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Daily Bread

Jesus’ word on bread

Many scholars, theologians and teachers apparently missed the real meaning of the “daily bread”. Therefore, we have to pay more serious attention to Jesus’ own word about food and his own daily bread. (Matthew 6:30-34) But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

It’s quite clear the Lord is telling us not to worry about “what will we eat”. For our heavenly Father knows what we need, it will be added to us if we seek His Kingdom first. So the Lord’s prayer’s real instruction on “daily bread” is to pray for the Kingdom of God, not man-made bread.

Now listen to Jesus’ conversation on bread: (Matthew 4:3-4) And when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.‘ ”

We know He did not eat for 40 days, so bread is not even a daily necessity. For those who fast regularly, bread is not exactly their daily needs either, maybe weekly. So the only thing that man’s life depends on daily have to be the word of God. If anyone is serious about Jesus’ word, “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God “, he or she would have to read through the whole Bible all the time. Everyday, the time we spend on the word of God is a direct reflection of our faith on Him.

So, let’s see what food Jesus takes daily: (John 4:34 NIV) Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. By this statement, Jesus set the definition straight here, the “daily bread” for both Him and God’s people is the spiritual food for man to depend on daily, that is, to do God’s will, to accomplish His work. Those who fail to get this “daily bread” will stave towards spiritual death.

God’s will, believe in Him, Imitate Jesus

Jesus said: (John 6:40) For this is my Father’s will, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him to life on the last day.” Listen carefully to His word on the meaning of “believe in him”, (John 14:12) Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. According to His word, “believe in him” means to do the same as Jesus did, that is to imitate Him.

Even now we can see Jesus’ daily bread is to do the Father’s will, and those believe in him will do what He did, that is God’s will. If this is not clear enough, listen to His word in another chapter, (John 5:19) …… “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. And (John 8:28) So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. Apart from the Father’s will, Jesus do nothing else, nothing on his own initiative or plan.

Thus, based on Jesus’ own words, there is no doubt, those who believe in him will do whatever the Father does, just as Jesus. They will take the “daily bread” the same way as the Lord, to do the Father’s will and to accomplish His work. Just like Jesus, “whatever the Father does” those who believe in Him will also do. Just as it is written: (Ephesians 5:1) So be imitators of God, as his dear children.

Love = Obey = Walk as Jesus did

It is written: (John 14:23-24) Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching, my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home within him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own, they belong to the Father who sent me. Let us obey His teaching, not man-made doctrines, take up our own cross daily, ask our Father to give us the daily bread to do His will, just as Jesus did while walking on the earth. Then our Father and our Savior will come to us and make their home within us, how beautiful is this!

If anyone is serious about obeying Jesus’ teaching, he has to pick up his own cross daily, as He said: (Matthew 10:37-38) “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. It took me a long time to see this clearly.

It is written: (I John 2:3-6 NIV) We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. the man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God a is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

Getting the Daily Bread

Jesus instructed us to pray for the daily bread, and the book of Psalms have many good prayer examples, they serve as a guideline or template on how to pray properly in order to do God’s will. I list a few below, but before truly seeking the will of God, these psalms didn’t catch my attention, I simply did not see them.

  • (Psalms 1:2) But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
  • (Psalms 25:4-5) Make me know Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day.
  • (Psalms 27:4) One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.
  • (Psalms 32:5-6) I acknowledge my sin to you, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD; and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. For this shall every one that is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come near to him.
  • (37:7) Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
  • (66:18) If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
  • (Psalms 86:11) Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
  • (Psalms 119:33-37) Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep Your law and observe it with all my heart. Make me to walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in them. Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from seeing vanity; give me life in Your way.
  • (Psalms 139:23-24) Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
  • (Psalms 143:10) Teach me to do your will; for you are my God: your spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.
  • (Psalms 139:16-18 ASV) Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: When I awake, I am still with thee.


Can we see here; “the days that were ordained for me”, “they are more in number than the sand”. If anyone would ask for weekly or monthly, it will certainly be too much to remember. Even the plan for just one day could have many items, we see Jesus “often slip away to the wilderness and pray”, because He said “I do nothing on My own”. While with the disciples he can’t slip away, so he was “praying privately”. I assume Jesus did this all the time so that he would not miss any part of the Father’s plan.

Our Father’s plan is also mentioned in; (Jeremiah 29:11-13) For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. The problems is everybody insist on walk out his own plan, that why some of us face so much suffering and calamity.

It’s not difficult to conclude that if we obey the scripture: (Ephesians 5:19) Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; then we will know the will of God. Otherwise, we are likely to miss it.

Our Savior’s example

Jesus demonstrated to us knowing the Father’s will is not easy at all, it takes lots of efforts. Maybe that is why we rarely seek and know our Father’s will, because we always want something convenient and comfortable.

  • (Matthew 14:23) After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.
  • (Mark 1:35) In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.
  • (Mark 6:46) After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray.
  • (Luke 5:16) But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.
  • (Luke 6:12) It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.
  • (Luke 9:18 ISV) One day while Jesus was praying privately and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”


In order to following our Savior’s example, we have to pick up our own cross daily, put to death our old-self as the scripture says, “offer your body as a living sacrifice”. This is the cost of following Him, we have to repent and change our lifestyle. Remember Jesus said:(Luke 13:24 NIV) Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Those who failed to do so felled into Satan’s trap, they can’t see they are on a path to totally reject the word of God.

Warnings

There are many warnings like Revelation 3:1-5(NIV) “To the angel of the church in Sardis, write: ‘These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. ‘I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.

Jesus’ word is clear, only those who “will walk with me” are worthy, and he said “I will never blot out his name from the book of life“. His words are for all of us today and forever, as verse 6 said, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” I suppose we don’t want to be like those who have ear but can not hear.

Due to the lack of knowledge many blood have already shed in the past. For it is written: (Acts 20:26-31 ISV) I therefore declare to you today that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I never shrank from telling you the whole plan of God. Pay attention to yourselves and to the entire flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to be shepherds of God’s church, which he acquired with his own blood. I know that when I’m gone savage wolves will come among you and not spare the flock. Indeed, some of your own men will come forward and distort the truth in order to lure the disciples into following them. So be alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, I never stopped warning each of you with tears.

Do we see the fatal result of not knowing the whole counsel of God? If ignorant of that whole counsel can be fatal, how much worse will it be for those who know the word but willingly not to obey it! We see Paul had to spend three years, night and day, never stopped warning each of them with tears, if there is no such faithful apostle to warn us today how much more should we study the word harder to stay safe.

The consequence of not feeding the daily bread is written: (Philippians 3:18-19) For I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on worldly things. Apostle Paul warned us not to become these two type of people, first type unaware of the whole plan of God, the second type knows it but still refused to repent nor feed on the spiritual food daily. Therefore their daily bread is earthly things, their destiny will be destruction, and their glory is in their shame. Because their minds are set on worldly things, despite they all attend Paul’s church. Today we desperately need to feed ourselves with the real daily bread, more than ever before, because it will be very hard to survive the coming storms and disasters. Now let us pray psalm 80:

Oh, give ear, Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth!
Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up Your power And come to save us!
O God, restore us And cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.
O LORD God of hosts, How long will You be angry with the prayer of Your people?
You have fed them with the bread of tears, And You have made them to drink tears in large measure.
You make us an object of contention to our neighbors, And our enemies laugh among themselves.
O God of hosts, restore us And cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.
You removed a vine from Egypt; You drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground before it, And it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shadow, And the cedars of God with its boughs.
It was sending out its branches to the sea And its shoots to the River.
Why have You broken down its hedges, So that all who pass that way pick its fruit?
A boar from the forest eats it away And whatever moves in the field feeds on it.
O God of hosts, turn again now, we beseech You; Look down from heaven and see, and take care of this vine,
Even the shoot which Your right hand has planted, And on the son whom You have strengthened for Yourself.
It is burned with fire, it is cut down; They perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.
Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself.
Then we shall not turn back from You; Revive us, and we will call upon Your name.
O LORD God of hosts, restore us; Cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.

Amen.

Notes:

After typing this article, a real sense of fear started to grow within me. I still don’t care that much about doing God’s will and live almost similar to a hypocrite. O, Lord, have mercy on me. For I suppose to tremble at your Word, even now, but somehow I have such hard heart and stiff neck I still don’t have proper fear of the Lord. But I am not alone, many of us want everything to be easy and convenient. Such as the hymns has to end in certain minutes, the teaching needs to complete in an hour. Perhaps we have never truly worshiped in the way acceptable to our heavenly Father. The only thing that has highest priority in our heart is, perhaps, our comfortable lifestyle. But soon, all these things everybody cherished so much will be blown away, storm and disaster will come. Then God’s people will learn the true meaning of worship. Many of us may have to learn, the hard way, the consequence of not seeking the will of God.
O, Lord, have mercy on your people. Have mercy.