Jesus at the Center of Prayer
Provision • Message 4
Bryan Jones
November 5, 2023
Introduction
We’ve been challenging the congregation to pray, and I’ve been joining you in prayer. The other day, God pressed on my heart, What do you want to see Me do? and I shared, a spirit of prayer, people hearing from God, and then salvation.
On Monday, we were in a staff meeting and we were sharing stories… and do you know 5 people said yes to Jesus in our church last week? Isn’t that amazing?
Today’s message is Provision…
Matthew 6:11 (NLT)
“Give us today the food we need.”
Here’s one of the first things I want you to see from today's message...
- How God provides:
God wants us to ask for help.
There is a story you might have heard of, it’s the story of a young boy who wanted a bike and so he asked his mom… she replied we don’t have the money right now pray and ask God if He will bring you a bike…
So, he sits down and writes Jesus a letter... Dear Jesus, if You give me a bike, I won’t sin for 1 year.
He walks down to the mailbox but before leaving the house sees his mother's statue of the Virgin Mary and suddenly feels guilty because he won’t be able to avoid sin for that long. Defeated, he heads back upstairs.
So, he sits down and writes Jesus another letter... Dear Jesus, if You give me a bike, I won't sin for 6 months.
He walks down to the mailbox but before leaving the house sees the statue of the Virgin Mary and feels guilty again. So, he picks her up and takes her to his room.
He stuffs the statue in his toy box and begins drafting another letter.
Dear Jesus, if You ever want to see Your mother again, give me a bike.
Now God doesn’t want us to ask like that…
Did you know that there isn’t a single verse in the Bible where God shames people who ask something from Him?
What I find interesting is there is a shift between Kingdom come and then daily bread. God wants you to pray big prayers, but He wants the small things as well. Sometimes we think that God is only interested in praying for the lost, or justice, or healing… but this is a reminder that God cares about the little things…
(I was hanging up a picture and I literally prayed God is this right spot… you know what’s fascinating, the ones I prayed had a fraction of the holes… God cares about prayer.)
Now why have us ask, why not give us stuff? I think part of it is the relationship. He wants to hear from His kids…do you know, I ask my son almost every day, how are you doing, and he says, fine… but there are moments when he shares everything… sometimes about a video game or some random thing, and I love it because it's coming from him and I get to be a part… remember what the Lord's Prayer starts with …
The Father… and what does a good father want? To be involved with their children… The big things and the little things… all of it.
Matthew 7:9-11 (NIV)
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!”
See, God wants us to ask because it involves a relationship. We want Him to be a part of our lives. He wants to provide for you. He wants to help… that’s why we start off with Him being a father.
Someone asked on post… Who do we pray to, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, or the Father?
Technically, we pray to the Father, empowered by the Spirit, by the Son…
In fact, in James 4:2 it says we don’t have because we don’t ask. We always say one of the greatest tragedies is unanswered prayers, however, I believe it's unasked prayer.
When you ask, here are a couple of important principles to be aware of:
- God provides one day at a time.
Matthew 6:11 (NIV)
“Give us today our daily bread.”
The Lord's Prayer for daily bread is a reminder that God will provide for you one day at a time…
This is the same principle He had to teach the Israelites in the desert. Remember that they escape slavery, and they don’t have anything to eat… so God says…
Exodus 16:4 (NLT)
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow My instructions.
Later in the passage, we’re told this food is called manna… do you know what manna is… it’s the Hebrew word for Chick-fil-A.
Exodus 16:17-18 (NLT)
So the people of Israel did as they were told. Some gathered a lot, some only a little. But when they measured it out, everyone had just enough. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough. Each family had just what it needed.
I love that, notice what it says it’s the right amount for that day. Those who try to take too much, it’s the right amount… those who took too little, it was the right amount for that day. Notice this, God provided perfectly for His people. He’s faithful. But again, notice it’s daily…
Notice it says in the NIV twice, daily… notice it doesn’t say anything about tomorrow. Most of our worry is about the future… God tells us not to worry about the future but to take it one day at a time… when we are worried about the future it affects our relationship with God.
Matthew 6:34 (NLT)
“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
Which is the next point I want you to see…
- God wants us to believe that He will provide daily.
Think about this, there is someone else who wants to give you daily bread. You know who it is? Satan… Satan wants to provide a meal for you, but the problem is he’s a terrible cook…
and what is his bread… doubt…
J.D. Greear says:
Satan’s go-to tactic in our lives is to break the hold the word of God has on us. So, he takes what God has declared and casts doubt on it. Satan puts question marks in your life where God has put periods.
He wants you to question if God will provide for you daily. He wants you to add a question mark instead of a period to that…
How do I know that? In Matthew 4:3, he tells Jesus to turn these rocks into bread… he’s saying, You’re starving, You need to provide for Yourself. If the devil will do that to the perfect, powerful son of God then of course he’s got a meal planned for you…
Satan wants you to doubt God so that you try to be God in your life.
Corey Russel says this about doubt:
For many, we believe God does not have the resources to help us, or we believe He is stingy and will withhold these resources from us. Many of us view God as a middle-class, working dad with seven billion children; He has a good heart, but there are so many demands placed on Him, and we are just another voice crying out for something. Others view God through the lens of their relationship with their earthly dad who was emotionally absent and unwilling to meet their needs.
This is what happening with the Israelites…
2 tests with the manna in Exodus 16…
Don’t gather more than they’re supposed to…
But gather enough for two days on the 6th so they wouldn’t have to gather on the Sabbath.
They failed miserably each time because they didn’t believe God would provide.
After the Korean War ended, South Korea was left with a large number of children who had been orphaned by war… A lot of missionaries and relief agencies came to help with so many children. Some of the missionaries mentioned that even though the children would have 3 meals a day, they were anxious about not having food the next day. And sometimes they couldn’t sleep. So, to help this problem, they would put a piece of bread in a child’s hand, not to be eaten, but just held. It was a security blanket for them. It was a security blanket for them, reminding them there would be provision…
For many of us our security blanket isn’t bread, but you know what I think we hold tightly, the thing we treat as a security blanket is… money…
Daily manna is a test… the same way tithing is a test… do you believe if you give God 10%, He can do more with 90% of your resources than you can with 100% … it’s all about provision. In fact, tithing is the only thing God says to test Him in…
When the Israelites tried to hold onto too much manna and resources, listen to what happened:
Exodus 16:20 (NIV)
However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. ...
When they held onto it, it began to rot. And if you hold onto more than you should, it rots. I’m not saying don’t save. Give back to God…
I'm going to trust You, that when I give this, You will keep providing for me…
In the church….
Some preach a prosperity gospel.
Some preach a poverty gospel.
God wants us to have provision gospel.
And God wants to provide daily… because yesterday's manna won’t work for today’s problems, amen.
Close… God wants to provide each day for us…
Physical needs.
Spiritual guidance.
One of the things I do is take my calendar and ask God to speak about that day’s meetings, God, is there anything You want to say, any word of encouragement You want to share, any truth... and I let God speak…
Sometimes God speaks and sometimes He doesn’t... but I’m telling you this has changed my faith… this has been transformative to me…
I remember one time I was going through my schedule, and I had a meeting with a couple from my previous church. God told me they have a son who needs healing… that’s all I got…
I was at lunch at the end of lunch, and I asked, is there anything I can pray for? They looked at me with a heavy look and they said, we have a son who needs healing… I told them God had placed them on my heart. I told them healing is possible… Ask… keep asking… don’t give up…
Let me encourage you never quit asking God… never quit seeking God… never quit knocking…
And let me remind you of this truth… Prayer sometimes changes our circumstances, but it always changes us.