Key Bible Passage(s):
Deuteronomy 8; II Corinthians 8-9
Tier 1:
Jesus wants our discipleship to focus on a day be day expereince of God. This is clear throughout the Sermon on the Mount (e.g. Matt.6:33-34). That focus finds expression as Jesus reaches back into the Old Testament to the story of the Exodus. Learning from the ancient Church’s experience of the Manna (Ex.16), Jesus teaches us the prayerful art of trusting our Father without worrying about the future.
Tier 2:
It is only when we have learned to pray the first half of the Lord’s Prayer that we can be trusted to pray for God’s provision. Having died to self, our attitude to our daily necessities is now quite different, and our vision of life and the resources we need for that life is now focussed on a very different end. We pray to be sustained that we may glorify God and live in a way that is faithful to Him and to His priorities for my life in this age.
Tier 3:
How does God answer this prayer? And waht implications does understanding the Bible’s teaching on this have for my relationship with brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world. I am not the only disciple praying this. How does God answering this prayer in my experience interconnect with how He answers it in the expereince of others Christians?
“The joy which answers to prayer give, cannot be described; and the impetus which they afford to the spiritual life is exceedingly great. The experience of this happiness I desire for all my Christian readers. If you believe indeed in the Lord Jesus for the salvation of your soul, if you walk uprightly and do not regard iniquity in your heart, if you continue to wait patiently, and believingly upon God; then answers will surely be given to your prayers”
Christians are God's delivery people, through whom he does his giving to a needy world. We are conduits of God's grace to others. Our eternal investment portfolio should be full of the most strategic kingdom-building projects to which we can disburse God's funds.
Randy Alcorn
Group Discussion:
How can we maintain a sense of dependence on God for our daily necessities in a society where we tend not to worry about where tomorrow’s food is coming from? Should we try to? How would it affect us?
Read Prov.6:6-8, Matt.6:25-34 & James 4:13-17. What is the difference between worrying about tomorrow and planning for it responsibly?
Jesus incorporates Prov.30:7-9 into the Lord’s Prayer. How can we gauge when we have ‘too much’ or when we have become ‘poor’? How can we pursue contentment (Phil.4:11)?
How do you make sense of the poverty of the global Church in the light of the Lord’s Prayer (see also Matt.6:25-34)? Why do Christians go hungry in much of the world?
and later in the session:
How does this line of the Lord’s Prayer make us more generous with what God has given you? How can you overcome a reluctance to be generous..?
Read II Thess.3:10. How does this affect your sense of Christian compassion? Should we simply give to anyone in need, or is the situation more complex than that?
Is Paul overstating his case in I Tim.6:9-10? How can we know when we have crossed the line from legitimately desiring what we need, to ‘wanting to get rich’?
Homework:
Over this half-term we have been working to memorise Matthew 7:7-12. You will have to keep refreshing Matt.5:1-16, and Matt.6:5-15 whilst you do this.
(we’ll memorise the whole of the Sermon on the Mount over the next 3 years)
To Be A Christian: Q&A 188-192
Prepare for praying together through ‘Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors…’
You may also want to:
visit Open Doors and begin to get a sense of the experience of the global Church
browse some resources on George Muller:
