Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread? | The Bread of Eternal Life

In the Lord’s Prayer, what did Jesus intend when He told His disciples to pray “Give us this day our daily bread?” For decades when I prayed I thought “our daily bread” referred to food, or perhaps it extended to things I needed to support my physical life. I was surprised to discover a much deeper level of meaning that even affects my eternal life.

So, what did Jesus really mean when He told us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread?” Simply stated, God wants us to ask for and depend on Him to provide whatever physical, mental, and spiritual ‘bread’ we need to accomplish His will through our lives today. And, while physical and mental bread is important, spiritual bread gives us eternal life.

Like 99% of my fellow Christians, I didn’t understand the deeper meanings of ‘our daily bread,’ until recently. Learning why, how, and when God provides our daily bread will enable you to consciously cooperate with God through your prayers as you fulfill your destiny according to God’s will for your life.

Why God Provides Our Daily Bread

Definition of ‘Bread’

First, let’s quickly understand what Jesus meant by ‘bread’ in the Lord’s Prayer. In both versions of the Lord’s Prayer, in Matthew 6:11 and in Luke 11:3, the Greek word for bread is arton, which is from the root word artos.

As you can see below, artos literally means bread, but it also represents God’s provision, including all the resources we need to live within God’s will.

Bread Artos — https://biblehub.com/greek/740.htm

As I’ll explain in more detail below, I believe Jesus used the word ‘bread’ in this context, as a symbol or metaphor representing everything we need to accomplish God’s will in our lives.

Our Daily Bread is Empowerment to Advance God’s Kingdom

The Sequence of Requests is Significant

The Lord’s Prayer starts by praying, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Then it continues, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

The sequence in the Lord’s Prayer is important. It shows that God’s provision of your daily bread directly follows your seeking His will and His kingdom in your daily life.

So, when we ask the Lord to provide our daily bread, we’re asking the Father to empower and supply us with all the resources we need to accomplish His will in our lives, especially toward the goal of ‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’

Mutual Dependence

We are His sheep, and He is our Shepherd. On a farm, sheep depend on their shepherd for guidance, care, protection, food and water. Shepherds depend on their sheep for wool and meat.

We Depend on God

Like sheep, whether we realize it or not, we are completely dependent on God’s guidance, care, protection, and material provisions in our daily life. He numbers every hair on our head, and every heartbeat and every breath are His gifts to us.

God not only provides our physical needs of food, shelter, jobs, etc., but our mental and spiritual needs as well.

God Also Depends on Us

Most people easily acknowledge that they’re dependent on God, but they don’t realize that God also depends on us. Just as sheep provide things to the shepherd, we provide things to God. For example, we ‘confirm His covenant.’

You may say in your heart, “The power and the strength of my hand has made this wealth for me.” But remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers.
Deuteronomy 8:17-18

God also depends on us to bear fruit. Jesus told His disciples:

I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.
John 15:5

A grapevine that doesn’t produce fruit has no value.

So, grape branches totally depend on the vine, but the vine also depends on the branches to produce its fruit, which is the vine’s ultimate purpose. This truth applies to Christ and His Body.

God is Looking for Fruit on Both the Individual and Kingdom Levels

On an individual level, God is working within the soul and spirit of every living man, woman, and child with the goal of producing the perfect, holy nature of Jesus within their heart. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people will not receive God’s free gift of grace during this age.

“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”
Matthew 7:13 NLT

At the kingdom level, the Book of Revelation hints that God is depending on (and waiting for) His faithful overcomers to grow into maturity, press into the kingdom of God, and overcome Satan and his angels so that God’s kingdom can finally come into full manifestation in heaven and on the earth.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying:
“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down—he who accuses them day and night before our God.
They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.
Revelation 12:10-11

‘His faithful overcomers’ are the 144,000 of Revelation chapters 7 and 14. To learn more about how you can become one of these overcomers, read The Overcomers’ Treasure Map which is also available as a Free PDF download.

Examples of God Providing Daily Bread

The quotes below spotlight two men, Hudson Taylor and Charles Mueller, who learned how to receive their daily bread.

Neither of them had an organization behind them to provide support. In both examples, their policy was to trust in God alone, never telling any man of their needs or asking for human assistance. Thus, through God’s supernatural responses to their prayers, they received all the resources they needed to fulfill their assignments from God.

Hudson Taylor

“Depend on it. God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply. He is too wise a God to frustrate His purposes for lack of funds, and He can just as easily supply them ahead of time as afterward, and He much prefers doing so.”
“I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help Him to do His work through me.”
Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) Missionary to China

Charles Mueller

When He orders something to be done for the glory of His name, He is both able and willing to find the needed individuals for the work and the means required. Thus, when the tabernacle in the wilderness was to be erected, He not only fitted men for the work, but He also touched the hearts of the Israelites to abundantly bring all the necessary materials–gold, silver, and precious stones.
Charles Mueller (1805-1898) supported and educated 10,024 orphans through prayer alone

A Contemporary Example of God’s Provision

I’ve witnessed John Taylor ‘living by faith’ since a mutual friend introduced me to him in 1974. He is a living example of God’s ability and willingness to provide 100% of our daily bread.

For the last few decades, John has planted and cultivated churches in Honduras, first among the remote Miskito native tribes and then across the entire Honduran nation. A few years ago I personally witnessed his ministry during a two-week Youth-With-A-Mission trip to San Pedro Sula.

I asked John to give you a few examples of God’s provision from his experience and here is what John wrote:

John Taylor’s Testimony of God’s Provision

As a new Christian, I read the biographies of Hudson Taylor and George Mueller and wondered, “is God really like that? Does He really provide without asking people for money?” I determined to test it out. I had no money, no income and I had to pay my Bible college fees as well as personal items for daily living. As for my fees, I worked at the school, first cleaning the bathrooms and then washing pots and pans in the kitchen. I never saw the money, it was just subtracted from what I owed. I still needed to buy things like soap, which was my first experiment.

When I did not have soap I did not tell even my roommate. I just prayed and went to the showers. There were five showers, each with a curtain for privacy. When I did not have soap, whichever shower I entered had a bar left there. When I had soap I did not find one in the shower except one time. On that occasion I moved to a different shower, assuming God was providing that soap for someone else.
My second experiment was new soles for my shoes. I had one pair which had big holes in the soles. That was embarrassing to me since we prayed a lot on our knees. I prayed for God to provide new soles since the upper part of the shoes was fine. When I went to my mailbox there was an envelope in it, not mailed, only addressed to me. Inside I found a five dollar bill with no note. I walked a mile to the nearest shoe repair shop, placed the shoes on the counter and asked the cost to put new soles. “Five dollars”. I waited while the man repaired my shoes, put them on and walked back to the school.

I have 58 years of similar testimonies to the wonderful provision of God for me…all without soliciting funds. I took on Hudson Taylor’s plan, to make my need known only to God and wait for him to move whomever He would use to provide that need. My reticence included not asking people for prayer for my need, since I was concerned that would be like a subtle way of asking them to contribute.

John’s “favorite mode of transportation” in Honduras

John Taylor’s Bio/Background

John has served as evangelist/teacher in all continents except Australia and Antarctica. His email is taylorjohnw1@yahoo.com and his Facebook ID is taylorjohnww1 if you’d like to contact him.

He wrote the following three paragraphs at my request:

I was studying for the ministry when I came to know Christ as my personal Savior. If you are going into the ministry, it is important to get saved. It’s important to get saved even if you are not going into the ministry, but, if you get genuinely saved you will find that you are in the ministry, no matter what your profession.

March 23, 2019 marked 58 years since I received Christ for true in a home prayer group. I started immediately as a “fisher of men” since those who gave me my first step were laymen who were also personal soul winners. Their example set me on the course of bringing people to Christ–individually as well as in church or campaign settings.

I started on the streets of Lakeland Florida, from there to other towns, and into the prisons in Polk County. Then I taught in a Spanish language Bible College in Miami. From there to the Bahamas for several years, Scotland for a number of years, back to the US where I was on staff at First Assembly of God; now in Honduras where I first came nearly 45 years ago.

Other Notable Examples of Receiving God’s Provision to Accomplish God’s Will

The Apostles
Watchman Nee, Bible teacher, author, and martyr
John G Lake, apostle of divine healing
Smith Wigglesworth, apostle of faith
AW Tozer, Pastor, teacher and author

Why God Provides Our Daily Bread

Of course, God continuously feeds all of His creatures, including sparrows and sinners who don’t pray:

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.
Matthew 10:29

Your Father in heaven causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Matthew 5:45

But, within the context of the Lord’s Prayer, God gives His faithful disciples their ‘daily bread’ to empower them with all the physical, mental, and spiritual resources they need to accomplish His will through their lives. This is why God provides their daily bread.

How God Provides Our Daily Bread

God provides:

Physical Bread for Our Bodies
Mental Bread for Our Souls
‘Manna from Heaven’ for Our Spirits

Physical Bread for Our Bodies

Physical Bread is Secondary to Spiritual

After fasting 40 days the Devil tempted Jesus with bread. His body was entering starvation, but Jesus responded saying,

Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Matthew 4:4

Throughout His ministry, including His death on the cross, Jesus emphasized the principle that His flesh and soul were subordinate to His spirit; and His body, soul, and spirit were all subordinate to His Father’s will.

The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing.
John 6:63

Physical Bread is Necessary

Although physical bread is secondary, it is still vital and important. On at least two occasions Jesus miraculously created bread to support the bodily needs of thousands who sought His spiritual ministry:

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He spoke a blessing. Then He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.
They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve baskets full of broken pieces that were left over. About five thousand men were fed, in addition to women and children.
Matthew 14:19-20

How God Provides Our Physical Bread

God can miraculously provide us food, as He did for 3 million Israelites for 40 years in the desert, or as God did for Hudson Taylor, Charles Mueller, John Taylor, and the other examples above. But miracles are not God’s normal method of provision.

What is God’s normal method of provision, to provide us with the physical food our bodies need? In this age (since Adam sinned) God’s preferred method to provide our food is through our own labor.

If we have the capability to work, that’s how we’re supposed to eat.

While we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.”
2 Thessalonians 3:10

The worker is worthy of his wages.
1 Timothy 5:18

To read an interesting story about how I learned the value of working to earn my physical bread, go to this blog post and scroll down to the heading titled My ‘Living by Faith’ Experiment.

Mental Bread for Our Souls

According to Watchman Nee’s book The Spiritual Man, our souls consist of three parts: our mind, will, and emotions. The term ‘soulish’ sounds clumsy to me, so in this section I’ll use the term ‘mental’ to refer to the combination of our mind, will, and emotions.

Even Jesus had to grow from childhood into maturity through a process of daily growth and learning.

Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
Luke 2:52

God gives each of us specific mental talents and abilities, which we can either choose to cultivate, sharpen, and exercise; or, we can let our mental talents and abilities languish and deteriorate. For almost everyone, the choice is ours.

With regard to our souls, when we pray for God to give us our daily bread we’re asking Him to help us acquire the knowledge, wisdom, and skills we’ll need to fully-accomplish the tasks He will lead us into.

We’re also praying for the discipline and endurance to become proficient in something. For example, whether you want to become a scientist, a plumber, fluent in a foreign language, or in playing a musical instrument–they all require consistent and disciplined training, practice, and experience over time.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters
Colossians 3:23

‘Manna from Heaven’ for Our Spirits

The Symbol of ‘Manna From Heaven’

About 1500 BC, God provided ‘manna from heaven’ for millions of Israelites to eat while they wandered in the desert 40 years. At the end of this time, Moses told them,

He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of YHWH.
Deuteronomy 8:3

About 1500 years later, when the Devil tempted Jesus with bread after Jesus fasted 40 days in the desert, Jesus quoted Moses’ words, saying:

Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Matthew 4:4

As you can see in Deuteronomy 8:3 above, the background for Jesus’ statement in Matthew 4:4 comes from God’s ancient provision of manna from heaven.

In John chapter 6 Jesus will say the ‘manna from heaven’ that the Israelites received was a physical symbol representing the spiritual reality that Jesus now fulfills. The Israelites ate the manna from heaven and eventually died, but the spiritual bread Jesus gives will enable His disciples to live forever.

For now, please notice the obvious relationship between manna and ‘every word that comes from the mouth of God‘.

Every Word from the Mouth of God – Rhema

In Matthew 4:4 ‘every word that comes from the mouth of God’ is ‘every rhema that comes from the mouth of God.’

YHWH is not dead, asleep, or uninvolved in your life. In fact, He wants to be an intimate and loving part of your life, and He speaks daily into the hearts of all His disciples.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.
Revelation 3:20

As you can see below, rhema is the Greek word that means a spoken word made by a living voice. So, ‘every rhema that comes from the mouth of God’ is literally the message that the Living God speaks into your heart. It’s more than intuition. When you ‘hear’ God’s Spirit within your heart it’s different but just as real as hearing a noise with your physical ears.

Manna Placed in the Ark of the Covenant

Manna is so important that God told Moses to put it inside the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant is the earthly symbol of the throne of God. It’s the holiest centerpiece in the earthly temple, which is a physical representation of God’s temple in the spiritual realm.

In Exodus 25:40 God said He had revealed the pattern of His heavenly temple to Moses, and told him to build the earthly tabernacle using the same pattern. This is also mentioned in the New Testament:

The earthly temple is “a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary. That is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle, “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
Hebrews 8:5

According to Hebrews 9:4, these three items were placed within the Ark of the Covenant:

Manna; heavenly bread representing the living word of God
Aaron’s rod that budded, signifying resurrection life
The 10 Commandments, representing God’s standard of righteousness

Why is this symbolism significant? The ‘Ark of the Covenant’ represents God’s throne in heaven, and the apostle John saw Jesus standing in the center of YHWH’s throne in heaven, perfectly fulfilling the Ark of the Covenant’s prophetic symbols.

I saw a Lamb who appeared to have been slain, standing in the center of the throne
Revelation 5:6

He is the Bread of Life (John 6:35), the Living Bread from heaven (6:51)
He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25)
He is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30)

Jesus is “The Living Bread” from Heaven

In John chapter 6 Jesus clearly connects manna and the living word of God.

After Jesus miraculously fed 5000 people, with 12 baskets full of leftovers, the people tried to come and make Him king by force. (John 6:15) That night Jesus walked on water to rejoin His disciples in the boat. (John 6:16-21)

The next day the crowds followed Him to the other side of the lake. Here’s the Bible passage that immediately follows:

When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they asked Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?”
Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it is not because you saw these signs that you are looking for Me, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.” Then they inquired, “What must we do to perform the works of God?”
Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.” So they asked Him, “What sign then will You perform, so that we may see it and believe You? What will You do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“Sir,” they said, “give us this bread at all times.”
Jesus answered, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst. But as I told you, you have seen Me and still you do not believe.
John 6:27-36

The Bread of Life Gives Immortality

Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.
Your forefathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And this bread, which I will give for the life of the world, is My flesh.”
John 6:47-51

Jesus concludes the teaching…

Jesus said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. On hearing it, many of His disciples said, “This is a difficult teaching. Who can accept it?”
Aware that His disciples were grumbling about this teaching, Jesus asked them, “Does this offend you? Then what will happen if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before?
The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
However, there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray Him.)
Then Jesus said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless the Father has granted it to him.”
From that time on, many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. So Jesus asked the Twelve, “Do you want to leave too?”
Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.”
John 6:59-69

Our Daily Bread of Life

Jesus said, “Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”

“The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam a life-giving spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:45

Especially since the Spirit of God filled His Church at Pentecost, ‘our daily bread’ is the ‘living word’ that the Spirit of God speaks to us. God’s living word to us is our spiritual nourishment unto immortality.

Jesus is the bread of life. The forefathers ate manna in the wilderness, yet they died. He is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.

The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words of God’s Spirit to us are spirit and they are life.

So, how does God provide our daily bread? He provides for us physically, mentally, and most important of all spiritually, through every rhema/word that comes from the mouth of God into our heart.

When God Provides Our Daily Bread

Give Us This/Each Day Our Daily Bread

This Day

In Matthew 6:11, ‘Give us this day our daily bread,’ the Greek word semeron is translated ‘this day.’ It simply means ‘today’ or ‘now.’

In Luke 11:3, ‘Give us each day our daily bread,’ the Greek words kata hemeran are translated ‘each day.’ Literally, it means ‘according to a day, from sunrise to sunset.’

Our Daily

The Greek word epioúsios is the word translated “our daily” in both Matthew 6:11 and Luke 11:3. In the entire Bible, epioúsios only occurs in these two verses in the Lord’s Prayer.

Epioúsios means ‘aptly substantive,’ so epiousios refers to God’s tailored provision that’s needed for each day; literally, the bread that’s suited for the unique demands of the coming day.

Only God knows what each day will bring us, so only He can tailor the list of what we’ll need, and then provide our physical, mental, and spiritual bread enabling us to accomplish His will through our lives each day.

One Day at a Time

If we “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” all our needs will be provided. We are to focus on one day at a time. Jesus said,

Don’t worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:34

So, when should we ask God to provide our daily bread? The Lord’s Prayer teaches us to ask for the physical, mental, and spiritual bread we’ll need to enable us to accomplish His will through the next day of our life.

Conclusion

What did Jesus really mean when He told us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread?” Simply put, God wants us to ask for and depend on Him to provide whatever physical, mental, and spiritual ‘bread’ we need to accomplish His will of advancing His kingdom through our lives today.