Matthew 6:11 Give us today our daily bread.

So it is okay to ask the Lord for stuff? Yes. He is Jehovah-jireh, your Lord provider. He knows that there are daily needs to sustain life. For each of us the level of need is different depending on our circumstances. In the Western world much of what we consider needs are absolute luxuries for much of the rest of the world.

So far as having what to eat, wear, or drink is concerned, Jesus assured his disciples in Matthew 6:32, that our heavenly Father knows we need these things.  However, Jesus also told them “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you as well.” (Mathew 6:33). There you have it again – kingdom business first. This is letting us know that, as believers, we ought not to be preoccupied with the race to the top as the world sees it, but rather to let God’s priorities be ours as well.

In this age of refugees and displaced persons, millions have nothing.  Each of us must now not just pray for our own needs, but for theirs as well. It is “kingdom business” to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and rescue the perishing. “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice, and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” (Isaiah 58: 6 – 7).