However, the true Lord’s Prayer is found in John 17.

The prayer of Matthew 6 would be more adequately described as a model prayer. In other words, it gives us an example of how we should pray, which brings me to my thought today.

Matthew 6:11 says: “Give us this day our daily bread.” What is this verse saying to us?

In order to get better insight, we need to look at two other verses, Proverbs 30:8-9. These verses shine light upon our thought. Verses 8 and 9 state: “Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me. Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”

Now that we have seen these verses, let’s dissect our phrase of “give us our daily bread.” Let us consider where our daily bread comes from, who gives it, and what it can do for us in our life.

In earlier verses in Matthew 6, we are told to pray to our Father “which art in Heaven.” Therefore, our daily bread comes from God. May we always be mindful that all blessings flow from above.

Our verses in Proverbs are also a prayer to the Lord. The first request is to remove vanities and lies far from me. This is a plea for honesty and humbleness. We will never pray as we should and live as we should until we become honest with ourselves and admit we are nothing outside of the Lord.

The second request listed is somewhat unusual. He prays for neither riches or poverty. Instead he asks for convenient food. He is asking to be fed with those things that are necessary, not of luxury.

Why would one pray such a thing? We are told why in the following words. He doesn’t want to be rich because he fears it would cause him to deny the Lord if he is full with all of his desires and wishes. He goes on to say he would even ask: “Who is the Lord,” which could be rendered, “Why do I need the Lord, because I have all I need?” This is the beginning of tragedy in life.

Then he explains why he wouldn’t want to live in poverty. If poverty prevailed, he would be tempted to steal, therefore taking the Name of God in vain. He realizes this temptation could bring great danger to his life and testimony. It could bring shame to the Name of the Lord.

But, there is a remedy! We can ask God for what we need each and every day of our life. By thus doing so, we stay close to God, we remain humble, and we stay honest. When we get to the point where we are totally leaning on the Lord for our daily bread, we will stay humble and pure.

In Matthew 6:10, we are told to pray: “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” We will never be able to pray for neither riches or poverty until we learn how to seek and obey the will of God. This is the only true place of peace. Without the peace of the Lord, we will not be satisfied with what the Lord has for us.

When we pray in this manner, God is surely pleased with our prayer and He is able to use us in ways we would never imagine. When we reach this level, we have placed the Lord above our selfish and worldly desires. We are depending on him.

It is then that we have gotten to the place of great blessing. We may not have all the world has to offer, but we are pleased with what the Lord gives.

May our prayer be: give me neither poverty nor riches but give us our daily bread. As the old song of faith states: “I’d rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.”