Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Asking for More Than Daily Bread

Matthew 6:11 Lord’s Prayer “Give us today our daily bread.”

New Year resolutions frustrate me. I am not good at keeping them. I try different venues for being resolute, even writing them in my daily planner. Still I fall short of keeping the resolution for more than a few weeks. Long range planning is difficult for me. Yet, I strive to achieve it, often working more towards tomorrow than living today. There is nothing wrong with planning and we should. After all, Noah didn’t build the ark in a day. We need goals and must strive to achieve them, but we should not strive so much for tomorrow that we miss today. Life is given to us day-by-day, not year-by-year for a reason. We have a hard enough time handling each day.

I wonder how many of us have prayed this verse of the Lord’s Prayer without really understanding or grasping the meaning. “Give us today our daily bread”. Notice, it doesn’t say give us what we need for the week, month, year or lifetime. It says daily. Jesus tells us, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)

Start today by taking one day at a time. Begin the day with nourishment from the Father. Ask for the daily bread, God’s life-giving presence. Use what is given to you each day. Don’t become so greedy and untrusting of God to meet our daily needs like the Israelites in Exodus who took more than their daily manna and it became spoiled and filled with maggots. (Exodus 16:20) With faith trust God for today's needs and let go of tomorrow's anxieties. Then step out in obedience to God. God’s supply is abundance and given freely to us.

Prayer: Gracious Father, let me pray for today’s bread, the manna that you have for me for today. Renew me today with your presence. As I receive your daily bread, let me keep my daily dependence on you for my needs. Amen.

Digging deeper: Exodus 16:4, Luke 9:23, Hebrews 11:1, Matthew 6:25, 32-33, Lamentations 3:22-23

Monday, April 26, 2010

Book Review: Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God

Book Review of Shelia Walsh’s book Beautiful Things Happened When a Woman Trusts God

Trust does not often come easily, especially in following where God leads. Shelia shares her lifelong battle with trusting where God has been leading her. Woven with her struggles, Shelia introduces us to ten individuals in the Bible who teach us about trust. Not all the individuals are women, so while the book is written for women, men can also gain much from reading it.

This is not a book to be read at one sitting. There are nuggets to be gleamed from almost every page, wisdom shared on learning to trust. Shelia offers a study in the back to use with a group or as an individual study. This is a great way to dig deeper and I recommend it.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Faith Filled Friday

"Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It's simply taking God at His word and taking the next step." Joni Erickson Tada

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5