David [00:00:00]:
You know, the last two months of our year, November and December, we enter what I’ve come to call a season of giving. As I’ve shared with you before, and two of our key holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, are centered around the aspects of giving. And we end our year celebrating one of the key themes in Scripture during these two months, and that is the theme of giving. So every year, our season of giving begins with another key theme in Scripture, which is giving thanks, being grateful. Another way we define giving thanks or Thanksgiving is, like I just said, being grateful or gratefulness.
David [00:01:08]:
Over the next few weeks, I want us to think about several things that we are grateful for. Last week, we began by celebrating God’s unfailing love. He loves us. It’s never ending. He’s always there for us. He never leaves us or forsakes us. God loves you. Now today, I want us to talk about being grateful for God’s daily provision.
David [00:01:41]:
So Jesus is out with his disciples. He’s up on a mountain. He’s teaching the Beatitudes. And as he goes through and he teaches the Beatitudes, one thing leads to another. He begins teaching. If you read this in Scripture, it’s just one thing after another. He begins teaching things. And somebody asks a question and he teaches another thing.
David [00:02:03]:
And so it comes down toward the end of it, and the disciples walk away with him, and they look at him and say, lord, teach us to pray. And he gives us what’s become known as the Lord’s Prayer. And a part of the Lord’s Prayer is this verse, Matthew 6:11, that says this. Give us this day our daily bread. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever noticed how much time we spend thinking about tomorrow or the day after or the day after that? We ponder, we propose, we plan, we predict, we project, we prepare. Yet Jesus invites us into something simpler. He says, trust.
David [00:03:08]:
Trust me. We see here in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus didn’t say, father, give us this week our bread, or give us everything we’ll need for this month. He said, give us this day our daily bread. That small phrase carries a big truth. God is not just a provider. He is our daily provider. Wow. He’s just not one and done.
David [00:03:51]:
He’s there every day to provide for you. And when we live with gratitude for his daily provision, we come not only asking, but thanking him and being grateful for his daily provision. We experience peace instead of worry. We walk in trust with him instead of fear. And we experience contentment instead of toil and striving. God provides for us in many ways. And I want to look at three key ways God provides for us today. And he does this daily.
David [00:04:37]:
And this is something for us to be very grateful for. Number one. God provides for our spiritual needs. You are a spirit being, and your spirit has needs. God’s greatest provision is not what’s on our table, but who’s at our table with us. And who’s at your table? Jesus himself. Jesus said this in John, chapter 6, verse 35. John 6, 35.
David [00:05:15]:
Jesus said, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger. And he who believes in me shall never thirst. Hallelujah. He is the bread of life. Life flows out of him. His life flows in us and sustains us, spirit, soul and body. Hallelujah.
David [00:05:47]:
And when we invite Jesus to come sit at our table each day, he satisfies the deepest hunger of the heart and the soul. Hallelujah. He comes as the bread of life for us each and every day. Wow. Our spirits, our spirit man. That’s who we really are, the essence of our being. Our spirits need nourishment just like our bodies do through prayer. The word worship, fellowship.
David [00:06:36]:
Each day God offers fresh grace, fresh mercy, fresh revelation for us to nourish us, to strengthen us, to sustain us. Lamentations 3, 22 and 23. And this is from the the Passion translation. I like the way this is written here. Yahweh’s tender mercies have no end, and the kindness of his endless love is never exhausted. New, fresh mercies greet me with every sunrise. Hallelujah. So wonderfully great is your faithfulness.
David [00:07:26]:
Praise God. We are grateful. We can be so grateful because every day we know he’s there to sustain us in our spirit man, Spiritually, he is there with fresh mercy. He greets us every day. Are you greeting him? Do you get up every morning going, hello, Lord, this is the day that you’ve made. I’m going to rejoice and be glad in it. I know there may be challenges and there may be things to overcome, but that’s all right. You’re here with me.
David [00:08:02]:
You’re sustaining me. You’re refreshing me. You’re nourishing me. Great is your faithfulness. Hallelujah. Think about this. Just as manna spoiled when Israel hoarded it. Yesterday’s faith won’t sustain today’s battle.
David [00:08:25]:
You need a new, fresh infusion of faith, a new nourishment that’s why the Lord tells us, go to the word, stay in my word. My Word empowers you. My Word strengthens you. My Word builds your faith up every day. Hallelujah. Praise God. That’s why we need daily bread. Jesus said, he is the Word and so he’s the bread of life.
David [00:08:59]:
And that’s why we need daily bread, daily time with God, daily time spent with him, daily encouragement, daily trust. I want to challenge you to make space each day, Set time aside each day to sit with your provider. He is ready to feed you. Come to the table and sit with him. Don’t just thank him for what he gives, thank him for who he is and who he brings into your life. It’s not about how he does it, it’s about who he is. And as my friend Bob o’ Dean says, he is your who. Praise God.
David [00:09:54]:
We’ve got an all powerful who. He knows everything. He knows everybody and he created all things. Guess what? The Creator of the universe is your father and your friend. You can go hang out with him anytime. Praise God. You know, the Creator of the universe. If you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you’re part of the family.
David [00:10:23]:
Praise God. God sustains us spiritually. The second thing is, not only does God sustain us spiritually, he provides for our soul’s needs. We can be grateful. And the soul is this. The soul is the seed of our mind, our will and our emotions. So our thinking, our feeling and our choosing flows out of our soul. Now we think of it as our brain, but the brain is just a physical part of our body that processes all this.
David [00:11:03]:
But our soul, we are a spirit being and we possess a soul. And our soul is our thinking, our feeling and our choosing. Life can leave us drained, can wear us out. It’s not because we don’t have enough food, but it can drain the peace, the strength and the joy from us if we let it. Yet God’s provision extends beyond the material. It’s not just about food and clothing. Jesus said this. He said, this is why you should seek first the Kingdom of God.
David [00:11:46]:
God’s provision extends beyond the material. He gives us sustenance for our soul. He renews our thinking, our mind, he renews our emotions. He renews us. So we make good choices. Comfort for sorrow, courage for fear, peace for anxiety, rest and refreshment mentally. First Peter 5:7. The Amplified classic says, casting the whole of all your care, all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all on him, for he cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.
David [00:12:45]:
He’s looking out for you. He’s looking over for you. He’s just saying, you don’t have to bear that. Give it to me. Let me carry that for you. Let me help you with that. When your heart feels empty, God is still the source that fills it. You just need to look to Him.
David [00:13:09]:
When your emotions are scattered, His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, can bring you back to that place where you feel that you’re one with him and in alignment with him. Psalm 55:22 in the Amplified classic says this. Cast your burden on the Lord, releasing the weight of it. God, I give you this. I surrender it to you, and he will sustain you. He will never allow the consistently righteous to be moved, made to slip, fall, or fail. Praise God. Praise God.
David [00:14:00]:
He’s there for you. He’s there for you. It’s like when my grandkids were learning to walk. I was there. And if I knew they were going to fall, they slept, I’d catch them, I’d help them. All right, let’s. Let’s try it again. Let’s get back up and keep doing this.
David [00:14:20]:
They had confidence to go because they knew I was there. God’s the same way. He’s there for us every day. I like what it says here in Matthew 11, verses 28 through 30. And I’m reading this from the Amplified classic. It says this, Come to me, all you who labor and care, and are heavy laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. So when we come to him, when we feel like we’re overburdened, we. We’ve got too much on us.
David [00:14:58]:
We’re overwhelmed with life. He causes us to rest. He says, I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls. That’s what that word rest there means. So he says this. It goes on to say this, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am gentle, meek and humble, lowly in heart, and you will find rest, relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet for your souls. So look at that.
David [00:15:35]:
That second word, rest there means this relief. You’re going to find relief in me if you come to me and learn of me, lean on me. You’re going to find release. You’re going to find ease, quietness, peace. You’re going to find refreshment. You’re going to be renewed and refreshed, and recreation. God says a part of rest is recreation. One way you could look at that word, it could mean recreation.
David [00:16:19]:
So God’s recreating you by saying, let’s go have some fun. Let’s go hang out together. Recreation and blessed quiet for your souls. We need time to rest. We need time for quiet. We need time for recreation. Then he goes on to say this for my yoke is wholesome, it is useful, it is good. It’s not harsh, hard, sharp or pressing, but comfortable, gracious and pleasant.
David [00:16:54]:
And my burden is light and easy to be born. What’s Jesus saying there? My way is better than your way. My way is better than your way. What are we going to learn? To trust and let go and let God and walk in his way. Have you ever had one of those days when you prayed, lord, I just need enough strength to get through this day. And somehow, though nothing changed around you, he gave you peace that passed understanding. And you, at the end of the day you went, wow, look what happened. Where did that come from? That’s his daily bread for your heart.
David [00:17:45]:
And that’s something every day you can look to and be grateful for and thank God for it. Philippians 4, 6 and 7. This is from the Passion translation. Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith filled request before God with overflowing gratitude. There it is. Be grateful. Tell him every detail of your life.
David [00:18:18]:
Then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ right there. He’s showing you the way. He’s telling you the way. Hallelujah. Do you know what? We hear that phrase, be saturated in prayer throughout each day. You can be praying as you’re walking around, as you’re working, you can be praying. You can be thanking God while you’re working. A lot of times if I’m driving, I’m praying, I’m thanking God, I’m rejoicing.
David [00:19:01]:
If I’m doing something, I’m sitting at my computer or I’m working on something, I’m praying or I’m rejoicing. That’s something we can do. Our spirit man can pour out from within you so God can pour back in and to you. Hallelujah. So be thankful not only for what God puts in your hands, but for what he puts in your heart. The third thing here, so God so let me go back and review for a moment. So God provides for us daily, spiritually. He provides for us in our soul, our mind, our will, our emotions.
David [00:20:01]:
And then the third thing I want us to look at here is this. God provides for our Physical needs again. Matthew 6:11. This is from the new King James. Give us this day our daily bread. Jesus used bread as a symbol for the basic necessities of life. Everything we need, food, shelter, clothing, health, resources, relationships. He reminds us, everything we have, from the food on our table to the breath in our lungs, comes from God’s hands.
David [00:20:44]:
I don’t know if you thought about that. It doesn’t matter what’s going on in the world today. The very fact that we’re alive and we’re breathing is because God, God’s giving us the ability to breathe. He’s giving us oxygen. It’s all here because of Him. If God’s presence were to leave this planet and he totally leave it, we’d enter into chaos and we’d all die. We’d be gone. Nobody would be here.
David [00:21:17]:
Acts 17:25 in the Amplified Classic says, neither is he served by human hands, as though he lacked anything. For it is He Himself who gives life and breath and all things to all people. Everybody on this planet today is being blessed and given life because of God our Father, because of Jesus Christ our Savior, because of the Holy Spirit. And whether you believe in him or not, the reality is he’s sustaining you in every way. Spirit, soul and body. Isaiah 53:5amplified classic says, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities. The chastisement needed to obtain peace and well being for us was upon him.
David [00:22:21]:
And with the stripes that wounded him, we are healed and made whole. And right there, that means when you study the Hebrew, healed and made whole. Spirit, soul, mind, will and emotions and physical being. So every day we should be grateful for God’s healing power that is available to us and working in us and through us. Spirit, soul and body. Think about Israel. We keep going back to Israel in the wilderness. But God provided manna every single morning for them.
David [00:23:05]:
But it was just enough for that day. He was teaching them. And it’s a lesson for us to learn also that he can be trusted one day at a time. We don’t have to figure it all out. We don’t have to know how it’s all going to work and happen. We can trust him one day at a time. He’s got us. Philippians 4:13 in the Amplified Classic says this.
David [00:23:35]:
I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me. I am ready for anything and equal to anything. Through him he infuses inner strength into me. I am self sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency Hear that? I am self sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency. It is because his sufficiency is flowing to me that I have the sufficiency to be, do and have who he created me to be. It’s not about me, it’s about Him. I am here to serve him and to fulfill a purpose and a plan he has that he sent me here to fulfill. And that’s true for all of us.
David [00:24:30]:
But he strengthened us in Christ, the Anointed One. That word Christ there means the anointing of the Anointed One. We have the anointing of the Anointed One on us. We draw strength from that. It empowers us so that we’re ready. As it says here, Paul said, I’m ready for anything and equal to anything through him because he infuses inner strength into me. So I’m self sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency. Wow.
David [00:25:05]:
When you get this down deep into you, gratitude grows when we pause to recognize that every meal, every paycheck, every blessing, big or small, the fact that I’m upright today, standing here, sharing with you, is a daily reminder. God provides. God provides for me spiritually. God provides for me mentally, emotionally and my will. God provides for me physically. God provides for my whole being, spirit, soul and body. When you thank God for what’s on your plate today, you’re acknowledging that he’s faithful to fill it again tomorrow. One of the things I do when I pray over our food is God.
David [00:26:00]:
Thank you for your provision. Thank you for providing this for us today. Philippians 4:19, amplified classic. And my God will liberally supply and fill to the full your every need according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. God is liberal. He’s not withholding. He’s not saying, well, you hadn’t done enough to get all that, yet he wants to fill you to the full. One version says, till you’re overflowing, he will meet your every need according to his riches and glory.
David [00:26:46]:
One translation says, his infinite riches, which means unending, everlasting riches. Hallelujah. He never runs out. You can trust Him. He is a provider who’s got an unlimited supply. Hallelujah. Gratitude is the doorway to contentment. And when we live aware of God’s daily provision, we stop chasing more and start celebrating.
David [00:27:22]:
He who’s more than enough. Praise God. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. He feeds us daily spirit, soul and body. He liberally supplies all that we need. So when you pray, give us this day our daily bread. Don’t rush past it.
David [00:27:47]:
Let it remind you the same God who provided yesterday is faithful again today, and he still will be faithful tomorrow. Thank you, Jesus. Lord, I’m going to declare this over us today. Lord, you are our provider, not just once in a while, but every single day. And I thank you, Lord, for the food that you put on our tables, the peace that’s in our hearts, and the grace in our spirits. You are more than enough for us today and always. You can go back and copy that and use it yourself. Make it your own.
David [00:28:30]:
Hallelujah. Let’s bow our heads in prayer. Father, thank you for being our daily provider. And thank you for meeting our physical, emotional and spiritual needs today and every day. Father God, thank you for teaching us to live with thankful, grateful hearts, trusting that you will supply all we need according to your riches and glory. And we thank you for it. In Jesus name, Amen. Praise God.
David [00:29:04]:
I want you to go out there and have a blessed week. Thank God for all he provides for you this week. Pastor Kanye’s coming now with a closing thought and prayer. God bless you.
