"give us bread sufficient for us, now."1
This verse is usually translated as, "Give us today our daily bread." This word for daily and sufficient, is believed to be from epí, "fitting" and ousía, "being, substance." Others suggest it is more probably from epi "on the basis of" and a derivative of eimi, "to be, exist." This word eimi is the word Jesus used when He said, "I Am." So we can say it is earthly bread we pray for but more importantly we need this Bread that is "I Am," bread that exists eternal life. We are "to be" or exist on heavenly Bread, now, today, daily. We must eat Bread for life and we must be persistent in getting this bread.
"I Am (to be, exist) the living bread from heaven, having come down, if anyone will eat of this bread, he will live to the age and the bread also that I will give, the flesh of me, is for the life of the world."2
Jesus is the Bread of life. God promises to give us earthly bread, we are not to be anxious about such but to only trust that he will. This heavenly bread is most important, it gives eternal life and life of the world. Paul writes that the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us, and gives life to our mortal bodies.3 So we see the life from this Bread is given in two ways; a new creation life and a life of the world, or life to our mortal bodies. Jesus the Word came in fullness of Grace and Truth, he wants to give us such a fullness. It begins, "for by Grace are you saved through faith..."
"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus."4
Grace is like the old testament word checed or loving kindness. Grace is demonstrated by God's kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. A Church that forgets loving kindness and Grace, is one that forgets Christ. They sever themselves from Christ, fall from Grace, which Paul writes is by a works justification. Such a Church needs to go back to the basics; And now abides faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these is love. Agape love is sacrificial and God sacrificed to give us Grace. One could spend a lifetime just coming to an understanding of these things.
"Vanity and lies remove far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me bread my portion."5
Give me Bread, my portion above all other things. This is rising above the earthly, laboring into faith. All who wrote the gospels write about the Son of man, the One called Jesus, the Word that became flesh, whose flesh is Bread from heaven, and which bread gives life to the world. Jesus said he who eats this Bread and drinks this blood will have eternal life. Eternal life is being born of Spirit and water, flesh and blood, bread and living water, Word and Spirit, it is from above. And the Word and Spirit gives worldly life or life to our mortal bodies, thus this Word is our eternal life and daily bread.
Believing is the work of God, it is by faith, a free gift lest we boast about it, but we must labor, not physical labor nor actions but the labor into belief. Faith is pistis, its root word is peíthō, "to persuade." When we say someone is faithful we mean they are trust worthy and we have become persuaded that they can be trusted, thus we say they are faithful. When we have faith in Jesus we have been persuaded that he exists and that he is trust worthy, thus we are of faith, or the faithful. This is not an easy thing as the carnal mind is at enmity with God. Persistence is needed.
"When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path."4
Faith requires understanding. Some say understanding is not needed to have faith but this is not what Jesus said, the seed is snatched away by Satan because there is no understanding. Again, the root word of faith means "to persuade." This word for understanding is suniémi, "put facts together" it means to arrive at a summary or final understanding. Jesus told parables not for them to understand but so that they would not understand. You see, except for the apostles, their eyes, ears, and hearts were closed so they would not understand. The Holy Spirit would be given at Pentecost and God chose to reveal the mystery of the gospel through the Church, founded on the prophets and apostles.
"The seed sown on good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it."
Jesus said we must labor for heavenly food or faith. For the seed to take root there must be understanding. So if Faith comes through hearing the Word of God and the seed is the Word and good soil is he who hears with understanding then faith requires understanding. Faith is divine persuasion. This process for faith to occur is so important and things like fear, condemnation, etc... these things can act as a catalyst against persuasion. A purpose of the church is to establish and build up others in faith. Jesus warned that anyone who hurts his little children of faith, it would be better for a millstone to be tied around their neck and they be cast into the sea.
Faith requires persistence. After responding to the apostles asking how to pray, Jesus followed with a parable about a man who went to his neighbor knocking repeatedly on his door, Give me bread! The man would give him bread not because they were friends but because he was persistent. I was visiting an Armenian church when a Muslim man asked me, what do I do? as he pointed to a picture of Jesus on the wall. I quickly prayed, Father give me the words and these words flowed from my mouth. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."5 I pointed him to Jesus who is lifted up for the salvation of all men.
Jesus is the bread from heaven, this Bread or Word is sufficient, now, today, daily. We must be persistent in obtaining this bread; ask, seek, and knock. This is how we get bread, this is how faith is authored and perfected. Persistence is needed to rise above the earthly. Give Me Bread! Do not toil for earthly food, but for heavenly food.
Giants Fall
This verse is usually translated as, "Give us today our daily bread." This word for daily and sufficient, is believed to be from epí, "fitting" and ousía, "being, substance." Others suggest it is more probably from epi "on the basis of" and a derivative of eimi, "to be, exist." This word eimi is the word Jesus used when He said, "I Am." So we can say it is earthly bread we pray for but more importantly we need this Bread that is "I Am," bread that exists eternal life. We are "to be" or exist on heavenly Bread, now, today, daily. We must eat Bread for life and we must be persistent in getting this bread.
"I Am (to be, exist) the living bread from heaven, having come down, if anyone will eat of this bread, he will live to the age and the bread also that I will give, the flesh of me, is for the life of the world."2
Jesus is the Bread of life. God promises to give us earthly bread, we are not to be anxious about such but to only trust that he will. This heavenly bread is most important, it gives eternal life and life of the world. Paul writes that the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us, and gives life to our mortal bodies.3 So we see the life from this Bread is given in two ways; a new creation life and a life of the world, or life to our mortal bodies. Jesus the Word came in fullness of Grace and Truth, he wants to give us such a fullness. It begins, "for by Grace are you saved through faith..."
"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus."4
Grace is like the old testament word checed or loving kindness. Grace is demonstrated by God's kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. A Church that forgets loving kindness and Grace, is one that forgets Christ. They sever themselves from Christ, fall from Grace, which Paul writes is by a works justification. Such a Church needs to go back to the basics; And now abides faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these is love. Agape love is sacrificial and God sacrificed to give us Grace. One could spend a lifetime just coming to an understanding of these things.
"Vanity and lies remove far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me bread my portion."5
Give me Bread, my portion above all other things. This is rising above the earthly, laboring into faith. All who wrote the gospels write about the Son of man, the One called Jesus, the Word that became flesh, whose flesh is Bread from heaven, and which bread gives life to the world. Jesus said he who eats this Bread and drinks this blood will have eternal life. Eternal life is being born of Spirit and water, flesh and blood, bread and living water, Word and Spirit, it is from above. And the Word and Spirit gives worldly life or life to our mortal bodies, thus this Word is our eternal life and daily bread.
Believing is the work of God, it is by faith, a free gift lest we boast about it, but we must labor, not physical labor nor actions but the labor into belief. Faith is pistis, its root word is peíthō, "to persuade." When we say someone is faithful we mean they are trust worthy and we have become persuaded that they can be trusted, thus we say they are faithful. When we have faith in Jesus we have been persuaded that he exists and that he is trust worthy, thus we are of faith, or the faithful. This is not an easy thing as the carnal mind is at enmity with God. Persistence is needed.
"When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path."4
Faith requires understanding. Some say understanding is not needed to have faith but this is not what Jesus said, the seed is snatched away by Satan because there is no understanding. Again, the root word of faith means "to persuade." This word for understanding is suniémi, "put facts together" it means to arrive at a summary or final understanding. Jesus told parables not for them to understand but so that they would not understand. You see, except for the apostles, their eyes, ears, and hearts were closed so they would not understand. The Holy Spirit would be given at Pentecost and God chose to reveal the mystery of the gospel through the Church, founded on the prophets and apostles.
"The seed sown on good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it."
Jesus said we must labor for heavenly food or faith. For the seed to take root there must be understanding. So if Faith comes through hearing the Word of God and the seed is the Word and good soil is he who hears with understanding then faith requires understanding. Faith is divine persuasion. This process for faith to occur is so important and things like fear, condemnation, etc... these things can act as a catalyst against persuasion. A purpose of the church is to establish and build up others in faith. Jesus warned that anyone who hurts his little children of faith, it would be better for a millstone to be tied around their neck and they be cast into the sea.
Faith requires persistence. After responding to the apostles asking how to pray, Jesus followed with a parable about a man who went to his neighbor knocking repeatedly on his door, Give me bread! The man would give him bread not because they were friends but because he was persistent. I was visiting an Armenian church when a Muslim man asked me, what do I do? as he pointed to a picture of Jesus on the wall. I quickly prayed, Father give me the words and these words flowed from my mouth. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."5 I pointed him to Jesus who is lifted up for the salvation of all men.
Jesus is the bread from heaven, this Bread or Word is sufficient, now, today, daily. We must be persistent in obtaining this bread; ask, seek, and knock. This is how we get bread, this is how faith is authored and perfected. Persistence is needed to rise above the earthly. Give Me Bread! Do not toil for earthly food, but for heavenly food.
Giants Fall