God Will Meet Our Needs
God is ready to meet our needs. Do we believe that? I hope so. Scripture is filled with His promises. In Philippians, Paul expresses his appreciation to the church for hearing God’s call to answer his prayer for provision. “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that once again you renewed your care for me. You were, in fact, concerned about me but lacked the opportunity to show it. I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me. Still, you did well by sharing with me in my hardship. Philippians 4:10-14 He then reminds them in verse 19, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” God is ready to supply our needs! Peter reminds us in 1 Peter 5:6-7, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you.” God cares about us and will take care of us. Psalm 34:8-10 sums it up, “Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him! You who are His holy ones, fear Yahweh, for those who fear Him lack nothing. Young lions lack food and go hungry, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.” In Christ, we lack nothing. The Lord is my shepherd and I will not lack for anything.
We will find in these next few verses that Jesus wants us to learn and understand this. He wants us to know that God will meet our needs, and that we need to position, or reposition our needs to the heart of God.
Vs 1- 4 He was praying in a certain place, and when He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.” He said to them, “Whenever you pray, say: Father, Your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us. And do not bring us into temptation.”
All of us have said this prayer at some time or another. We have memorized it, dissected it, preached on it, and taught it. So, what else can possibly be said about it? A lot more! Bub, before we jump into the prayer itself, I would like to point out a couple of things. First, we probably need to understand that the disciples were not asking Jesus to teach them to pray. They already knew who to pray having grown up praying many prayers and meditations they had learned throughout their lives. No, they wanted Jesus to teach them to pray just as John also taught his disciples. This leads to the second thing we need to understand. Following a rabbi as a disciple was not out of the ordinary. Many rabbi’s had followers they had hand chosen. John the Baptist had disciples that followed his teaching. And so, being a disciple was not strange or new. The difference comes in who the followers of Jesus were. They were not scholars, hand chosen for their understanding of the Torah. They were ordinary guys – fishermen, zealots, tax collectors… chosen by Jesus, not for their understanding, but for their willingness to learn and follow. The third thing we need to understand is, each rabbi taught their followers a prayer that was just for their disciples. These prayers were usually short meditations that their disciples could add to their daily prayers. Jesus’ disciples wanted to have their own prayer as well, just like John the Baptist’s disciples. And so, Jesus teaches them this Our Father prayer. An Our Father prayer would be patterned after the Jewish prayers known as the Amidah, or the Standing Prayers. These prayers would reflect what is important to the author of the prayer. So, fourth, if we really want to know what is important to Jesus, all we have to do is study the Lord’s prayer.
Now that we understand these four things, let’s look at the prayer. Luke gives us a shortened version of the Lord’s prayer. You can find the full version in Matthew 6:9-13. Each phrase of this prayer reflects the heart of our Savior. What is the first thing on Jesus’ heart? Father, your name be honored as holy. Jesus acknowledges God Name – YAWH – is holy and to be honored. The Greek word for name is onoma, which means a name of authority that reveals the very character of the one named. God’s name reveals His character. YAWH means I Am and there is nothing else you need. He is holy. He is to be honored. He is all we need. Second: Your kingdom come. Jesus’ desire is that God’s kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven. He taught about the kingdom of God more than anything else and He wanted that to be the next focus of their prayer. He is telling them to pray daily for God’s kingdom to come here on earth as it is in heaven. The Greek word for kingdom is basileia, which means sovereignty or authority and royal power. Jesus wants us to pray for God’s sovereignty to be recognized in the lives of His followers (us). He wants us to pray that His authority and power would come into this world to change the lives and hearts of people. Third: Give us each day our daily bread. The third thing on the heart of Jesus is taking care of our every day needs. God wants to and will meet our needs. He knows stressing about our every day needs can take our minds off God. He doesn’t want us to worry about about putting food on the table or a roof over our heads. He wants us to have faith that God will provide for our needs. Fourth: And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone in debt to us. This is the tough one. He wants us to pray for God to forgive our sins as we forgive others. This part of the prayer reminds us to look for any lack of forgiveness we might have in our hearts. Are we holding a grudge? Stop praying and deal with it immediately. Are we bitter towards someone? Put down our offering and go and make things right. We cannot have unforgiveness in our hearts and pray this portion of Jesus’ prayer. Moreover, Jesus wants us to pray this daily. It is a daily check on our lives. Do we have anything in our heart that will put up a barrier between us and God? If so, take care of it as God brings it to our minds. Fifth: And do not bring us into temptation. Jesus wants us to be protected from the evil one’s temptations in our lives. There are going to be things that tempt us on a daily basis and those things will be used by Satan to take our focus off Christ. It’s easy to think of the “big” temptations like drinking, eating too much, drugs, lying, stealing, sex… but, it is the “lesser” temptations that are more likely to get us – those little white lies, procrastination, ignoring the still small voice of God when He tells us to do something, “harmless” gossip with our friends etc. As we pray this, we are asking God to remind us of those things we need to avoid. In C. S. Lewis’ wonderful novel The Screwtape Letters, he writes; Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts… These are the temptations that will more than likely get most believers in trouble. So, as we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we are praying the heart of God and allowing Him to refocus our minds and hearts back to the things of His Kingdom.
Vs 5-13 He also said to them: “Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I don’t have anything to offer him.’ Then he will answer from inside and say, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend’s persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs. “So I say to you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
In Biblical times, for someone to come to a home at night and knock on the door would mean disturbing the entire household. It would be a real imposition. In other words, you would really have to be in dire need to trouble them. This guy was in a bind. Visitors had come in the night to his home and he didn’t have enough bread to be a good host. So, he goes to his friend’s and neighbor’s house to get his needs met. At first, his friend says “go away”. His family is asleep and opening the door would mean waking everyone up. But the man is persistent. He really needs the bread. Finally, the friend gives in, opens the door and gives him what he needs. When I lived in Belgium, many of the houses in my little town literally rolled up at night – they had these metal rolling doors that you see on businesses in large cities that covered their doors and windows. To knock on someone’s door when they were rolled up in their house would really bother them. Well, one evening, I had to wake up my neighbors to let them know their cows had gotten out of the pasture and were blocking my driveway and doorway. There was no getting around this cow, so I had to bother them. Because of my persistence, my neighbor finally came to the door – albeit a bit grumpy! But, I was in real need – to get the cow out of my driveway – and so I banged on that door until I got a response. This is what Jesus is saying here. Are you in need? Be persistent. Persistence doesn’t change the heart of God, He is always ready to meet our needs. No, persistence changes us. It helps to shape our heart to the heart of God. It helps to reorient our perceived needs to our real needs. As we persist we are able to ask ourselves, “do I really need this?” “Is this something God wants for me?” If it is a real need – the loaves of bread or the cow out of my driveway, then I will continue to ask, search, seek and knock, knowing God will give me exactly what I need.
Jesus tells us here – just like father’s give their children good gift, so your Father in heaven will give even better gifts. God wants us to ask. He says, ‘keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” He is inviting us to be persistent. He wants us to keep knocking until the door is opened. He wants us to keep searching until we find it. His desire is to give us good gifts, to supply our needs, to walk with us, lead us, guide us and open the doors for us.
As we pray each day we will discover more and more God’s will for us. In this way, we can begin to understand better what our needs are as opposed to what our wants are. We can then begin to pray more and more specifically instead of using the haphazard approach. By haphazard I mean: “God, provide for my needs, heal the sick, help the little children, bring peace to the world, if it be Your will..”. Now, all those are fine thoughts, but, they are obviously not very focused. By adding “if it be Your will” at the end it’s as if we don’t trust God to answer our more specific prayers. If it be Your will can easily be mean “just in case it isn’t the will of God then I have an out”. No. This is not how Jesus taught us to pray. This is not how David prayed throughout the Psalms. This is not how the prophets or Paul prayed. They were persistently specific. If we pray specifically, and persistently, God will begin to redirect our will to His will. We won’t need an out. We know what the will of God is.
When I moved to London, one of the things I needed was housing, as my temporary housing was coming to an end quickly. I had been praying for some time and realized I had some very specific needs – a place in a particular neighborhood with space for an office, mostly furnished, with a good space for visitors, Bible studies, and meetings. I had started attending a weekly prayer group, so I brought the request to them. One pastor questioned the specificity of my request. I told him I believed God had showed me what I needed for my ministry and believed He would provide it for me. So we prayed. A few days later, the perfect flat came up for rent. It met all the criteria I had asked for, plus some I didn’t even know I needed! I shared the good news with the prayer group the next week. After the prayer time, that same pastor came up to me. He said to me, “I have always prayed for something with the caveat, ‘if it be Your will,’ but now I realize this was my way of giving God an out. I’m going to begin to pray differently and more specifically for the needs He lays on my heart.”
We need to pray as Jesus has led us to pray. We need to pray with persistence, constantly moving our will and our needs to line up with God’s direction and leadership. We need to pray more specifically, without fear and in faith. God wants to work in us and through us. He wants to us to seek, ask, search and knock. He wants to meet our every need.
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