Give Us Today What We Need
Do you pray daily? Or do you save it for special occasions? Jesus taught us to ask for daily bread. He told us to ask daily for anything we need, nothing more, nothing less. God is our heavenly father who wants to take care of our needs and sustain us to victorious living. (But realize that Jesus advised us to ask for our needs not wants.)
Give us today the food we need. (Matthew 6:11, NLT)
Mary DeMuth wants us to note two specific words – us and today – on this petition: “We ask for this kind of grace for us, not just for me, which makes this prayer even more important for those of us who limp along after someone else’s insult. All of us need that grace. All of us need forgiveness. Them and us. And we need it today, daily. Yesterday is past, and the worries of the future are futile musings. Today is all we have, and God promises that He will meet us right now.”
We indeed need God’s grace daily. That is the only way we can live openheartedly. Mary reminds us of this in her new book The Wall Around Your Heart :”By ourselves we cannot love, forgive, overlook, and grant grace.” For that we need God’s grace. But we can have as much grace as needed. We just need to ask God to give us today what we need. And not just for ourselves but also for other people in our lives. They, too, need empowering grace to love and forgive.
When we learn to turn to God for all of our needs, we can joyfully live in the present. Then we are not swallowing in the past or being fearful of the future. When we learn to pray for our every need, we can be strengthened to go through hardships without building walls around our hearts.
Openhearted living is possible by God’s grace. We just need to ask for it. Daily. Hourly. As often as needed.
Gracious God,
We truly need you daily.
Give us today what we need.
Bless each of us according to our specific needs.
Take care of us personally.
Heal what needs to be healed.
Strengthen what needs to be strengthened.
Empower what needs to be empowered.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
Q4U: Do you pray for your daily needs?
Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you turn to God with all your needs!
Photo courtesy of Sarah Raines, design by Mari-Anna Stålnacke. Linking up today with Sharing His Beauty, Hear it on Sunday, use it on Monday, Playdates with God, and counting blessings with Ann Voskamp: #1056 God wants to hear from us daily. #1057 God wants to take care of us.
I am part of Mary DeMuth’s launch team for her new bookand I have to say that this book absolutely rocks. It’s not only well written but it is full of uplifting stories that just I can’t capture here on the blog. But make sure to visit the other blogs that are linked up here. They are also blogging through the book. Maybe together we can give a more vivid and accurate picture of the book. You can buy your copy Here or at a bookstore near you.
8 thoughts on “Give Us Today What We Need”
“Then we are not swallowing in the past or being fearful of the future. When we learn to pray for our every need, we can be strengthened to go through hardships without building walls around our hearts.”
How many ways can one hear “forget about the past, don’t worry about the future” and know it’s true … but somehow your wording, “swallowing in the past” really impacted me. Not the past as in good memories, but the past as in hard times, mistakes, etc. – continuing to feed one’s heart on those can certainly weigh down the spirit. Instead, as you said, we need to rely on prayer to feed our spirit with hope to build strength. Thank you for this post – you’ve given me a lot to meditate on.
How delightful to hear that sentence blessed you. Thank you kindly. I appreciate you taking time to comment. This encourages me to continue to write these posts. May God bless you as you meditate on Him!
Live in the present, today, now. I ALWAYS appreciate those reminders. Thanks, Mari-Anna, for so often bringing encouraging words to me that I need to hear. This is another one.
Thanks, Lisa, for kindness. I appreciate you. May God bless you as you live in the present!
This is a much-needed reminder for me, Mari-Anna. I am in a situation where I want a particular “desire” but you’ve reminded me here that it’s not a need. So this really puts things in perspective. Thanks again for sharing these nuggets of wisdom from Mary’s book!
Thank you, Beth, for sharing your thoughts. It’s not always fun to see things from a different perspective. But, sure, so necessary. Discernment requires much prayer. Because some of those desires are also God-given. May God guide you clearly and bless you dearly!
It can be so easy to fall into the “what I want” trap instead of focusing on what we truly need today. Thank you for the reminder that WE need God’s grace today and every day.
Yes, I hear you, Nancy. That’s why we need Jesus so much. Thanks for commenting and may God pour out grace upon grace on you!