The Phil Files

While I have said the Lord’s Prayer each day this week, I’ve not taken time to reflect on it out of the crucible of a busy, blessed, and frustrating week.

I was truly blessed and challenged by Catalyst One Day event on Monday, but was immediately thrown way behind on my weekly and worn out by the long day coming right after Sunday. Through this crazy week, which involved speaking on legalism on Wednesday night and jury duty mess today and several picky things not working as they should — ah, the darkside “blessings” of technology — I have felt a nagging hunger to come back to these words Jesus told me to pray. The prayer I need, however, is not a quick run through the following words, but a passionate experience of the words I’m praying!

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

For or yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.’”

I know “daily bread” in this prayer is talking about our daily food needed for survival. However, I have hungered to spend unhurried time in the presence of God, to be fed by His word, and to be nurtured by the Holy Spirit all week. While I’m all for condensing key thoughts to Twitter-sized bursts, my heart needs more.

In Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness, the Lord confronted the evil one with words that remind me that as necessary and vital “daily bread” is to me, I have a deeper hunger for a more sustaining bread:

It is written: “People do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

Studying to prepare messages for other people, time in the Word to fulfill a reading plan, and quiet time to begin or end the day are all vital. Even more important is recognizing my need for heaven’s “daily bread”:

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:32-35).

While I need to know the words of God from Scripture, I must not forget that my spirit craves and my soul needs this “Bread of Heaven.” My heart yearns for Jesus even when I don’t recognize it. And in those weeks where schedules are crazy, expectations are high, demands are pressing, and many small things go wrong? Ah, in these kinds of weeks I need to know and experience Jesus more.

O God, please feed me with this “daily bread” today.

I have been corresponding with a person who said, “I know I have a God-shaped hole in me. But how do I fill it?”

There is no 1, 2, 3 prescription for this. However, a seeking heart is where we must begin. Here are a few brief words I shared about this journey.

There are a couple of familiar passages you may remember. In the beattitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness’ sake.” (Matthew 5:6) This is another way of saying you hunger for God — His presence, His character, and His compassion. A little later, he promises that, “For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8).

So what I am going to encourage you to do is to read the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). If you want to read something else for this search, also read the Psalms and find those that really speak your heart’s cry to God. And pray that God will show himself to you in your daily life. Be open and honest with Him about you hunger for Him.

In Matthew, there are four primary ways given for us to experience God through Jesus in our lives.

1. In the life of Jesus — that’s why I want you to read the Gospels over and over in modern translations that use today’s language (see Matthew 1:23).
2. In the fellowship of authentic Christian community where care and forgiveness are practiced (Matthew 18:20 really verse 12-35).
3. In caring for those in need, especially those who are believers (Matthew 25:31-45; cf. Galatians 6:10).
4. In crossing cultural barriers to walk alongside someone to help them grow in their likeness to Christ (Matthew 28:18-20).

But the key in all of this is a seeking, hungry heart that knows that it has a “God shaped hole”!

Please keep me informed from time to time about how your journey goes and I will pray that God brings several other seekers alongside you to share your journey.

Grace,
Phil