DAILY BYTE
As we conclude our devotions this week, our focus today is on the word ‘Give’. Give us this day our daily bread.
In teaching us to pray, and indeed to live, Jesus is saying, ‘Ask. Ask boldly. Ask directly. Ask persistently, without embarrassment or apology. God wants us to ask, because in asking, simply and honestly and even shamelessly, something wonderful happens. In asking we open ourselves to the one we ask in a quite vulnerable way, because they can respond by saying either ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’
How different to the usual manipulations and schemes and hidden agendas that are used to get things in this world. Like the little boy who was saying his prayers, and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘Please can I have a bicycle for my birthday.’ His mother said to him, ‘You don’t have to shout, God isn’t deaf.’ The little boy replied, ‘I know, but granny is!’
How different is Jesus’ teaching, instructing us to be clear and direct in our request. ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
One of my favourite descriptions of prayer comes from Phillips Brooks who once said:
Prayer is not the overcoming of God’s reluctance, it’s taking hold of God’s willingness.
Jesus said, ‘Ask and you will receive.’ Or as he puts it in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ What would it mean for you to take him at his word, and to give it a try?
PRAY AS YOU GO
Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my supplications in your faithfulness; answer me in your righteousness.
I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.
Answer me quickly, O Lord. Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning, for in you I put my trust.
Teach me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Amen
(Based on Ps 143)
SCRIPTURE READING
Matthew 7:7-11
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who seeks finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
