#JESUS2019 - Daily DevotionalsSample

The “Lord’s prayer” is probably the most well-known prayer from the Bible. In my childhood I had to learn the text by heart in my confirmation classes. And at that time, it felt more like a boring poem from school. Week by week I barely mumbled the words. Today the “Lord’s prayer” has become so much more to me than just a few words and I no longer have to wonder what the words might mean. It is a checklist. A checklist for every day that is even sorted by priorities. What do I mean by that? 1\. God you are the greatest, the king, my father. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ... 2\. Your ideas are better than mine, this is why your will should be done … your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 3\. Give me strength to follow you. Give us today our daily bread. 4\. I will forgive others because you have forgiven me. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Jesus emphasizes that we should not recite his text the way we recite a dead poem. He wants us to reflect on it and bring the points before God anew every day. This is enough for you to think about already, but let me point out something else. We are currently in the week on the “Bread of life”, so let’s take a closer look at verse 11. Give us today our daily bread. How small and insignificant this line seems! It almost gets lost among all the other big verses. I could easily write a sermon on the next verses, but Jesus had something in mind when he told us to ask for your daily bread. Do you notice anything? We receive this powerful, life-giving bread before we forgive. Do you know the Snickers advertisement in which somebody is not quite on the ball until he eats the chocolate bar? If we are not satisfied within, then we hardly have the strength to forgive. It is similar to being in a bad mood because your stomach is empty and you feel hungry. That is another reason to eat your spiritual bread daily. ## ACTION STEP: Consciously pray the “Lord’s Supper” like a checklist. Add your own words in between the verses, like I’ve done above. And remember that you need new bread every day to be able to forgive. ##### Andreas Hörner – ICF Grünheide