In My Father’s House

This week my wife and I were discussing the comfort of the promise that the Lord has a mansion awaiting us. As this age grows darker and more insecure, this blessed promise is very much on our hearts and minds.

The Lord Jesus gave this wonderful promise of assurance on the night of His betrayal, as He was preparing His disciples for the horrible things that they would soon witness, the things that would make this promise effective.

     In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:2-3)

My wife asked me whether we will really have a mansion. “I don’t really want a mansion,” she said, “just a place to stay.”

In verse 2 the Lord Jesus actually employs three different words for what is reserved for us. His actual words as John records them are:

     In the house (oikia) of the Father of Me abodes (monai) many are. But if not, I would have told you. I journey to prepare a place (topon) for you-all.”

The Father’s house or household is established. God knows His own. He knows from eternity. In His household He has residences for all of His beloved children. No one has been forgotten. Jesus assures His disciples of this as He journeys onward to the public condemnation and rejection of mankind and to the torturous scourging and death of the cross and finally to the grave. This is the means by which they and all who look to Him in faith receive the guarantee of a place together with Him in the Father’s household. He resolutely looked to this throughout His life. He continually proclaimed this to His disciples. Now, they would see the fulfillment of all of the promises and prophecies of the Scriptures, but would not understand until after the resurrection. What they were about to witness would crush their spirits and drive all hope from their hearts, except for these words of promise. Apart from this assurance, they would not understand the words of Jesus on the cross as He would cry out in our place with the blindness of our sin, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

These words are our false perception that we have inherited from Adam on account of sin. Just as Adam falsely imagined that the Lord had forsaken him on account of his guilty and filthy conscience, so we stand imagining that God has forsaken us. But even in that moment of being made to be sin for us, even in that moment when evil moved in so powerfully and fully that the very sun was darkened, even in that moment as the Son of Man cried out with our accursedness, still the Father looked on in merciful love and comforted His Son and through Him comforted all of mankind with the assurance that He has not abandoned us. It is only our refusal to trust Him that separates us from Him.

This is why the author to the Hebrews writes:

     So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. (Hebrews 5:5-10)

Christ Jesus was saved from death. Though He took our place and was crucified as a condemned sinner in our stead, though He was rejected by mankind and tortured and killed, though our sin stood between Him and the Father, nevertheless the Father remained with Him even as they are truly one from eternity. Though Christ died for us according to the flesh, He was nevertheless preserved from death by His union with the Father. And so, on the third day He raised Himself bodily from the dead so as to ascend bodily to the Father and take our flesh to the very throne of God to rule on our behalf as both God and Man forevermore.

This is why St. Paul writes to the Colossians:

     If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)

Yes, by His suffering, death, and burial Christ has secured for us our place together with Him in His everlasting kingdom, the household of the Father, in which there exists an abundance of residences for all of His children. By His resurrection and ascension Christ has given us the assurance of our place with Him even as through our baptism we have been joined with Him as everlasting communicants of His Holy Communion.

As I explained to my wife, a baby is perfectly content to sleep in a dresser drawer, if that baby abides in the parents’ love. A little child is perfectly happy to share a room and even a bed with multiple siblings, if that child knows that the household is one in which abides the assurance of love. This is the promise given to us by our Lord Jesus. We are loved and we shall forevermore dwell in the security of that love. Our place has been prepared and awaits us after all that must transpire in the current age has come to pass. For now we live in that blessed hope, reminded of the Lord’s merciful patience that moves Him to wait until the Gospel has been heard and received by every last person for whom a place has been reserved.

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More than Conquerors

     Hupernikomen = we are over/above conquerors

      For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:5-11)

     And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:28-39)

     We Are Above Conquerors!

      The victory is not in the temporal things but over and beyond the temporal. For the temporal does not endure, but fades. The everlasting, THE EVERLASTING, God Himself, is our victory.

     "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."

     Consider what this means. We are MORE than conquerors. We are above-conquerors! We are those for whom the victory has been won. We are the kings for whom the servant-warrior went forth and won the everlasting battle. We don't have to fight. We are more than conquerors. We are the ones for whom the battle has been fought and we now live in the victory that has been won.

      And so, like dear Stephen, even as the stones strike us and beat us down in the flesh, we look to the right hand of God and see the place that the man, Jesus, holds for us. We see that our place has already been won for us, purchased and held by the presence of Jesus at the right hand of God. Man now rules the universe in the union of the God/Man Jesus. The Lord Jesus has ruled as God from eternity, but with His ascension in the flesh to the right hand of power, He also rules as Man, our brother in the flesh, the first fruit of the resurrection, in whom we have our share in the resurrection and the kingdom of glory.

      This is what empowers us to live in absolute confidence. For Christ not only won the victory over sin for us by His suffering and death on the cross, but He rose from the dead, with His body, into which He incorporates us through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. He rose to verify our new life in Him as the Son of Man risen from the dead, joined with the Son of God everlastingly as one in the flesh. There is no power that can separate or dissolve this union. And thus, when we are conjoined with Christ through Baptism, as long as we do not surrender the faith that He has poured out to us, there is no power that can separate us from the love of God, for as St. Paul concludes, the love of God is in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have been conjoined. As long as we do not choose to separate ourselves from Christ, no power in heaven or on earth can or will separate us from God's love. The victory is in Christ Jesus, who rules on our behalf at the right hand of power. Truly, we are more than conquerors through the one having loved us.

Sound of Music - Central Station Antwerp (Belguim)

Here is an example of the power of music to move people in their hearts, minds, spirits, and bodies.



This is a tiny example of the power of music and singing. Even though this is a silly little song, it demonstrates how much people enjoy music and the grandeur of singing.

It puzzles me that some people hear of the fact that among the many things foretold to us regarding the new life that is prepared for the saints in heaven that some people imagine that singing praises to God will be boring. Yet in this video one can clearly observe that singing is a joyful experience that is even more powerfully and overwhelmingly joyous when done in unison by all who are present.

The singing in heaven will not be silly. It will be a continuation of the joy that has begun in God’s Holy Communion of the Saints who know and live in the peace that surpasses all understanding. Just imagine what it will be like when Michael or Gabriel sound forth with the voice of an archangel. Imagine when all of the heavenly host join in. Imagine how this will resonate. Imagine how this will move the saints.

Now also imagine what life will be like when no one will ever hear said of one’s own voice, “That was terrible!” What will it be like when no one ever again fears being rejected by others? What will it be like when the sounds of music move one in the heart so as to want to hug and kiss the nearest person, and such reactions will be counted as normal so that no one ever anticipates having such a display of love to be rejected? What will it be like when every emotional response is pure and without sin so that the true freedom of a life of pure love is all that is ever experienced?

Will this not be cause for singing? Will this not be cause for singing forth with all of one’s being the praises of God and the Lamb who from eternity have established this for the saints? Could there be any more natural response?

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These two sites explain who was behind this Sound of Music treat at the Antwerp Central Station:

Centraal Station Antwerpen - Op zoek naar Maria
Antwerp central station dances to The Sound of Music

Growing and Declining in Faith

In today’s “Faith & Values” section of the Wichita Eagle the following question was presented to Billy Graham along with his answer. It is a regular feature included in the paper.

The question is a very common question, one that every “person of faith” encounters. The Reverend Graham’s answer is quite typical, and it falls far short for reasons that will be presented later in this post. First the question and the Reverend Graham’s answer:

MY ANSWER/BILLY GRAHAM

DEAR REV. GRAHAM: A year ago I accepted Jesus into my life, and for a time I really felt He was with me. But now I find myself wondering sometimes if God even exists. Why has this happened? Is the devil trying to turn me away from God? --Q.S.

DEAR Q.S.: The devil will always try to turn us away from God; after all, this is the main thing he wants to accomplish in our lives. And one way he does this is by probing for our weak spots and trying to take advantage of them.

But don't blame everything on the devil; he doesn't deserve all the credit! The real problem, I suspect, is that after you gave your life to Jesus you thought this was the end, and it was all you needed to do. You knew your sins were forgiven.

But afterward you never did anything to strengthen yourself spiritually -- and over time you became spiritually weak. In order to survive and grow, you need spiritual food and warmth -- the "food" of the Bible and prayer, and the "warmth" of fellowship with other believers. If these were missing, your spiritual life inevitably suffered.

God has not abandoned you; He loves you and yearns for you to grow stronger in your faith. Confess your weakness to Him, and then take time each day to be alone with God in His Word and in prayer. In addition, ask Him to lead you to a church where Christ is central, and where you can grow in your faith.

The Q&A is also available here.

This question is a very common question. I doubt whether any Christian has lived in this world without facing this challenging question. It is a very disconcerting question. If left without the true answer to this question a person will despair of all hope of everlasting life or will spend a lifetime groping after what cannot be found.

Sadly, the answer given by the Reverend Graham falls short.

It falls short for a reason. That reason is actually given in the title chosen for this regularly offered column in the daily paper.

Did you catch the reason in the title?

The title is: MY ANSWER/BILLY GRAHAM.

This is the reason that the hurting individual is troubled by this dreadful question in the first place. The answer that is needed is not a pastor’s answer. The answer that is needed is not a church body’s answer. The answer that is needed is not the Reverend Graham’s answer.

God’s answer is the one that is needed.

The Reverend Graham’s answer sounds very solid to a undiscerning heart. It sounds very Biblical and godly and Christian. His answer to the hurting and troubled person is: “. . . you never did anything to strengthen yourself spiritually -- and over time you became spiritually weak.”

This is a typical response from those who count themselves as spiritual and “more spiritual” than others. This is the response that people typically expect and even seek to hear.

But is this really the answer? Upon whom does this answer direct the individual to depend?

Consider the rest of the Reverend Graham’s answer:

In order to survive and grow, you need spiritual food and warmth -- the "food" of the Bible and prayer, and the "warmth" of fellowship with other believers. If these were missing, your spiritual life inevitably suffered.

To the undiscerning heart this sounds like a very helpful answer. But upon whom does this answer direct the person to depend?

First and foremost this answer directs the person to depend on self. It directs the person to what actions the person takes to strengthen self.

Is this what the Scriptures teach?

And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. (John 5:37-40)

Is the “food” by which one’s spirit is fed the “Bible and prayer”?

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:28-35)

The food or bread of life is not the Bible and it is not prayer. Jesus, the Christ, is the bread of life by which the spirit is regenerated and kept alive.

The Bible does not have the power to impart faith. The Bible is the written record that declares the Word. JESUS is the Word.

The question presented by Q.S. betrays the cause of the doubts and fears and pains that this dear soul is experiencing. Q.S. says, “A year ago I accepted Jesus into my life, . . .”

This is a lie. This person is hurting because of a major misunderstanding regarding the way of faith.

No one accepts Jesus into his life.

Jesus comes into the person’s life and then that person acknowledges the presence of the Savior and rejoices in this knowledge..

This sounds trivial until a person understands the fullness of the distinction.

The Scriptures teach that kingdom of God does not come by observation. The Scriptures teach that faith does not come by an act of the human will. The Scriptures teach that a person receives Jesus and is thereby given the power or authority to be born as a son of God.

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)

This reception Jesus calls a rebirth or regeneration when He explains to Nicodemus the way of life in John chapter 3. He tells the confused preacher and teacher of Israel that no one can even perceive or see the kingdom of God unless that person be regenerated. Then He further explains that no one can enter into the kingdom of God unless that person be regenerated by water and the Spirit.

St. Paul writes to Pastor Titus:

But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:4-7)

Again the apostle writes to the saints in Ephesus:

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-10)

By these we learn that faith is not a work that is done by ourselves but a work that God works in us. It is by the hearing of the Word that the Holy Spirit comes to us and works the miracle of faith in us. This faith is a gift of God. He gives it freely. By this faith He regenerates us. Jesus Christ, the Word, is the one through whom the Holy Spirit is given. The Holy Spirit creates faith in us and that faith changes us from unbelievers to believers.

This is truly good news to anyone who has doubts and fears about the strength of his faith. Our faith is weak on account of it being counted as our own. According to our own faith, we do not truly trust God to be merciful and forgiving. According to our own faith we are full of doubt and fear and weakness.

But according to the faith of Jesus, the faith by which He came to the world and lived without sin and then took our sin in His own body to die on the cross and be buried, according to this faith, which is preached in accord with the pure Gospel and administered in the pure Sacraments, no doubt or fear or weakness remains. This is the faith that God works. It is everlasting and it cannot fail. It is a done deed. Therefore we may rely upon it without doubt or fear, and then no weakness of faith remains.

It is essential that we know where this faith lives. It lives in the body of Christ, which is the pure and holy Church that abides in His words and works. The Lord Jesus established His Church of the New Testament in His blood. He commanded that His Gospel be preached without compromise so that all doubts would be dispersed. He commanded that disciples be made through the means of the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, that is, Baptism. He commanded that these regenerated saint/sinners be kept in His grace, mercy, and peace through the Holy Communion of His body and blood.

The Bread of Life is Jesus. The warmth that we need flows from being connected with His body through Baptism and the Holy Communion. This “warmth” is not the sense of comradery or fellowship that people often mistake for the holy koinonia. This warmth is the life that is in Christ’s blood, poured out for the forgiveness of many. This warmth is the life that is received through Baptism and renewed through the Holy Communion.

Contrary to what the Reverend Graham and most Christians imagine, Christ is not the center of life and faith for the Church. Christ is the life and faith of the Church.

When this is understood, people no longer seek to make Christ the center of their lives. Rather, they live in Christ, trusting that He is their life and their all. With this understanding, doubts and fears are washed away, for then the person no longer looks to his own faith for hope and peace and assurance, but simply lives by the faith that God gives. The person simply trusts that Jesus really is the answer, and having received Jesus through the faith that the Holy Spirit works, that person continues in the great Eucharist or Thanksgiving, partaking of the Bread of Life and being strengthened and renewed in His blood of life.

The answer really is this wonderfully simple.

What’s your life worth?

Did you know that the government agencies of the United States of America evaluate the value of a human life and use these bureaucratic calculations in determining laws and regulations?

On the front page of today’s Wichita Eagle an article appears with the headline What's your life worth? A lot less to EPA.

According to the report, the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as other agencies, use various criteria to calculate a so called value of a statistical life.

What exactly is a statistical life?

Well, YOUR life is a statistical life. Every human being has a life, and that life is treated as a numerical datum. This is the view that results from loving money and making mammon one’s god.

The Scriptures explain this very plainly.

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. (1 Timothy 6:9-11)

The Lord Jesus declared:

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? (Matthew 6:21-25)

When money becomes the basis for deciding what is right and wrong, when cost is the factor by which decisions of life and death are determined, mercy disintegrates. The love of money turns all decisions away from mercy and away from compassion and away from caring and away from goodness. The love of money turns all decisions to selfishness and to the maintenance and preservation of one’s own money and possessions and power.

This is why St. Paul admonishes:

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:3-5)

This way of looking upon others does not develop in a person on its own. It is not even possible to have this mindset by one’s own choice. No, as St. Paul declares, this is the mind of Christ, which is made to be the mind of those who are in Christ.

Thus we will observe certain imitations of this in the world, such as the facade of caring that is presented by the Environmental Protection Agency. But we will never see in the activities of the world and of the world’s agents the real caring that is not limited by monetary considerations. This real caring, this limitless caring, comes from God, who is love.

This is why the larger headline on the same page is: Casinos make pitch to state.

It is about the money!

A person who counts the things of others as just as important and even more important than one’s own things does not seek to use people’s greediness against them. That is, after all, the basis for gambling. Those who gamble and promote gambling are hoping to profit from the greediness and gullibility of others. People do not gamble with the good of others in mind.

The Casino owners want to make profit from others, regardless of how others are injured. The government wants to make profit from the profits of the casinos so that more money can be squandered on various programs that have the false appearance of caring for the people. People want to get something for nothing, knowing full well that someone has to lose heavily in order for this gain for self to occur.

In other words, the lives of others are counted as of less value than the personal or communal or corporate monetary gains.

So what is your life really worth?

To God, it is worth everything. To God, your life is worth His own life. To God, your life is worth the cost of humbling Himself to take on the form of Man, even more, to take the sin of the world and to be made to be sin in the place of Man, to be falsely condemned, to be persecuted and betrayed, and to be tortured to death. This is the mind of Christ, the God who is also Man, the Creator who loves the world so much that He is willing to humble Himself to take into Himself and to continue with the form of the creature for the sake of the creature.

Such value of life is found only in the heart and mind of Christ and of those who through Baptism are made to be one with Christ.

What is your life worth? Do you really know?

If you really know the worth of your life, then will it not show in the way that you value the lives of others? Is it possible to know the mind of Christ and not to have that mind toward others?

What is your life really worth? Do you know? Do you know what value God places upon you? Do you know what power God has for you and how He desires for you to be made to be like Him? Do you know that He has reserved a place for you in His kingdom, to be a coheir with Christ, to inherit all that is of God? Do you know that in Baptism God places His own name upon you and bestows all that is His along with His holy name?

Knowing one’s value changes a person.

Do you really know the value that has been declared concerning your life?

Click here to see your true value.

Our Daily Bread

Smack in the middle of the Our Father the Lord Jesus placed the Fourth Petition: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

What did the Lord Jesus mean by this? We usually hear from this the wonderful explanation that Dr. Luther supplies in the Small Catechism.

However, considering the context of the entire prayer, could it be that the Lord was teaching much more to us as His disciples?

Consider His declaration to the Jews in John 6:26-35.

Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

With this declaration from the lips of the Lord, does the Fourth Petition sound richer and fuller? Is there a reason that this sits in the middle of the prayer that He gave, saying, “When you pray, pray this”? Could it be that the Lord means for us to receive this petition as more than the center of the prayer but also the very foundation of our life of faith?

Since Jesus declares that faith in Jesus is the work of God, does it not seem fitting that He would teach us to pray that our Father in heaven would daily give us this bread of faith for our life in Him?

Wouldn’t you agree that this is “food” for thought?