June 1
THE LORD’S PRAYER PART 6
( Matthew 6:9-13 )
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD
According to J. Preston Eby:
-"What meaning do you attach to the word "daily"? For what is it that you ask, exactly, when you pray, "Give
us this day our daily bread?" What is "daily bread"? Around the Greek word translated "daily" ("EPIOUSION") much controversy
has circled. The word is a coined word. It is not found elsewhere in the New Testament. It is not found in the Greek translation
of the Old Testament. It is not found in Greek literature. The early Church Father, Origen, less than two hundred years after
our Lord spoke, reported that he could not find the word either in the works of classical writers or in the common speech
of the uneducated. It is not likely that in this prayer, intended by our Lord to be a model for His disciples, He would introduce
an unknown word manufactured by Him for the occasion. Jesus never did that. It looks as though our Lord had indeed spoken
in Aramaic, the common language of Galilee, and that when the apostles began to write their Gospels in Greek they coined this
word to represent what Jesus said — sort of a transliteration, and yet not that. The phrase "daily bread" comes to us
from the Latin; it was adopted by Tyndale and Luther, and so passed into the King James Version. Scholars suggest various
shades of meaning for the word, and each has his reasons. The four primary ones are: (1) daily bread (2) necessary bread (3)
dependable bread (4) bread for the morrow." ( To Be The Lord’s Prayer, J. Preston Eby )
-Whatever meaning is most correct, we can be sure that this bread comes from our Father, and it is essential
that we have it on a daily basis to be spiritually nourished. What is this bread? Who is this bread? Let us first look to
the Old Testament and then to the New Testament.
-Exodus 16:15,21 states, … And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna
( a whatness, what is it? ): for they did not know what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord
has given you to eat … And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun became
hot, it melted … John 6:31-35 states, … Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them
bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven;
but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He Which comes down from heaven, and gives life
unto the world. Then said they unto Him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE:
he that comes to Me shall never hunger; and he that believes on Me shall never thirst …
-The daily bread that we seek IS A PERSON! It is He Which comes down from heaven. The daily bread that we seek
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is our bread, our spiritual sustenance, our life, our everything, and our all in all. O Heavenly
Father … Give us this day of Who YOU ARE. You are bread and water unto our souls. Give us this day …
-OUR DAILY BREAD!-