But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Now we come onto the round of "Give us today our daily bread".
Praying this phrase with that sentence in mind, reminds me right at the beginning of this round of prayer that we pray for our daily bread (which I take to stand for the necessities of life) in the context of praying and indeed living towards God's will, in the context of a life being tuned to God's music and shaped by God's agenda. "All these things" are what it is legitimate for us to have in the pursuit of God's kingdom. It is not carte blanche for getting whatever items on the western consumerist shopping list handed to us by the advertisers. In that sense God does NOT want us rich: God wants us faithful with enough to live, to serve, to be thankful and joyful and to be generous. It is hard to justify lifestyles that would cost 3 or more planet earths were everyone to aspire to them as being God's will and covered by this prayer.
So I tend to reflect on what we most need to continue our ministries [including the ministry of almsgiving] and think of those before God as I pray the words. I try to be alert to the possibility that my imagination for how those things might be provided may be limited and that God may have ways to provide that as yet I am not aware of. So while I may pray for work to provide an income, it may be that for the time being, God provides by other means. On the other hand I don't, either, have the right to presume that, because God has provided one particular way in the past, I have the right to expect it will ever be that way.
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Crosswalk.com - Matthew 6:33: On Del.icio.us: Christian, prayer, paternoster, prayerbeads, Anglican, Praying_the_Pattern
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