Our daily bread

In his book, "Praying the Lord's Prayer," author Elmer Towns tells the story of a salesman who attended one of his Bible classes. The salesman worked in the appliance section of the local department store and was known for always wearing a straw hat.

Everyone simply knew this man as the tall man wearing the straw hat. Most people assumed he always wore the hat because he was bald but that's not why he wore the hat.

The man in the straw hat loved to talk to people and was a very good salesman. He was known to have a patterned way to make a sale. When people said no, he would shake his head as though he did not believe what he just heard.

Then...he would take off that straw hat, wipe his brow and look thoughtfully inside his hat for a few seconds. After this, he would answer their objections and then usually made the sale. No one ever asked what he was doing when he looked into his hat, it was just what he did. The salesman never put his hat back on until after the customer left.

Many years later, after Elmer Towns had taught on the Lord's Prayer, the bald headed salesman came up to Elmer to share the secret of his sales ability. The salesman wore the hat for one reason...a written prayer was taped inside the hat with the words..."Give us this day our daily bread."

This was not at all a magic trick for the salesman but an every-moment reminder to trust God as he worked to feed his family. He kept his hat off to keep praying while the sale was finalized. The straw hat was a way to trust God's daily provision, according to the Lord's leading. He looked to the Lord for his daily bread.

More than any part of the Lord's Prayer, the request "Give us today our daily bread", this petition focuses on what we need and what we may ask for. A big motivation for going to the Lord in prayer is to ask for what we desire. The Lord's Prayer is actually God's way to shape and mold our praying.

It is an important habit to begin our prayers with praise to the Lord and recognition of His holiness and a willingness to submit to His will in everything. Only then are we in the right heart and mind to bring our own requests.

When praying through the Lord's Prayer, phrase by phrase, we are given an outline of what to include and our requests are directed. Praying for our daily bread is an important truth to refine what we ask for and how we ask for it.