Give us this day (today) our daily bread
Daily bread is everything we need to support this body and life.
As I write this devotion, there are people who are wondering: where is their daily bread, even where is their God? Floods have left all that they need to support this body and life piled up in muddy, mouldy heaps outside their homes. Homes are washed away or uninhabitable, businesses and livelihoods in ruins. Lives were taken. This is happening all along the east coast of Australia. Several years ago, we watched in horror as fire ripped through our land. Droughts lasting years have brought heartbreak to people on the land as they watched their crops fail and animals perish.
Natural disasters across Australia and throughout our world rob people of their daily bread. Wars have torn and are tearing families and communities apart, creating refugees as people flee to safety. People cry out for their daily bread. Even the faithful are asking “Where is God?”, “Why is he allowing this to happen?” Even the selfish “why me?” escapes from the believer’s lips. Oh, and did I mention the COVID pandemic which has brought fear, isolation, loss of business, jobs, income, and death across the world, as governments try to stem the spread of this mutating virus.
When we pray, give us this day our daily bread, we are asking not just for ourselves and what we have honestly worked for. God wants us to pray for our neighbour and share with them when they are in need. Across the world teams of caring people are doing their best to provide daily bread for those in need. At home, in times of crisis, we find many people moved to provide everything needed to support this body and life for their suffering neighbours. You have all seen this in action via media, and I know many of you are actively involved. God has no hands but our hands and no feet but ours. His hands and feet were nailed to a cross, his death and resurrection have bought salvation for all those who believe in him. We have been saved to serve. We are women loved by God, sharing his love with others. This must fill us with his joy, his hope, and his peace.
You may like to spend time in discussion, and thankful prayer, for ways in which you and your fellowship are involved in providing daily bread for your neighbours in need, both in your community and overseas.
Altogether Everybody 301 Prayer of Peace by Leigh Newton
May the Father of love stir you deep in your heart.
May the Son bring his tears to your crying.
May the Spirit of love rise anew ev’ry day,
and compassion flare up in your soul.
May you live day by day and for those whom you meet.
May you care, though your heart will be broken.
May your voice be as one with the cry of the poor,
and the hungry be filled with your food.
May your love in your deeds work for peace on this earth,
for our God dwells within those who suffer.
May you ache for the time war will pass from your life,
and your freedom frustrate Caesar’s pow’r.
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