Welcome to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. When your life's focus is to honor the name of God in everything you say, in everything you do, in your time, in your pocketbook, in everything, God obligated Himself that you and your needs are going to be the center of His attention. I am telling you, when I came to understand this, it revolutionized my life. It changed my walk with God.
It changed my whole perspective on life. God is saying that He is there for us. when we are there for him. Invite and experience a transformed life as you listen to this episode of Leading the Way. Today soak in the comforting words of the Lord's Prayer, specifically about leaning on God to supply your needs.
You can learn more about the Ministry of Leading the Way and doctor Michael Youssef when you visit us at ltw.org. or scan through our app on your mobile device. Here now, a biblical challenge from Dr. Michael Youssef in his series, The Prayer That God Answers. I know that when preachers start preaching about sin.
Everyone who's listening immediately switch thinking, well, you know, he's talking about murder and adultery and he's talking about the big sins. We don't realize that with God there are no big sins and small sins. Sin is sin. It's missing the mark. In fact, I am convinced that there are very few Christians who view anxiety and worry as sin.
I really am convinced that that is a very respectable sin among Christians. Why is worrying and anxiety a sin before God? Because it distrusts God's promises. It distrusts the fact that God gave us His word to provide for His loving children. It distrusts all these promises.
In fact, the word worry comes from an old German word which means to strangle or to choke. That's what it means. And when we are anxious and when we live the life of worry, what we are doing, we are causing mental strangulation, we are causing emotional strangulation, which probably causes more mental and physical afflictions. than any single cause by itself. Worry is the opposite of contentment.
If we make our felt needs to be our focus and our concern, it's soon going to become our God. And like all false gods, it is going to devour its followers. It's going to destroy its followers. The God of our felt need is a merciless God. He is the very God of anxiety and worry.
He is the very God of discouragement. He is the very God of disappointments. He is the very God of disorder. He is the very God of turmoil in your life. He is the God of fear and upheaval.
And you know what? Jesus knew that worry and anxiety are a form of idolatry. That is why it's a sin. And this is why, after he ended the very sentence that says, Thy will be done, knowing that when you do the will of God, therein lays the taste of heaven and on earth as it is in heaven, he immediately goes on to say, Give us this day our daily bread. I want us to focus on this prayer.
Give us this day our daily bread under three headings. First of all, we want to focus on God's provision. Secondly, I want us to focus on our petition of God. And thirdly, we'll focus on God's promises. Jesus began the Lord's Prayer, what we call the Lord's Prayer, it's really the disciple's prayer.
He began this pattern of prayer that He taught His disciple to pray, saying what? Where is His focus? Where's the focus of prayer? Listen to me, because so many people think that prayer is bringing God your grocery list and say, God, give me this and two of this and three of this and four of this. Goodbye, thank you, God, and they're gone.
That is not what prayer is all about. Listen and watch how Jesus teaches us how to properly pray. First of all, the first concern is the name of God. Hallowed be your name. The second thing is the kingdom of God.
Your kingdom come in my life, in my family life, in my business, in my ministry, wherever I am. Your rule must be supreme. Third thing is the will of God. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's what God is telling us our priorities ought to be in prayer.
Then what? Then God gives us His priority for you. Our priority is the name of God, the kingdom of God, and the will of God. Then God says, You know what? My priority is providing for your needs.
There is a special order here. I don't want you to miss it. Most professing Christians don't realize that their needs, their daily needs, daily welfare, daily supply of blessing, daily concerns, daily well-being is the very center of God's mind, is the very focus of God's attention. But you must understand the order in which they come. You must understand that with God there is a sense of priority.
Something has to come first, and something has to come second. And what the Lord Jesus is trying to teach us from this Lord's Prayer, from this disciples' prayer, this sense of order. I am telling you, when I came to understand this, it revolutionized my life. It changed my walk with God. It changed my whole perspective on life.
God is saying That He is there for us. When we are there for Him. When we live for God, God lives for us. When your life's focus is God and His kingdom and His work. God's focus is your need, your daily need.
When your life's focus is the glory of God, then God's focus is His provision for you. When your life's focus is to honor the name of God in everything you say, in everything you do, in your time, in your pocketbook, in everything, God obligated Himself that you and your needs are going to be the center of His attention. And only those who know God and walk with God can truly claim the provision of God. Because most professing Christians Do not live for God, but all they want God to live for them. They don't live for God, but when they want God, they want Him to be there and do what they want Him to do.
Yeah. And often in this busy world, we crowd God out in this age. Of half-read page and quick hash and the mad dash in this age of the bright light and the nerves that are too tight. We'd crowd God out in this age of a plain hop and a brief stop. We forget about God in this age of lamp tan and short span, and the big shot in a soft spot, and the brain strain, and the heart pain.
And the cat naps till the spring snaps. and the fun is gone. I hope you're impressed. I sure was. But you know, if we truly understand God's sense of priority and God's sense of order, it will revolutionize your walk with God.
It will teach you to live in victory over worry and anxiety. I believe that understanding God's order of priority will empower. you to live victorious. You will not be a victim of worry, you will not be a victim of anxiety. And the Apostle Paul himself is telling the Philippians, you're going to see the same sense of order.
Philippians chapter 4, here's this order. He said, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer petition that is framed in thanksgiving, that is framed in praise, that is beginning praise and ending with praise. Thanksgiving, will you present your needs requests to God? Then what? Is one thing, Here's the order.
God is the focus, God is our priority one. Then what? Then, only then, that the peace of God, which transcends all human logic, is going to surround your mind and your heart in Christ Jesus. Don't ever miss that order, don't get confused, don't put the cart before the horse. Do you want to overcome worry?
Do you want to overcome anxiety? Do you want to live in the life of victory? Understand this priority in the mind of God that He's trying to teach us today.
Now, of course, it doesn't mean that you're not going to be concerned, that you're not going to be thinking, and you're not going to be. Aware of the fact when you face difficulties in life, it does take some of your energy. I'm not saying that at all. I'm not going to say that when you face desperate need, you're not going to think about it. That's not what I'm saying.
But it will mean that you are no longer obsessed with your problems. That's what it means. It will mean that you are no longer consumed with your circumstances. God's provision. And the second thing I want you to notice is our petition.
The word give in give us this day our daily bread, give that word alone. is really the heart of the petition. Give. When we pray, give us this day our daily bread. It is not only that we are petitioning God to do what He already obligated Himself to do, that we are petitioning God.
To provide what He already promised to provide, but it is an acknowledgement. We're acknowledging that He is the one who provided the past, He is the one who's provided for today, He is the one who's going to provide for tomorrow. That's what it means to say, give us this day. Please, I want you to hear what I'm going to tell you at this point. The reason Jesus taught us to make this petition is because He has already promised to answer that petition.
The reason he taught us to pray, give us this day our daily bread, because he already obligated himself to provide for his children. We cannot expect God to give us what He hadn't already promised. I want to repeat this. You cannot expect God to give you what He hadn't already promised. And the reason we are confidently petitioning God is because He already gave us His word of honor that He's going to meet our needs.
Sure, it rains upon the just and the unjust, the Bible said. Sure, there are pagans out there who seem from the outside to be materially blessed, and you'd say, Man, look at this. But no, you know what? God never obligated Himself to bless them, but He obligated Himself to take care of your needs. You have God's word on it.
This is not come some Theory that I'm making up. I'm telling you what God said. And that is why Anxiety for the believer. Worry for the believer is a sin. You say, why?
Because God obligated Himself to you and to meet your needs. And therefore, we petition what He already promised us. You know, I just can't help but getting a little chuckle, maybe the old nature in me. When I read about people who are anxious and worried, sometimes it's a little comical. You know, well I don't know sometimes whether I need to laugh or cry.
I just read recently about this dear lady who for ten years never had a decent night's sleep. For 10 years. Just absolutely deathly afraid that it's going to be a burglar is going to come in the middle of the night. Ten years. Finally, after 10 years, they heard some noise downstairs.
So her husband went down and started looking, and sure enough, there was a burglar downstairs. And the husband said, Good evening, sir. I am so glad to meet you. Huh. Please come upstairs and meet my wife.
She's been waiting for you for ten years. What a relief. You know, when your worry finally pays off, you know. Worry is the opposite of trust. It really is.
It is the exact opposite. Worry is a trust in the negative. Why? Why do you trust in the negative? Because you are trusting in the unpleasant assurance of a disaster.
The reason it is trust in the negative because you are trusting in a belief in defeat, not in victory. That's why it is a sin. Worry is like a rocking chair. You know? It gives you something to do.
But it won't take you very far. That's what party does. And that is why this petition is placed here by our Lord Jesus Christ in order to teach us to place our confidence in what God had already obligated Himself to do. That's what it means. The provision, the petition.
Then the promise. If you have your Bible, I hope you already marked the word give.
Now I want you to mark the word us, US, us. Give us Who's Jesus talking about? Everybody in the world, no. Us is not everyone in the world. Or everyone who mutters these words called the Lord's Prayer, now.
Us Those who put their trust and confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's whom God obligated himself. That's whom God promised. To provide for their needs. Listen to what Jesus said in Luke 18:29.
He said, Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who shall not receive many times as much at this time and at the age to come, eternal life. I have a hard time saying this, but it's the absolute truth. There are three times in my life when I put everything on the line on that promise of God, and God never failed, not once. He kept that promise. and he'll keep it for you.
Here, the Lord Jesus Christ, He's not asking anybody to leave anything. But he's saying you've got to be willing at least to put it on the line for his sake. Here, the Lord Jesus is committing Himself irrevocably of taking care of those who are willing to put everything on the line for Him. And today, we have people who want to serve God only if the conditions are ripe and they will serve God only if the price is right, they will serve God if all the problems are solved and everything is just hunky-dory. Jesus doesn't want those people.
Because he told three different ones, he said, You follow me. He said, Well, I got to take care of this. He said, Go back.
Well, come and follow me. He said, Well, I've got to take care of it. He said, You go. He said no one put his hand on the plow and looked back. is fit for the kingdom of God.
I will worship the Lord only if I can make it to church. I will go to prayer meeting if I don't have a conflict. I will give my tithe an offering only if I have an overabundance. I will do this only if I. listen.
Don't ever bother try to bargain with God. He's a Middle Easterner, you know.
Okay. He will outbargon you all the time. Don't even bother. But I want you to notice that sense of order again, that sense of priority again in the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, No one who has done these things, no one who is willing to do these things, that is not going to be blessed multiple times here and in the life to come, eternal life.
It is the same order that we have been seeing throughout this message. When you put him first, he provides for your needs. When He becomes priority one in your life, you and your needs become priority one. in his life. Listen to what Jesus said to his followers.
He said, I say to you, do not be anxious for your life as to what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor for your body as to what you shall wear. Is not life more than food and the body than clothing? For all these things, the pagans. eagerly seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you. We've never trusted God really enough. to see. his working out of that promise.
Well, how does God provide? God sometimes provides supernaturally and miraculously, but often God provides for his children through hard work. And that is why the Apostle Paul can tell the Thessalonians, if you can work, refuse to work, then you should not even eat. And the way God provides for us is by giving us life, by giving us energy, by giving us resources, by giving us opportunity in order to make a living. And he provides for those who cannot provide for themselves through the generosity of those who have been blessed by him.
the generosity of his people. And you know what? He does that. on a daily basis. every single day.
He doesn't miss a day. He doesn't just provide on Mondays and then he skips a few days and come back another day next week. No. That's not how. You know, from the very beginning, God has been trying to teach this lesson to His children, and they've never learned that lesson.
From the very beginning, in the wilderness, when God took His people there on their way to the Promised Land, there in the wilderness, He began to teach them that lesson, and He's still teaching it to you and me every single day. Same lesson. Over and over and over again. Here's what he said to his people. He said, I will promise to provide for you.
I promise my provision for you. If you trust me, if you put your trust in me on a daily basis. He's a priority again. Here's that odor again. If you put your trust in Him, you put Him first, He's going to take care of your needs.
So what happened? They woke up one morning And whoopee, I mean it was snowing conflicts. all over the place. And they ate, they thought they were going to die in the wilderness. They started eating and eating and got filled.
But God knew. He knew that some of them are going to say, as some of you might say, Yeah, he provided for today, but is he going to provide for tomorrow? Yeah, we see the blessing now, but what about Next year.
Well, I'll give be blessed again.
So some of them, you know what they did? They took some of the stuff, the manna. And they took it and they hid it in the tent. Because you really don't know. God said, Trust me.
Oh, yeah, but yeah, you can trust him today, but can you really trust him tomorrow?
So they tempted God, they distrusted God, and they hid the men in their tents. And you know what happened? It stunk overnight like a sewer. That's really what the word means. He stunk like a sewer.
You say, wait a minute, this is a blessing from the hand of God. How can the blessing become a curse? I want to tell you exactly how a blessing can become a curse when you begin to distrust God. When you begin to doubt God, The very blessing that He's given you is going to turn into a curse in your hand. Because When you distrust God, you are insulting God.
You really are. Whether you know it or not, you really do. What was God doing? He was trying to teach him that same lesson I was telling you that he's trying to teach many of us today. It's the same lesson.
Second, third, fifth, twenty thousand times, all over, every generation has to learn this lesson. He says, trust me. But oh, you know, it would be a lot easier. I can trust him if my bank account is a little bigger. He says, trust me.
Yeah, I really trust God, but you know what? It would be a lot better for me to trust God if the statement of my net worth just a little larger. And the reason people don't tithe or give offering is because they don't trust God. That's the bottom line, really. That's the bottom line.
I sometimes sense God in exasperation saying, if I provided for you yesterday, why don't you trust me to provide for you tomorrow? If I upheld you yesterday, why am I going to dope you tomorrow? If I answered your yesterdays, why wouldn't I answer you today and tomorrow? If I cared for your yesterday and today, why wouldn't I care for your tomorrow? Are you hiding mana for the future?
Our hope is that today's Leading the Way message from Dr. Youssef will encourage you to focus on God's provision, our petition, and God's unchanging promises.
Now, before our time is gone, I do want to mention resources guaranteed to encourage you in your faith walk. The first is a daily e-devotional from Leading the Way and Dr. Youssef, and it's called My Devotional.
Now, I know your email inbox is overflowing. You have content you probably end up ignoring. But this is an email that I promise you'll look forward to opening and consuming. You see, it's packed full of truth, words straight from the Bible, and insight from the experience of a compassionate pastor and teacher, Dr. Yosef.
Once again, it's called My Devotional, and it's free. Sign up at LTW. My Devotional is also available as an audio podcast, and you can subscribe wherever you get your podcast content. The church today is being attacked and destroyed from within as dangerous false teachings have been welcomed and are now widely taught. In Dr.
Youssef's book, Saving Christianity, experience and understand the truth so you will not be deceived and you can protect the next generation from a faith that is destined to crumble. This month, Dr. Youssef is offering to send a copy of Saving Christianity as his way of saying thanks to those who give a gift of any amount to leading the way. Get more details about the content of this powerful book at ltw.org. Learn more about this month's special offer to get your copy of Saving Christianity?
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Youssef a note. We're at Leading the Way, Post Office Box 20100, Atlanta, Georgia. three zero three two five This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Yousaf. Mm-hmm.
