Category: From Pastor

Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 4 of the Lord’s Prayer Series “Give Us Today Our Daily Bread”  (LISTEN HERE).

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Daily bread includes everything that we need for our bodily welfare, such as food and drink, clothing and shoes, house and home, fields and flocks, money and goods, a godly family, good workers, good government, honest leaders, good citizens good weather, peace and order, health, a good name, loyal friends and good neighbors. (Martin Luther – Explanation to Fourth Petition)

This short petition, while it focuses on food, is right to understand that we are praying for God to provide all that we need for a given day in our life.  The list that Martin Luther pens captures an extensive list.

Have you ever paused long enough in a day to realize all the things with which you interact in a given day?

You would probably come up with a list similar to the one above.

What items in this list are skipped in your prayer life?

As I am writing this, the grouping of items that stood out to me that I do not always think about as I pray this petition are the items related to the government under which we live.  “Good government, honest leaders, good citizens, peace and order.”

I have started reading “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine and find it interesting in his writing that government is a result of individuals not able to self-govern and live at peace with each other, i.e. a result of sin.  Here’s a quote:

Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him, out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.

So understanding the temptations of those in power to use that power in a way that is personally beneficial but not beneficial to society, it is truly appropriate as the Apostle Paul encourages to pray for our governing officials.

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.  (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

When we pray “Give us today our daily bread,” pause to also pray for our governing officials national, state and local that they might selflessly serve to allow the ability to peacefully gather and enjoy our daily bread.

Apply: We often think most of our national government.  Take a moment today to find the name of your mayor, council person, chief of police and fire.  Pray for them too!

Prayer: Lord, guide and direct all who serve in a government setting to seek your wisdom and direction as they serve the people they oversee.  AMEN.

Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 4 of the Lord’s Prayer Series “Give Us Today Our Daily Bread”  (LISTEN HERE).

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^{Philippians 4:10} I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Contentment is hard.

It does not come naturally.

It is easy for our heart to always want more.

Contentment has to be learned.

The Apostle Paul had extreme swings in his physical condition.  He was ship wrecked and at other times enjoyed a meal with friends.  He spoke to a captivated crowd, but then found himself being stoned by another crowd.  No doubt there were times where he yearned for better and wondered why he was in the current circumstances.  Yet as he sat in prison writing to the believers in Philippi, he shared a lesson he learned:

¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Contentment for the Christian does not come naturally.  We live in a culture where the marketing world’s job is to make us discontent and seek to find contentment in the product they are selling.  We have many things money can buy and yet when we buy somethings, we barely pause to enjoy it before our heart is set on the next thing.  Our culture communicates that contentment is found with more money, more things, more experiences.  We often put a condition on contentment and say, “I will be content when…” (…I have more money, get a new job, graduate from school…etc.).

So what was the “secret” to contentment that Paul learned?

“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

Contentment is a gift of God and a working of his Spirit.  Contentment is a working of God’s Spirit to understand that in plenty or want, well fed or hungry, I have all I need in Christ.  My physical condition or my material wealth do not change my status with God.  I am, by grace, always a loved, redeemed, gifted child of God.

Romans 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When we pray for daily bread, we are also praying for contentment with what God has blessed us with today.  If he chooses different or additional blessings tomorrow, I will remember to give thanks for those things and that situation also is a gift from God (whether good or bad).  My confidence in praying “Give us this day our daily bread” is the confidence that God will give me today what I need for today.

In that, I can be content.

Apply: What is causing discontent in your life?  What perspective change can God’s Spirit give that will help you learn to be content, no matter the circumstances around you?

Prayer: Lord, forgive my heart of discontent and teach me, as you did Paul, to be content in every circumstance…starting with today.  AMEN.

Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 4 of the Lord’s Prayer Series “Give Us Today Our Daily Bread”  (LISTEN HERE).

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Who gets the credit?

He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” ¹⁸ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. (Deuteronomy 8:16-18)

Rugged individualism.

Self-made person.

American dream.

These “American” phrases speak to the ability of the individual to put their mind to their work and accomplish anything they set out to do and take advantage of the opportunities our country provides.

To be sure, there is nothing wrong with hard work, challenging goals, and the earning of wealth unless…the wrong person gets the credit.

We like to take credit.  After all, we get up early, stay up late, and put in the hours.  When the paycheck comes, the promotion is received, or the bonus given we can “take it to the bank” and then buy the needs and wants we have.

What a good job WE have done.

Celebrating hard work and accomplishment is not sinful, but make sure the right person gets the credit.

The people of Israel ate manna and quail EVERY DAY for 40 years (14,600 days!).  I’m sure this was difficult, but Moses reminds the people before he transitions leadership to Joshua, that God did it to “humble and to test you.”

God did not want sinful pride to root in the hearts of his people.  He knew that sinful pride would rely on self and push out God.  Sinful pride would take credit for the things for which God deserved the credit.

When Moses spoke these words, the people of Israel were about to enter the land of Canaan which was “flowing with milk and honey.”  The temptation when they settled was to say, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”

The wrong person would get the credit…ME.

As the crops came up, the paychecks were received, and their net worth increased, the Lord through Moses told them, “But remember the LORD your God, for it is HE who gives you the ability to produce wealth.”

God gets the credit…NOT me.

What happens to your day when you drive to work and thank God for the work HE has given to you?  When you drive home, what changes when you thank God for the work HE gave you abilities to do?  When you see your paycheck deposited in the bank, what thoughts change when you recall that GOD has given you that income?  What happens when you unpack the groceries and your remember that GOD has produced this food for you to eat?

You remember GOD is faithful to his promise to provide daily bread…every day.

You avoid sinful pride and give credit to the one who deserves it…the LORD.

Apply: Go through your day today and pause to give credit to God for everything you have an are able to do.

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for curbing my pride by reminding me that ALL I have and ALL I am able to do are gifts and abilities which you have given to me.  Help me to use all of them to your glory! Amen.

Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 4 of the Lord’s Prayer Series “Give Us Today Our Daily Bread”  (LISTEN HERE).

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Good morning reader!

After family vacations, college visitations, and graduation celebrations, I think the rest of July should provide time to fill your morning inbox with a devotional thought for your day.

The Lord’s Prayer is probably one of the most, if not the most, familiar prayer in the Christian faith.  Since Jesus gave it as he taught during the Sermon on the Mount, it has offered both verbiage and content for Christ-followers to use in prayer.  Often the words of the prayer are spoken by memory.  Perhaps on occasion one steps away from the exact words and prays the thoughts which Jesus captured in the seven petitions (or “little prayers”) he gave.

The series we have been working through in worship these weeks has covered the first three petitions.  This week our devotions reflect on the fourth petition.

Give us this day our daily bread.

What does this mean?

God surely gives daily bread without our asking, even to all the wicked, but we pray in this petition that he would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

What then is meant by daily bread?

Daily bread includes everything that we need for our bodily welfare, such as food and drink, clothing and shoes, house and home, fields and flocks, money and goods, a godly family, good workers, good government, honest leaders, good citizens good weather, peace and order, health, a good name, loyal friends and good neighbors.

Of all the petitions, this is the ask of the Lord that captures almost entirely our earthly needs.  Martin Luther as he expounded on these words reflects that thought.  “Daily bread includes everything that we need for our bodily welfare…”

Praying for DAILY bread is hard.

I want to pray for enough “bread” not just for today, but tomorrow, and have enough on hand for a week, month, or even a year.  I don’t want an empty cupboard when I go to bed.  I don’t want my family to have to worry about where their sustenance will come from.  Some day I’d like to retire and want to have enough “bread” to not have to work as much or as hard anymore.

I struggle to pray for DAILY bread because I want MONTHLY bread or ANNUAL bread or 10 YEARS of bread.

But Jesus teaches me to pray for DAILY bread and not worry about a longer period of time.

Matthew 6:25-27 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Praying for daily bread is a prayer of trust.  Praying for daily bread is a prayer asking for confident faith that my Father will care for me physically as his child…every day.

Apply: How would you feel if your pantry was empty every night and you had to wait until the morning to get more food for the day?
Prayer: Father in heaven, thank you for providing for me each and every day.  Lead me to always pray and live with confidence that you will provide for my needs. AMEN.

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Today’s devotion builds on the thoughts from Sunday’s Sermon – Week 2 of the Lord’s Prayer Series  (LISTEN HERE).

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Martin Luther wrote in explaining the first petition:

How is God’s name kept holy? God’s name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven! But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Word profanes the name of God among us. Protect us from this, heavenly Father!

Luther understood the importance of not just the truth of God in a book on a shelf, but the truth of God taught in our homes, churches, and schools…but also put into practice.  He was simply echoing Jesus words in Matthew 7:

^{Matthew 7:24} “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

In our WELS fellowship, this phrase, “truth and purity” is one that is used often and also is what many identify as a hallmark of our Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, “We teach the word of God in its truth and purity.”

Being part of an association of churches that values the Word of God to such a degree that it would make that the most important aspect of our walking together, is to be commended.  As sinful men and women, we must always be active in searching the Scripture to understand more fully and more clearly the truths of the Lord and his Word.

Yet, connected to teaching the Word of God in its truth and purity is the encouragement “as children of God, also lead holy lives according to it.”

Learning the truth of God’s Word is one thing…putting it into practice is the challenge.

Knowing truth and living truth are an important pair, but each has its own challenge.

It’s hard to stand for biblical truth on marriage when a culture dismisses it as old fashioned.

It’s hard to stand for life beginning at conception when a culture deems that “as the Christian church’s last gasp to be relevant in society.”

It’s hard to stand strong that the Lord is unique among all other gods when the culture deems all gods the same.

It’s hard to love in all circumstances when opposing positions and views breed hatred and resentment.

It’s hard to forgive as we have been forgiven when we have experienced awful hurt at the hands of another human being.

It’s hard to make gathering with believers a priority when many other options are presented on a Sunday morning.

It’s hard to ______________ when _______________________.  How would you fill this in.

It’s hard to live the truth even though I have been taught the truth.

Which is why Luther prays, “Help us do this, dear Father in heaven,” and why we must pray the same.

The blessing?

The Spirit of God through the truth of God empowers and equips us to live the truth of the Word.

In this way, God’s name IS hallowed in us and through us.

Apply: What truth of God’s Word is the hardest for you to put into practice?

Prayer: Help us keep your name holy, dear Father in heaven! AMEN.