Matthew 6:11 "Give us this day our daily bread."   One of my favorite books written about this prayer is called The Great House of God, written by Max Lucado.  In his book Max compares each request or statement to a room in a house.  Here, Max says, we find the kitchen.  Every house has one.. "especially the Great House of God" Max writes.  He goes on to state that there are two rules in God's kitchen.. 1. "Don't be shy, Ask."  and 2. "Trust the Cook".  

Jesus is teaching us to pray in this way.. knowing that we come to our Father, who "knows what [we] need before [we] ask Him."  We have come to our Father who has out of His great love..  adopted us.. the God who sits on the throne of heaven and rules completely.  We have asked that His name be kept holy, recognizing and proclaiming His majesty, His purity, His perfection.  We have asked for His Kingdom to come.. that all darkness be overwhelmed by His Light.. that all evil would be vanquished and His righteousness established.  We have prayed for His will to be done and surrendered our own.  And now, Jesus says, is the time to ask for what He already knows we need.. "daily bread".  

Max Lucado says it this way.. "The term( daily bread)  means all of a person's physical needs... to talk to God about the necessities of life. " God... the Creator of all things.. provides the seeds, the soil, the sun, and the rain.. He provides EVERYTHING!  One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 145. Verses 15-16 says this, "The eyes of all look to Thee, and Thou dost give them their food in due time. Thou dost open Thy hand and dost satisfy the desire of every living thing."  God provides for the ant and the eagle.. and He is the One who provides for you and me. 

Jesus tells us to simply ask.  Ask with boldness.. as a child. Ask with faith.. trusting that He who owns the cattle on a thousand hills.. will indeed care for us.  Ask, willing to take whatever it is He desires to give.  Ask with contentment and thankfulness.  Ask for ourselves AND for each other.  

I want to share one more statement from Lucado's book.. "... in the house of God, the one who provides the food is the one who prepares the meal. We don't swagger into his presence and demand delicacies. Nor do we sit outside the door and hope for crumbs. We simply take our place at the table and gladly trust Him to "Give us this day our daily bread." 

One more perspective on this verse comes from Andrew Murray's devotional Daily in His Presence.. "This is an invitation to daily prayer, to remind God of His promises and to pray for His blessing on His people and on this needy world. Regard it a privilege to pray on behalf of the saints for the working of the Holy Spirit, for the coming of the kingdom, and for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Father in heaven, may all the world exalt Your Name for You are great and greatly to be praised! You are our God.. our Creator and our Provider.  You are kind and generous to all.. believers and non-believers. There is nothing Lord, without Your Hand providing it.  We ask that You would give us today our daily bread.. all that we need to live and to serve.  May we draw closer to Your heart.. that our hearts would be filled with the Bread of Life and that our blessings would overflow to those we see who are in need.  Whether that need is for bread or for Jesus.. fill our hands with Your grace that we can hand it out to those we come across in our daily walk with You.  Open our eyes to those around us. Open our hearts to those near and far.  May Your will be done, Gracious Father.. so that Your Kingdom will come. Amen.