On July 4th of the year 1776 a group of men known as the Second Continental Congress adopted a document which declared our nations independence from Great Britain. As Americans we are rightly proud of our Declaration of Independence. We hold men, such as John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and others as heroes who were courageous enough to stand against the most powerful nation in the world. We are proud of those who were willing to give their lives as a sacrifice for a free and independent nation. And we are proud of the independence that was won by those men.
As the years have gone by American independence has become a coveted trait. People from all over the world are willing to do whatever it takes for a chance to experience the freedom and independence of America. Time and time again we hear of those who showed up on the shores of Florida with nothing but a simple home-made raft and the clothes on their backs. Every day those who cross our borders illegally becomes more and more of a concern. Why? Because people want a chance to live in a free and independent America at any cost.
Our independence is something that we are proud of. We love the stories of seemingly “down and out” men and women who, against all the odds, reached down and “pulled themselves up by their bootstraps.” We love independence. We, as Americans and as humans, don’t like being told what to do… we like to do things our own way… we are disgusted at those who have the ability to make it on their own, but instead choose to rely on the generosity of someone else... we love to give others around the world the opportunity to experience in their native land the same independence and freedom that we enjoy.
We have a high regard for independence. And much of that is good and honorable. But this evening, I believe that this desire for independence is something that should not carry over into our spiritual lives. I think we all have experienced the failures and disappointments that come when we try to walk this way on our own. I believe that scripture teaches us the importance of depending upon God. Prov. 3:5 tells us to Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thy own understanding. In 2 Cor.3:5 Paul says Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God. On and on we could go. God’s Word teaches us the importance of and lifts up a philosophy of dependence upon God.
I want to do something that might seem somewhat strange to some of you tonight. I want to look at just a small portion of the Lord’s Prayer. Usually this would be a message you’d probably hear in someone’s series of sermons on the Lord’s prayer. But I just want to take a small section, one short sentence, and talk to you about it for a little while this evening.
The Lord’s prayer as Matthew records it in his gospel chapter 6:9-13… After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
I want us to look together at the statement that you can find in verse 11… Give us this day our daily bread. Lord, supply our needs for this day. I want to quickly talk with you this evening about the prayer of dependence upon God to provide for our needs. There are three traits about this petition that I think should be traits of our own prayer life. Let me just share those with you for a few minutes right now.
I. A Prayer of Humble Dependence
First of all, I believe Jesus was teaching us a humble dependence upon God. He says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Now, this is not a demand. This isn’t walking up to the throne of God and proudly demanding our rights to be fed and clothed and sheltered. It isn’t pointing a finger at God and saying, “Lord, you’d better give me this.” John Wesley said “we claim nothing of right, but only of free mercy… We deserve not the air we breath, the earth that bears, or the sun that shines upon us… but God loves us freely; therefore, we ask Him to give...” This is not a demand for God to supply, but it is a humble plea that He do so.
Maybe you heard about the husband who was advised by a psychiatrist to assert himself at home. His guidance was, "You don’t have to let your wife henpeck you. Go home and show her you’re the boss." So the husband took the doctor’s advice. He rushed home, slammed the door, shook his fist in his wife’s face, and growled, "From now on, you’re taking orders from me. I want my supper right now, and when you get it on the table, go upstairs, and lay out my best clothes. Tonight, I’m going out with the boys, and you are going to stay at home where you belong. And another thing, guess who’s going to comb my hair, give me a shave, and tie my necktie?" His wife calmly answered, "The undertaker."
When Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day,” He wasn’t advising us to demand provision from God. he was advising us to humbly depend upon God for our needs to be supplied.
You know, here in America we have been so blessed. We have everything we need. Food is plenteous. We have no shortages of water. We always have a place to sleep. We always have clothes on our back. And we are proud of our abundant wealth. We are proud of our self-sufficiency. We’re proud of the accomplish-ments that have helped to bring us to where we are today. But have we forgotten where we would be if God chose not to send the rain or if He chose not to allow our crops to grow? Have we forgotten how we have come to be so blessed? Abraham Lincoln, when proclaiming a day of humility, fasting and prayer in 1863 said this: We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. Someone else has said that “man, despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication and many accomplishments, owes the fact of his existence to a six- inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.” Where would we be if God didn’t provide for us?
When we bring our petitions to the Father we must come in humility, with the understanding that we don’t deserve anything He would choose to give us, let alone to stand in His presence and ask Him to provide those things. We must come with the understanding that it is only by His grace that our petitions can be answered. We must come with the understanding that God will not honor the demands of the proud, but will honor the pleas of the humble. Psalms 138:6 says that God respects the humble but He knows the proud afar off. James 4:6 tells us that God resists the proud, but gives His grace to the humble. God honors those who come before Him in humble dependence, who understand that they have no hope but in the grace and mercy and provisions of God. He honors those who come to Him with the knowledge of their need for Him. That’s what humble dependence is… understanding our need for God to supply our needs.
II. A Prayer of Daily Dependence
Secondly, I believe that Jesus was teaching us a daily dependence upon God. Psalm 86:3- Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. Psalm 88:9- Lord, I have called daily upon thee. Matt. 6:34 says Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. We find all throughout scripture this principle of seeking God daily for the needs of that day.
Many times I have caught myself worrying about the future. I remember one of the toughest times in my life was just about a year and a half ago. After resigning our church in Peoria, IL, there were about 5 or 6 months that Cora and I didn’t have any idea where we were going to end up. We were trying to make house payments and live on two part time jobs. I remember one of our best friends was the value menu at Mickey D’s. We could both eat for about $4. Money was tight. We were tying to figure out how we were going to manage to find another church to minister at and sell the house at the right time to make the transition go smoothly. We really didn’t think too many people would want these two kids who had failed in their first church. We were hundreds of miles away from our family and friends. We were still trying to figure out why God had allowed us to go through the last year of our lives. We were just lost. And I’ll confess, there probably wasn’t a day that went by that we didn’t worry about tomorrow.
But you know, as I look back on it now, I realize how God was teaching us during that time about having a daily dependence upon Him. It was really tough sometimes. We didn’t understand sometimes. We probably even doubted God a few times. But all the while He was teaching us to trust in Him to supply the needs of the day that we were facing. And you know, God worked everything out. We went to the Inter-church Holiness Convention in Dayton and there we sat in probably 6-7 “interviews” with churches looking for an assistant pastor. We joke now about loving the convention that year because we didn’t have to buy one meal with our own money. God led us to come to Clinton, TN, and we are so glad He did. But there was still the matter of selling the house. But God worked that out too. A young couple we had known in college wanted to move to Peoria just as badly as we were wanting to leave, and the timing worked out so we could move directly from there to here without having to put any of our stuff in storage. There were just a few days between the time that we arrived here and were able to move into our apartment. And even that was nice ‘cause we got to spend those nights with Jerry and Lottie and brag to our families that we stayed in a really nice log cabin. But the timing was perfect. And we walked away a year after buying that house with $5000 more than we had put into it.
What’s my point? God was teaching us to depend upon Him one day at a time. Octavio Winslow had this to say about a daily dependence upon God. “It will save you.... from many a desponding feeling; from many a corroding care; from many an anxious thought; from many a sleepless night; from many a tearful eye; and from many an imprudent and sinful scheme.” There is so much peace that comes with depending on God one day at a time. You don’t have to worry about tomorrow. Jesus said tomorrow will take care of itself. You don’t have to maintain a high stress level. You can rest in knowing that God will take care of you. Depend upon God for today.
III. A Prayer of Confident Dependence
In the petition of the Lord’s prayer Jesus was teaching us humble dependence, daily dependence, and lastly this evening, He was teaching us the principle of confident dependence. There was a man who fell off a cliff one day, but somehow managed to grab a tree limb on the way down. The following conversation ensued: "Is anyone up there?" "I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?" "Yes, Lord, I believe. I really believe, but I can’t hang on much longer." "That’s all right, if you really believe you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Just let go of the branch." After a moment of silence the man asked, "Is anyone else up there?"
We can have confidence that God can and will meet our needs. The Bible is full of promises that God will supply our needs. Here are just some examples. Ps. 34:10- The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Mark 11:24- What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Phil. 4:19- But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. We can be confident that God will meet our needs today because He promised to do so in His Word.
We can also be confident that God will meet our needs today because He came through on those promises and He met our needs yesterday. You know, I think this prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” insinuates that God gave us our daily bread yesterday, and the day before, and the day before. We can trust God to meet our needs today because He’s done it before. The song says “I have proven Him true; what He says He will do. He never has failed me yet.” Has God ever let you down before? Has He ever failed you before? Has He ever promised to do something for you and not come through for you before? No. Then you can be confident that He’ll provide for you again today. You can have a confidence that what God says He’ll do, He will do. You can believe in God. You can trust Him. You can have confidence in Him.
One of the great heroes of the faith was a man by the name of George Muller. A man widely known in his time and remembered now for his orphanages and his faith in God. A biography of his tells the story of one morning when the plates and cups and bowls on the table of his orphanage were empty. There was no food in the cupboards, and there was no money to buy food. The children were standing waiting for their morning meal, when Muller said, "Children, you know we must be in time for school." So lifting his hand he said, "Dear Father, we thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat." Before he had a chance to say “Amen,”
there was a knock on the door. The town’s baker stood there, and said, "Mr. Muller, I couldn’t sleep last night. Somehow I felt you didn’t have bread for breakfast and the Lord wanted me to give you some. So I got up at 2 a.m. and baked some fresh bread, and have brought it." Muller thanked the man, and no sooner had he shut the door when there was a second knock. It was the town’s milkman. He told them that his milk cart had broken down right in front of the Orphanage, and he would like to give the children his cans of fresh milk so he could empty his wagon and repair it. God was answering George Muller’s prayer even before he had said it. It’s no wonder, years later, when he was travelling the world as an evangelist, he would be heralded as "the man who gets things from God!" Why? Because George Muller was a man of confident dependence upon God. He believed God would answer prayer. And just sort of a side note, it is said that Muller prayed in over what would have been today 17.5 million dollars over the span of his ministry. He was a man of confident dependence.
In Matt. 21:21-22 Jesus says: If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. Pray in confident dependence. God can meet your needs. God will meet your needs… if you believe Him, if you have faith in Him, if you confidently depend upon His promises to provide.
I don’t know what your needs are this evening. I don’t know what you are seeking for God to supply in your life. But I know this… I know that God answers prayer. And I know that God will honor the humble, daily, and confident prayers of His children. When we come to Him with a spirit which confesses our desperate need for God, with a spirit that trusts Him one day at a time, and with a spirit confident that He will answer our prayer, God will give us our daily bread. He will supply all of our needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus.
