Matthew 6:11
"Give us this day our daily bread." [KJV]
The provision of manna in the wilderness was a test of trust. The children of Israel were not supposed to stock up or store up in fear or worry of what they'd eat the following day. They were supposed to trust that the same God who provided today will provide again tomorrow without fail.
This is the power of a testimony, as the scriptures say, "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony" (Rev 12:11). A testimony is a report of God's faithfulness, it reminds you that if God did it, He can do it again.
Jesus said, "You do not need to worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have it's own troubles to worry about" (Matt 6:34). Not worrying does not mean, not planning and planning does not mean worrying. It is possible to plan without worrying. And those who trust in the LORD must teach themselves how to plan without worrying.
It was possible for the children of Israel to plan for instance to have a party and be sure that there will be enough manna to feed all the attendees. But trying to amass as much manna as possible for the party would be tantamount to worrying and the manna would spoil and stink.
To enjoy God's daily provision means that you trust His wisdom in that the day you need more, He will provide more to cover up. On the seventh day, the children of Israel were not allowed to pick manna. Therefore, on the sixth day, God would provide twice as much to cater for the sixth and the seventh day (Ex 16:22). When the children of Israel entered Canaan, they were supposed to farm in their farms for six years, then on the seventh year, they'd leave their lands free and would eat what they had harvested on the sixth year.
Now, if you do your math well, you will discover that that meant that the sixth year had to yield enough harvest for three years. And that is exactly what God did! In the sixth year, the land would produce enough harvest to last them three years. Why three years? So that they can eat on the sixth year and on the seventh year which they were not supposed to till the land and on the eighth year as they wait for the harvest of the eighth year to manifest! (Lev 25:21)
One thing that God will continually teach you as you walk with Him is trusting in His ability to take care of you and cater for all your needs.
Jesus was never worried about provision. When He was in the wilderness being tempted by the devil, He did not need to turn stones into bread to feed Himself even if He had the power to do so. This is the mistake many will do, when faced faced with a crisis, many will turn what they are supposed to build with into what they will eat. Many people will eat what they are supposed to plant, just because the rains delayed a little bit. Jesus said, "A son will never ask the father for bread and be given a stone" (Matt 7:9). But many people will many times ask God for stones to build and when the stones arrive, they change them into bread.
So, many people have prayed that God may give them capital for business only for the resources to arrive and instead they use what came to take care of current bills and expenditure! That is changing stones into bread. I think one thing that many believers need to get right, is being sure of what they asked for. People have promised God all sorts of enticing promises in a bid to get a breakthrough, but when the breakthrough comes, instead of building upon their promises with it, they turn it into food and throw a party with it, and the cycle repeats itself.
Many times you will hear them saying that what came was not enough to build with and eat, so they had to decide whether to eat or to build ... and they decided to eat. Jesus told the devil that man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4). He was telling the devil that, if God gave me something and I decide to build with it instead of eating it, I will not die from starvation, because I do not live because I eat, I live because there is a command for me to live.
My bills are not paid because I have money, my bills get paid because there is a command out of the mouth of God towards my comfort. When Elijah woke up one morning and the brook was dry, God had already prepared a widow in Zarephath to take care of him for the next years. When Jesus was with the 5,000, and the 4,000 people in the wilderness, there was provision enough to have all of them satisfied and full. Someone recently said, that, he has discovered that the more ridiculous and practically impossible his prayer to God looks, the more speedily he has found it to be answered.
He was talking of how he was praying to get a certain particular kind of lady to marry. And because he had made up his mind that he did not want to get married, yet God was insisting that he should get married, he would make the requirements of the woman he'd commit to something that is next to impossible to get in one woman. But to his surprise, he is getting married soon to a lady that has ticked all the boxes he had set!
My mentor says that God is fond of his kids who are able to start fights and then run behind Him for protection. He would rather have those ones than the ones who always want to play safe. People who pray small prayers just to be safe, end up showing God how small they think of Him; small gods answer small prayer requests, a big God will answer a big prayer request.
A certain emperor was feared by all his subjects, they'd not approach him unless summoned. One day after a battle, as the emperor was celebrating his victory, of a certain Island he had conquered, one of his young soldiers approached him without getting invited, Infront of all the guests and said, "Sire! I want you to give me the Island we've just conquered!" There was silence in the room, some expected him to be executed immediately, others wondered whether the emperor would grant the ridiculous, practically impossible request. But then, the emperor asked for the deed to the Island and signed it over to the soldier! When asked why he did so, he said, he was moved by the audacity of the soldier.
Praying for only what you think or you believe you deserve is not a show of faith, but in reality a show of how much you do not trust God's grace and His ability to do exceeding above what you can think or imagine.
I have met people who think my ministry is very big based on all they see me doing and achieving. But it is more about how big my God is than it is about how big the ministry is! It is all about trusting God to do more than we deserve. It is all about believing that we cannot die, unless God has commanded it and building with the stones we have without turning them into bread for self preservation's sake!
Jesus said, "Those who seek to keep their life will lose it, while those who lose their lives will gain it" (John 12:25)! The more you try to cushion yourself, the more you'll hit the pricks. Saul who's also called Paul tried to cushion himself and others from what he thought was a blasphemous teaching, he found himself kicking against the goads. The more king Saul, the first king of Israel tried to secure his kingdom from David, the more he lost it. In the Kingdom of God, the more you hold back, the more you lose, the more you share out, the more you gain (Prov 11:24). Jesus put it this way
, "Give and it shall come back to you, a good measure, pressed together and running over, MEN SHALL PLACE ON YOUR BOSSOM" (Luke 6:38). Trusting in God's provision is becoming a provider to the best of your ability, because you trust in the greatest provider of all.
May God bless you and keep you, may God lift you higher than I am. Shalom and keep the faith.
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