Teach Me to Pray Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread day 3

Luther’s Insights for Prayer From his Small Catechism

Give us this day our daily bread.

What does this mean?”

God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.


What is meant by daily bread?

Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors and the like.

Two keys words help us grasp the full impact of this prayer, “Everything and “Everyone.”

Philippians 4:19 makes the ‘everything’ clear. And with all his abundant wealth through Christ Jesus, my God will supply all your needs. Everything means just that, everything for body and life supplied by a gracious loving God. No room for “self-made people” here!  Everything comes as a gracious gift from His loving hands.

Matthew 5:45b makes “Everyone” clear. For He makes His sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil.

God’s gracious giving extends to everyone, even to those who don’t recognize Him as the giver of all.  Pray earnestly, thanking God for His incredible giving, and that all by His grace may come to recognize Him as the sole source He is!