A Kingdom Prayer
By Lydia Neshwange, Zimbabwe Country Coordinator
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.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
Matthew 6:9-13
The Kingdom of God is like a baker whose job it is to bake and supply bread daily for his community. The baker bakes just enough bread for each day because any excess will be stale and will not be good or enjoyable. The baker faithfully supplies the bread without fail because he knows that the whole community depends on that bread. The baker also chooses the best ingredients so that the bread provides the nutritional needs of the people.
The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of faith, faith in God alone to supply us our daily portion. God is the ultimate supplier of our bread, our needs as individuals and as a church. Yet many times we prefer to be supplied from the bakeries of the world and end up having too much cake in our possession, only to find that when they are not God given or God directed, the cakes cause us to be sick.
Because we may fail to operate by faith alone we may also hoard bread in the form of possessions, positions, programs, people and their promises. We end up seeking salvation for our sorry situations in these excesses, yet we teach our children that any food taken in excess will give you a tummy ache.
The Kingdom of God is like the church which goes about its daily mission in faith that God supplies what they need in the right portions and at the right time. The church that is not greedy for fast food success, or pop-star popularity, or politics style control. It is a church whose modus operandi is one of a faith-based peace of mind, a faith-based drivenness, and a faith-based dependence on God. This is what Jesus meant by, “Give us today our daily bread.” It is a humble yet confident request for security, God given security. Based on “faith alone.”