with thanksgiving as we petition God to give us today our daily bread.
1. Pray Boldly
When we pray we petition God boldly for our needs because the Lord is the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness (Ex 34:6). He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant of love with us (Deut 7:8-12). As the loving God, He knows our needs. As the sovereign Lord He is able to meet our needs. He is always faithful to supply our every need.
Because of Jesus Christ, we can enter into God’s presence with confidence, boldly pray, and expect Him to help us in our time of need. In his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus showed Himself to be a loving Savior who genuinely cares about our needs. “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb 4:14-16). 1 John 5:14 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
Give us this day our daily bread — Bread refers to all that we need to live and function effectively. It refers to all that we need to fulfill our vocations, the callings God has given us in this world. It refers to all that we need to do the good works God has given us to do. Daily means the bread that is needed, that is enough and sufficient for that day. This prayer teaches us to desire and pray for what we really need and not that which we desire; to pray for the necessities for life, not for luxuries, for bread, not cake. In praying this prayer we learn, like Paul, “to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:11-13). In a culture of affluence, abundance, and overconsumption, we should pray for the grace to be able to know when enough is enough and to say, “No” when the world tempts us with so much.
Every morning we wake up to the knowledge that we are here and our lives have significance and substance only because of the daily gifts of God. Thus, we pray boldly expressing our faith, trust, and confidence in our Father. He is the sovereign Lord holding everything in his hands … now! Today! This moment! He is always with us. He is faithful. He provides what we need today, and He will do so tomorrow. This knowledge, this confidence, this trust gives us peace and contentment and relieves us from all anxiety and worry. That’s why Jesus says in Matt 6:25 & 34 — “Do not be anxious” or, “do not worry about your life … Do not be anxious or worry about tomorrow.” He tells us to seek first the kingdom and God’s righteousness because man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord (Deut 8:3).
And that is why this prayer teaches us that Jesus himself is also the daily bread we should pray for. He is the Bread of life. “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. … I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. … Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (Jn 6:25-51). And so, in praying this prayer we are asking daily for Christ to abide in us and for us to abide in Christ so that we can live daily the new eternal life we have in Him.
2. Pray Humbly
We also pray humbly because we are utterly dependent on divine grace alone. Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 18:3). We must become as humble and dependent as children are. We are dependent on God because He upholds and sustains the universe and all things by the word of his power (Heb 1:3). We don’t own anything. All we have belongs to God and was given to us by Him for stewardship to his glory. We forget so easily our dependence on God. We live in a society that dislikes dependence upon God or anyone else. With rebellious attitudes, we think we are self-sufficient and we pride ourselves in our self-reliance. But we are far from being self-sustaining. We are needy creatures. We rely on the strength, life, and health that God gives us. We live and move and have our being only in Him. We are like beggars. Our only hope for food and shelter and life is the compassion and grace of our Father in heaven. We rely on God’s provision each moment of our lives. And Jesus teaches us to petition that provision boldly but also humbly.
We pray humbly because God alone is all-powerful. He has complete authority over our lives, our judgment, and our salvation. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. … There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy” (James 4:7-12). In our humble prayers of petition, we seek to make known our desires to God while at the same time, we submit ourselves to His plans and his will no matter what.
3. Pray with Thanksgiving
We can pray boldly and humbly because our prayers are grounded in thanksgiving. We pray with thanksgiving. From our thankfulness flow our bold and humble prayers. We are thankful because we know God’s heart. We know that our Heavenly Father loves and cares for his children. We are thankful because God is our Sustainer. “‘For in him we live and move and have our being … We are his offspring” (Act 17:28). The Lord is our Shepherd, and we lack nothing. He makes us lie down in green pastures, he leads us beside quiet waters, and he refreshes our souls. (Ps 23:1-3)
We are thankful because Jesus saved us from our pasts and our sins. He, the Bread of Life, gives us new, eternal life. With Paul we give thanks, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst” (1 Tim 1:12-15).
We are thankful because of God’s timing. He gives us what we need when we need it. God’s timing is always perfect according to his will and kingdom purposes even though we may not always understand the mystery of his ways. When we petition God with a thankful heart, we are able to submit to God’s will even as we ask Him for help. We know God always seeks our greatest good. We put our trust in Him, not in the things, the treasures of this world. He is our security and safety. He is our life. Praying this prayer with thanksgiving we learn to trust and live with God every day. We learn to be content and rejoice in all circumstances with what we have. “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim 6:6-8)
4. “Our” Bread
Note that we pray “our” bread, not my bread. We petition God boldly and humbly with thanksgiving asking that He will meet the needs of others as well as the needs of this hurting world. We pray specifically for those who are hurting, trafficked, forgotten, abused, oppressed, and starving. We pray for the poor, the widows, the orphans, the homeless, the refugees, the foreigner, and our enemies. We pray that they will find healing, stability, purpose, food, comfort, shelter, sustenance, employment, and freedom from oppression, addictions, and the slavery of sin. We weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn. We pray that they will find Jesus, the Bread of Life, and so find life. We know that God is greater than the one who is in the world (1 Jn 4:4) and so we pray boldly that God will overcome evil with good.
However, as we pray this prayer we are also petitioning God to show us how we can be answers to the prayer. We ask Him to use us to meet the needs of others and this hurting world. Miroslav Volf states, “There is something deeply hypocritical about praying for a problem you are unwilling to resolve.” And, I would add, for which God has given you the gifts, skills, and blessings to resolve, to help others. When God blesses me with two loaves of bread, the second loaf is not for storing but for sharing; one loaf for me, and one to share with my neighbor in need. This prayer is also asking that God will deliver us from selfishness and hoarding worldly treasures on earth. We easily grow proud of our riches, wealth, and blessings. We forget that all we have comes from God.
Praying the Lord’s Prayer we are learning to align our thoughts and desires with the heart of God. As we put Matthew 25 into practice, as we are good Samaritans to others, we begin to see others as God sees them. As we intercede spiritually, materially, and physically on their behalf, we become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ n this world.
5. Seeking God’s Goodness
How do we seek God’s goodness in prayer? “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:1-3).
We make sure that we have asked God for our petitions. Prayer must be our first and primary work. How many times do we go through life and our daily activities expecting God to help us without petitioning Him? Then, we must investigate, and examine with brutal honesty our motives. Why do we want this? Why are we asking God for this? Will this truly serve God’s kingdom purpose or my will?
We must pray with faith. “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (MK 11:24). “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:5-7). When we petition God, do we really believe that He can and will answer? We must pray without ceasing, continuously, until God gives us an answer. And always, we must submit ourselves to God’s will and his priorities for us, not our own. Let Your will be done, not mine.
Where do you run when your soul is empty? When you are worn and weary, do you seek fulfillment from your own power, effort, and plans, or do you run to Jesus and seek the comfort that comes from knowing Him and His Word? The closer we run to Jesus, the more we will know Him and His Word. The more we pray boldly, humbly, and with thanksgiving, the clearer His voice becomes and the more He will restore our empty souls and give us this day our daily bread.