With that said, I want to clarify that this is for devoted times of prayer. God knows the heart and He knows from what place your prayers are coming from. If you are heading off a cliff, and it appears that the end is near, praying to God for help first is not putting Him second. Making sure that you give God devoted prayer time, locked away in your prayer "closet", putting away the distractions of the world, and giving God your full attention, will make those micro prayers you say throughout the day more meaningful. It will show God that He is worth more in your eyes than just a few short prayers a day.
"Give us this day our daily bread." Matthew 6:11 (NASB)
Now that we've put God first, given Him all glory, and sought after His kingdom and will, the time has come for us to pray, well... for us.
Jesus began this method of prayer with the words "our Father" and so it makes perfect sense that the next request is for our sustenance. As our Father, God is interested in our well being. Jesus expounds on this just a few verses later in Matthew 6:25-26 where He tells us not to worry about our food.
“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?"(NASB)
Remember, it's because of His great love that He even adopted us as children to begin with. (John 3:1) But that's not all. He's not only concerned about our physical nourishment, but our spiritual sustenance as well. Jesus says in John 6:27,
"Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”(ESV)
Jesus gives us a real life application for the above verse. When tempted by the devil over whether or not He should turn stones into bread, Jesus replied, "It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’" Matthew 4:4 (ESV)
On top of that, the Father provided only the best bread for our spiritual nourishment.
"Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.'" John 6:35 (ESV)
Just like our physical nourishment, our spiritual nourishment comes from the things that we digest. If we fill our lives with things we shouldn't, i.e. pornography, any entertainment (books, movies, or t.v.) with lust, sex, or horror, foul music...the list could go on, our spiritual life will suffer. If it's true that we are what we eat, what does that say about our spiritual life? Our spiritual nourishment comes from reading the Word. Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:1-2), so by studying and reading the Word of God we will grow in our spiritual lives and by default our prayer lives. How much we grow will depend on how much "healthy" food we eat compared to "unhealthy" food we digest.
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Philippians 4:8 (ESV)
As we see in both this and the last post, Jesus didn't just give us an example of prayer, but a call to action as well.
Repent and believe before it's too late
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