When my children were small, each day held endless possibilities. They woke up and came into the living room as I was reading my Bible. They knew I would be in the same place each morning. I would see their sweet faces and always let them know how happy I was to get to spend another day with them. God helped me understand that this window of opportunity was short. They would all be grown and gone soon (which they are). But for a little tiny sliver of time, I had the high honor of representing the God of heaven to my babies. I was always glad to see them (only because I met with God before interacting with others…I highly recommend).
“They never worried about whether I would take care of them.”
They never worried about whether I would take care of them. They understood two things. They were completely loved and safe, and I had the day planned. It would unfold little by little and all would be taken care of. They never came into the living room trying to figure out how they would make it through the day. They knew that was my problem not theirs; they trusted me a hundred percent. That didn’t mean the day was fun and games every minute, but it did mean it wasn’t a stressful mess full of high anxiety.
“What if the Christian life is supposed to be exactly the same way?”
What if the Christian life is supposed to be exactly the same way? Of course as adults, we have to plan, work, and take care of our families, but did God mean for the weight of the world to be on our shoulders? I started to investigate the deeper meaning of “give us this day our daily bread,” and I was a little blown away. I hope you are too.
In the book of John, Jesus calls Himself the “bread from heaven.” Obviously, He is not speaking of the bread we eat, so I wondered if bread, in the Lord’s Prayer, also had a double meaning.
Greek Definition:
Bread (ártos) – properly, bread; (figuratively) divine provision; all the sustenance God supplies to yielded believers scene-by-scene to live in His preferred-will.
Just as I thought. Bread can mean our daily food (which I have seen God provide in a literal way for us), but it also means that God unfolds our day before us and gives us every single thing we need to walk through that one day. He knows everything that is coming and He has already gone before us if we are a “yielded believer.”
“Why do most Christians not live in the calm place of letting the day unfold and trust God with each scene?”
Why do most Christians not live in the calm place of letting the day unfold and trust God with each scene? Yielded believer means surrendered believer. Many Christians still try to run their own life and they are totally exhausted and overwhelmed. Daily bread will only be given to those who know they are a spiritual pauper and humbly come to their Father for what they need.
“Nowhere in scripture does God tell us to try to figure things out or worry about the future.”
Nowhere in scripture does God tell us to try to figure things out or worry about the future. He plainly tells us that His thoughts are not ours and we have to live by faith. When we do, life becomes an adventure. We will get to see God unfold our day little by little with many surprises around every corner. Interruptions should be treated as God’s will, not a bother.
We get the honor of reading about the daily life of the Son of God as He did ordinary things that turned into extraordinary events. When John the Baptist was beheaded, Jesus heard about it and had the desire to be alone and pray. Scripture tells us what happened next.
When Jesus heard what had happened (the beheading of John), he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Matthew 14:13-14
“Jesus had His own plans for the day. God unfolded His plan for the day (scene by scene) and interrupted Jesus’ plan with His plan.”
Jesus had His own plans for the day. God unfolded His plan for the day (scene by scene) and interrupted Jesus’ plan with His plan. How did Jesus respond? Did He huff and puff and say, “I came here to be alone, you guys are going to have to give me some time to pull myself together.” No, He took it all in stride and let His Father’s love and compassion for the people flow through the power of the Holy Spirit. We live by the same power as Jesus Christ if we are a yielded believer. If we are not, then we are living by our own love and power. Good luck with having rivers of love and compassion if you are dipping water from your own internal well.
Jeremiah said it best as he spoke about God’s own people (unyielded believers).
Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the LORD. “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
Jeremiah 2:12-13
The most appalling and horrible thing on the planet is to have all we need in ample supply flowing to us straight from God’s throne, yet turn and try to do it all on our own.
When Jesus saw the crowd, He yielded His own rights to His Father’s will. He healed the people, taught them the Word, and at the end fed 5,000 men with five loaves of bread and two fish…Whoa! What might God do through each of us if we lived in yielded submission and surrender to the King of heaven each and every day? What do we miss as we focus on our own agendas instead of the agenda of God’s Kingdom.
“What do we miss as we focus on our own agendas instead of the agenda of God’s Kingdom.”
There is a reason Jesus prayed, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” We are the vessels through which God would bring His very kingdom to this tired and thirsty earth every single day. Instead, we look at interruptions as something to deal with instead of an event planned by God to show His glory.
For Jesus, what started as a day of sadness over His friend and family member, John, ended up being a day of being a vessel of the mighty power of God. Instead of being focused on Himself and His pain, He was a yielded vessel who poured out to every person around Him. Guess what happened? Every single need was met by His Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had no time to mourn. His focus switched from His agenda to God’s and the entire day changed to something so supernatural that it made it into scripture. Feeding the 5,000 is one of the most preached about miracles in the entire Word of God.
I have lived in the same house for almost thirty years. My home was almost like a welcome center. One evening my mother-in-law and I were laughing about the number of visitors that came through my door each day. I said I needed that sign from Ellis Island, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
She said, “No need, they already know.” We both laughed.
I started to practice this attitude early on in my life. I probably haven’t kept my floors clean and the dishes weren’t always done, but anyone who came to my door was welcomed. I looked at Jesus’ life and how He never hurried and always let people interrupt Him and I wanted to be that way. I have not done this perfectly by any means but I try to live with this attitude. “Every person that comes to my door is an eternal soul with infinite worth. If God has allowed them to “interrupt” me, then I need to be His vessel to touch their life.”
“If God has allowed them to “interrupt” me, then I need to be His vessel to touch their life.”
What difference has this made? I have no idea. God doesn’t let us see many of the eternal differences our lives make. He asks us to live by faith and let His Spirit have His way each moment of the day. We may not feel a huge change, but if this is our attitude, our insides are slowly but surely being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
If He allows horrible news to come to our door, He has already given us everything we need as that scene unfolds. We are never meant to walk through a single scene of our lives alone. God is able to give us His power in the most horrible moments (the beheading of our friend), to the most beautiful (the birth of a grandchild) and every single moment in between. God’s Living Water comes from another kingdom and it never stops, unless we turn away and dig our own cisterns and try to control our own lives.
“I beseech everyone reading and listening, yield your life to God and then watch Him beautifully walk you through every single moment of every day.”
I beseech everyone reading and listening, yield your life to God and then watch Him beautifully walk you through every single moment of every day. God walked Jesus through every moment of His life, all the way to His trial, scourging, mocking, and crucifixion…scene by scene.
Jesus had to breathe His final breaths without the Living Water (He said “I thirst”). He didn’t say those words until He said, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus, in that moment, partook of the “thirst” of humankind.
“Because God turned away from Jesus when He took my sin and yours, He never has to turn away from us.”
Because God turned away from Jesus when He took my sin and yours, He never has to turn away from us. If you are living in a state of spiritual dehydration, there is only one reason, you have forsaken God; the spring of Living Water.
Jesus made it very simple.
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit…
John 7:37-39a
