DN Receiving God's Provisions 3/24/2007
- From: Peter G. Chase <pchase@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2007 00:02:19 -0400
DRAWING NEAR
March 24
Receiving God's Provisions
"Give us this day our daily bread" (Matt. 6:11).
In America, praying for our daily bread hardly seems necessary. Most
people need to pray for self-control to avoid overeating! But Matthew
6:11 isn't talking about food only. It is a statement of dependency
on God and an acknowledgment that He alone provides all of life's
basic necessities.
Sad to say, however, many people today have reduced prayer to a means
of self-fulfillment. Recently a woman sent me a booklet and wrote, "I
don't think you understand the true resource we have in prayer. You
should read this booklet." The booklet repeatedly emphasized our
right as Christians to demand things of God. But that misses the
point of prayer altogether, which is to glorify God (John 14:13). We
are to give God the privilege of revealing His glory by meeting our
needs in whatever way He chooses. If we demand things of Him, we are
likely to become frustrated or to question Him when we don't get what
we want. That's a serious sin!
David G. Myers, in his book The Human Puzzle (N.Y.: Harper and Row,
1978) said, "Some petitionary prayers seem not only to lack faith in
the inherent goodness of God but also to elevate humankind to a
position of control over God. God, the Scriptures remind us, is
omniscient and omnipotent, the sovereign ruler of the universe. For
Christians to pray as if God were a puppet whose strings they yank
with their prayers seems not only potentially superstitious but
blasphemous as well.
"When prayer is sold as a device for eliciting health, success, and
other favors from a celestial vending machine, we may wonder what is
really being merchandised. Is this faith or is it faith's
counterfeit, a glib caricature of true Christianity?"
Guard your prayers! Always be aware of the enormous privilege you
have to approach the infinite God and receive His gracious
provisions. Yet always do so with His glory as your highest goal.
Suggestions for Prayer:
Read Proverbs 30:8-9. What attitude toward God do those verses
convey? Is that your attitude in prayer?
For Further Study:
Read Matthew 6:19-34 and James 4:3. How might you respond to someone
who says Christians have the right to demand favors from God?
Drawing Near, Copyright c 1993 John F. MacArthur, Jr.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
http://www.gty.org
~~~
John 14:13 (NKJV)
13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son.
Proverbs 30:8-9
8 Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor
riches; Feed me with the food allotted to me;
9 Lest I be full and deny You, And say, "Who is the LORD?" Or lest I
be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God.
Matthew 6:19-34
19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and
rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
20 "but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good,
your whole body will be full of light.
23 "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of
darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how
great is that darkness!
24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one
and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise
the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you
will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will
put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
26 "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor
gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not
of more value than they?
27 "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the
field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;
29 "and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not
arrayed like one of these.
30 "Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is,
and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe
you, O you of little faith?
31 "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What
shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32 "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly
Father knows that you need all these things.
33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all
these things shall be added to you.
34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
James 4:3
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may
spend it on your pleasures.
These devotions are posted with permission from John MacArthur's
first (1993) devotional work, _Drawing Near_, and they are also sent
out daily for free to several folks via e-mail.
In addition, John's second (1997) devotional, _Strength for Today_,
is also available free via e-mail only. _Strength for Today_ follows
the same format as what you have seen here from _Drawing Near_, but
with different monthly themes.
If you would like to receive daily devotions via e-mail from either
of these series, just let me know (via e-mail), and I will gladly add
you to the list(s) of your choice.
You can hear John MacArthur daily via the Internet by visiting:
http://www2.oneplace.com/Ministries/Grace_to_You/
and
http://www.gty.org.uk/
You may email John MacArthur in care of Grace to You at:
letters@xxxxxxx
NOTE for those of you reading via newsgroups: If you wish to reach
me, please contact me via e-mail for quickest results.
In Christ,
Peter
Peter G. Chase :: Columbus, Ohio, USA
pchase1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
STOP! Who do you think Jesus is?
http://www.gty.org/Gospel
http://www.gty.org/
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To forgive is to set a prisoner free, and to discover that the prisoner was you. -Alistair Begg
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