Awakened to Grace

Chad Roberts: Welcome to Awakened to Grace. I'm Chad Roberts, and I'm so glad you're joining us today. I believe God has connected us for a great purpose. Today you're going to hear a powerful sermon. But before we get to the sermon, I want to encourage you to check out my new book. It's called Blind Faith: Seeing God Through Darkness. It's published by our partners at Lifeway.

The reason I wrote this book is because I am 100% blind. As I've walked this path of blindness, this path of suffering, I want to teach you how Christians can suffer well. I say that today my job as a blind pastor is to help people trust a God they cannot see. You can order the book right now anywhere that books are sold in any format. Even if you're not much of a book reader, you can get it in audio where you can listen to it. I hope you'll go right now to the official website, which is blindfaith.life. I hope you'll not only get a copy for yourself, but pick one up for someone who needs encouragement in their faith today.

There's a divine order to the Lord's Prayer. There's a divine order to the way that we pray. Let me rephrase here. We begin to learn how to pray using what is called the model prayer. We begin by focusing solely on God. Many times we get it reversed. We focus on our needs. We jump right into prayer. "God, I need this. God, I need you to come through here. God, I need you to give me this. I have to have this. This has to be done." We are just this ball of frustration.

But there's a divine order to prayer. The divine order is that we begin putting our eyes on the greatness of God. When you have your perspective on who God is, when you hallow the name of God, reverence his name, and are amazed at his greatness, then your problems come into the right perspective. Then your problems are not so big. We often have it reversed. Our problems are so big and God is so small. We wonder how God can help us, how God can reverse this, or how God can save us. We worry about how we will get things done, have enough money, have enough strength, or know what to do. Our problem is so big and God is so little.

Flip the script today. Look at the greatness of God, and then the problems will be in the right perspective. This is the way Jesus teaches us how to pray. He says focus on the greatness of God. "Hallowed be your name." Then you look after God's interest. That's what last week was about: "Your kingdom come. Your will be done." If you missed last week, I've preached for many years, but last week for me was one of the most fun sermons I've ever preached. I enjoyed it and learned so much.

Now there's a shift that happens in the prayer. The prayer is going to go from your kingdom, your will, and your focus to us. "Give us this day our daily bread." Do you see the order? You don't jump right into your need first. You jump into worship first. You focus on God's interest first, and then you present your needs before the Lord. Can we say amen to that today?

I want to break this down into four simple things today. Number one, I want to give an explanation. What did Jesus mean by "give us"? Number two, what does he mean by "this day"? Number three, I want to focus on that all-important word "our." Number four, what does he mean by "daily bread"? To begin, "give us" is to teach us the generosity of God Almighty. Humanity is designed by God to be dependent upon God.

This will set many of you free. This is going to be a word for your life right now. God has designed humanity to depend solely on God. Think of it this way: without God, man cannot even meet our most basic need, which is bread. We can't do that on our own. Man is not self-sufficient. There is no such thing as a self-made man. It takes God in your life.

Sometimes Satan—who is a liar—tries to intervene. Let me tell you what happened to me one time. I was praying and asking God for very real, very serious things. I was asking God to move many mountains. It wasn't a little wish list. It wasn't a genie in a bottle situation. If God did not intervene, no one could help me.

Satan came. He's sly and he's a liar. Jesus said when he speaks, he speaks out of his own native tongue. He told me, "Chad, you ask for too much. Stop asking so much. Ask God for one thing or two things, but not all these things." The Bible says when the enemy comes in like a flood, God will raise a standard against him. The Holy Spirit reminded me, "Chad, I'm your heavenly Father. You are my child. You ask away." You have not because you ask not. Ask, and it shall be given. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened. A-S-K. Ask away, child of God. Can we just thank the Lord for that? Hallelujah.

When Jesus says "our daily bread," he's not talking about a loaf. He's not talking about Sara Lee. He's talking about the essentials of life and physical needs. This is going to help some of you who are afraid to ask God for the things that you need. You should ask away because some of you right now are wondering if God really sees your situation. You walked into the building today asking if God really knows what you're facing.

The devil will lie to you. He told me one day while I was struggling in blindness that God doesn't know what I'm facing and has no idea. He said God is light and only knows light, so he doesn't understand darkness. What a liar. Don't listen to the devil. He'll discourage you, depress you, isolate you, and bombard you. You listen to the truth of God's Word. The book of Micah says, "Even when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be light to me."

God knows what you need and what you're facing. He sees where you are right now, what you're up against, the sorrow you feel, and the pain you're in. He knows it all. The Bible says that God has the very hair upon your head numbered. You and I don't even know ourselves quite that well. God knows you better than you know yourself. If God has the hairs of your head numbered, he certainly sees your trouble, your questions, your doubts, and your fears.

It is out of this great dependency that we are made. Lean as hard as you can into Jesus. Trust as mightily as you can in Jesus. The more strength you need, the more strength he'll give. The more grace you need, the more grace he'll give. The more daily provisions you need, the more he'll give. Give us this day our daily bread. He's a giver, and God knows we are made to be dependent. Don't let the devil tell you to stop asking God for help, wisdom, strength, peace, or joy. God's ready to give you such things.

The greatest tragedy is not unanswered prayer. The greatest tragedy is unoffered prayer. Some of you have stopped praying because somewhere down the road, Satan told you to quit annoying God or that God's not interested and not listening. I'm here to tell you the truth of God's Word today: God's a generous God.

What does he mean by "this day"? The Lord's really ministering to me in this phrase. I'm a planner. I plan everything. I make plans to plan things. I can already tell you what my week looks like and the meals I'm going to eat. I have every day planned out. Those of you who have had to travel know that if you just throw everything into a suitcase, you won't fit much. But if you carefully pack it, you're amazed at how much you can fit. Your day is just like that. If you let everybody throw everything they want into your day, you're not going to fit very much. But if you're careful about it, you'd be amazed what you can pack in there.

Because I'm a planner, I like to know where I'm headed and where I'll end up. Scripture says to ponder the path of your feet, then all your ways will be sure. The Lord is teaching me that I can be so focused on the future that I miss the present. I miss what he wants to do right now today. Are you so focused on ambition and drive that you're missing what God has for you today? I don't want to miss my kids growing up or the stage that my life is in. I don't want to miss where my family is.

In our culture, we mark time by years. We mark birthdays and anniversaries. It seems as though we measure our lives with years, but Scripture doesn't really teach that. You should celebrate those things, but Scripture says, "Teach me to number my days." I don't want to miss today because I'm so focused toward the future. I want to be present right now in what God wants to do in my life.

Scripture says in James that a man shouldn't say he's going to go to a certain town for a year to do business and do all of these things. James says that man should say, "If the Lord wills, I'll do this and I'll do that." James teaches life is as a vapor. It's here today and gone tomorrow. So, do you number your days? Are you in the present this day?

When I understand "this day"—not five years, ten months, or six months from now—it causes me to recognize the line between need and greed. It helps me understand when I'm feeling greedy because God has given me what I need. It's easy for us to get greedy. We'll just say this is for somebody else and save you the trouble.

This is the balance. Is it wrong to put back for the future? No. Scripture says to look to the ant, who puts back all summer for the winter. It's not wrong to look ahead or plan ahead. What is wrong is to live so far out there that you're not in the present right now today.

Proverbs chapter 30, verses 8 and 9 is the balance. The king said, "God, don't give me so little that I have to steal food in order to eat." Don't give me so much that I forget the Lord. The balance is contentment. The balance is being content with what the Lord has given you. Like the ant, I'm going to prepare for the future and I'm not going to live like a sluggard. I'm not going to live a day at a time and just hope God takes care of me. I'm going to plan. Someone told me one time that you should prepare like you're going to live for another hundred years, but you should live like you're going to go to heaven tomorrow.

I'm going to prepare, but I'm still dependent on you, Lord. I'm going to trust you for this day. I'm going to be present for my family and my children. I'm going to be present right now for your kingdom this day. I've never been beside someone who's dying and heard them say they wish they had worked more. Be present for your family.

Anybody can stand up in this pulpit and take my job. Not one person can replace me at home. No one can replace me in my children's lives. For the majority of us, God's given us more than our daily bread. Our pantries are stocked and our freezers are full. Notice Jesus does not say, "Give me this day my daily bread." He says, "Give us this day our daily bread." Every word in the Bible matters. He says "our" because he is reminding us that we're part of the family of God.

If we're going to pray, "Your kingdom come," it reminds us it's more than just us. If we're going to pray, "Our Father," we're part of the family of God. I think God would say to those of us who have more than enough to share our daily bread. It is "our," not "mine." This phrase causes us to pause and consider the sufferings of fellow believers.

One of the reasons why we do this type of ministry where we try to reach far beyond the walls of our church is because we want to reach people in a personal way. If you have been listening to these sermons and find that they are impacting your life or helping you grow, we would love to hear from you. When people contact us from different parts of the world and share with us how to pray for them, that means the world to us. We would really love to stand with you in prayer. I hope you'll look us up, contact us, and let us know who you are and where you're listening from.