How to Pray, Part 4

By Robb Brunansky

Published October 16, 2025

As we have seen, The Lord’s Prayer begins by fixing our attention on God’s honor and glory rather than our own felt needs. When we come to prayer, we must first have our hearts and minds set on God’s honor and great name. Not long into this prayer, though, we begin to wonder where we fit into the prayer and how we might hallow the Lord’s name and seek first His kingdom. Do our needs have a place in prayer? And if so, how should those needs, concerns, and burdens be presented to the living God, the sovereign Lord, and the Creator and Sustainer of all?

We know from His Word that God not only desires us to come to Him with our needs but also commands it (1 Peter 5:7, Psalm 55:22, Philippians 4:6, Psalm 50:15). Scripture places great emphasis on the Lord’s people bringing their personal needs to Him, especially in times of difficulty, sorrow, anxiety, and temptation. So, in this prayer, Christ made sure to teach His children how to pray about such needs, make our requests known to God, cast our anxieties on Him, and call upon Him in the day of trouble.

What we see in the second half of this prayer is that for us to glorify God, we have needs He must meet in our lives (Luke 11:3-4). As this prayer progresses, Jesus takes us from the sweeping purposes of God in exalting His name and bringing His kingdom, to our place in that mission. The last three requests in this prayer show us what is required for us to serve God’s purposes, the needs we have as His people, and how He calls us to ask Him to meet those needs. As followers of Christ, we are called to pray for the Lord’s provision, pardon, and protection. These categories encompass our physical needs as we seek God’s provision and our spiritual needs as we seek His pardon and spiritual protection.

Let’s take a closer look as Jesus represents those categories in His prayer, starting with God’s provision (verse 3).

“Give us each day our daily bread.”

Here, Christ focuses on God’s provision with an emphasis on daily bread, which brings attention to our physical needs. This aspect is a remarkable transition from prayer that began right in the very presence of our Father and fixated on the most glorious realities in the universe. Now, with this one request, we plummet to the earth, concentrating on something so mundane as our daily bread. Through this transition, Jesus desires to showcase our Father’s care for our physical needs and concern for our regular prayer (Matthew 6:26,30; 10:29-30). He also seeks to emphasize our dependence upon God for our physical needs, calling to mind that these are meant to serve a greater purpose, which is the Lord’s glory and honor.

By praying for our daily bread, we are asking God for several things. One of those things is provision for our needs for the present day (Proverbs 30:7-9). It is not a prayer for extravagance or abundance, but a request that God would give us what we require to live and serve Him. This prayer furthermore is focused on our immediate needs, allowing us to focus on the tasks God has given rather than to worry about what lies ahead in future days. Finally, this request focuses on whatever we need physically to live and fulfill what God has called us to do. Jesus teaches us here that we should bring to God all of the cares and concerns of life.

Many westerners may find it difficult to understand this kind of prayer because most of our basic provisions are often in place. There are a few reasons why God calls us to pray for His provision in our lives, regardless of how much of the essentials we may have around us. The first is that the Lord wants to build our faith in His providential care for us. A sincere look to God’s kind hand for our daily needs is a constant reminder that we rely on His care, which in turn builds our faith in Him. The second is that God wants to build our contentment in His provisions. This request trains us to fix our eyes on the Lord and look to Him to care, rather than to look to ourselves (Philippians 4:11-13). The third is that He wants to teach us life is sustained by His power and pleasure, not by bread alone, which takes us back to God’s provision of daily bread for the Israelites (Exodus 16). What sustains us in life is not physical means divorced from God’s power, but the Lord working through physical means to uphold our lives (Hebrews 1:3).

In all this, we see our Father is involved in even the most mundane aspects of our lives, like eating breakfast, in a personal and powerful way. This realization reminds us we live all life, as the Reformers would say, coram Deo, before God’s face and in His presence. Even the simple act of eating is a place of communion with God, of trusting in Him, of worshiping Him and giving Him thanks – either of being content and honoring Him or grumbling and dishonoring Him.

This request for daily bread is a wonderful reminder God cares for us, even in what is so often insignificant. We should praise Him for His love, mercy, faithfulness, and tenderness toward His children.

However, this request, as taught by our Lord Jesus Christ, also forces us to ask some questions of ourselves as believers:

Do we genuinely trust God’s providential provision in our lives?

Do we trust what the Psalmist says about the Lord providing food to the righteous and those who fear Him? (Psalm 37:25, 111:5)

As we pray for God to meet our needs, do we find ourselves content with what He gives?

Are we reminded that our lives are sustained, not by what God provides, but ultimately the Lord Himself?

Do we live each day with the recognition that we are in God’s presence wherever we are and whatever we do, and that He is involved in every detail, sustaining us by His good and mighty hand?

Do we see God daily so we might learn the lesson He taught Israel: we do not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out of His mouth?

Let us earnestly seek God for our daily needs and provisions, trusting Him to provide in even the most mundane of ways. Such prayer and faith will build a closeness with our Father that leads us to hallow His holy name.