The Lord's Prayer -- Our Daily Bread — Hans R. Waldvogel

The Lord’s Prayer and Union with Christ

We've been studying that wonderful prayer called the Lord's Prayer, and it is indeed the Lord's Prayer. I cannot pray it successfully. Jesus Christ prays it in me, not a thousand times in repetition, but in every breath I draw, every pulsation of my heart says, Our Father who art in heaven, for now He is my Father, as truly as He is the Father of my Lord Jesus Christ.

Hallelujah. Someone has written a poem saying, Near to the heart of God, nearer I cannot be, for in Jesus Christ, His beloved Son, I'm just as near as He is. And the second verse says, Dear to the heart of God, dearer I cannot be.

Think of it. For in Jesus Christ, His only Son, I'm just as dear as He is. And herein lies love, not that we love God, but that He loved us. And so, when the disciples came and said, Lord, teach us to pray, it was as if he said, well, boys, you can't understand it now.

The Holy Spirit’s Intercession and God’s Purpose

Wait till the Holy Ghost has come. He'll make intercession for you with groanings that cannot be uttered. According to the will of God, and you'll find out that all things work together for good to them that love God.

Your very prayer will be a proof of it, for we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. What good is my prayer if it isn't a prayer in the presence of God, if it doesn't reach the heart of my Father who is in heaven?

Christ Opens the Way into God’s Presence

But, beloved, in order to make my prayer so effective, Jesus Christ had to take away my sin and had to open the way into the holiest of all, into which place the high priest alone was allowed to enter in Old Testament times.

But now he's pitched a tent, a heavenly tent. The tabernacle of David, which was broken down, has been rebuilt, thank God. And that wonderful Rabi Gabui Shilei Zalah, that wonderful holy place of which David cries through the Holy Ghost when he says that I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever, is now my home.

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His temple.

Dwelling in the Secret Place of the Most High

In the secret of His presence shall He hide me from the pride of man. How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! The swallow has found a house in the wild fog of the net. Glory to God! Even Thine altars!

O Beloved, have you found that place? Have you learned to pray, Our Father, who art in heaven? Have you learned to say, Thy presence is fulness of joy, and Thy right hand are pleasures forevermore? Do you know what the 91st Psalm has to say?

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. O so near to the heart of God that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord.

And the Apostle Paul knew about trouble. In the world you shall have tribulation. You might as well make up your mind. But I am persuaded that neither height nor depth, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.

Worship in Spirit and Sonship

O, I must open my heart to the love of God. And when I say, Our Father, who art in heaven, my Father, my Father will stoop and hear the prayer of His child. And in order to make me a worshipper, who worships God not with vain violence.

Spirit and in truth He has sent forth this which ye now see and hear, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Sonship, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Fathers love to hear their kids say, Hi, Dad. Be in the heart of my Heavenly Father when I come and say, Abba, Father.

Nobody between, nobody around. In that secret place of the Most High, there is no earthly light, no earthly fire, no earthly voice, no human being. Alone with God. Alone with God. And not once in a while, not an hour in the day, but all the time to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

Seeking God with the Whole Heart

And think of the busy life that David lived and yet he somehow discovered that place. Do you know why? Because he sought it with all his heart. He said, As the heart panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

O when will I come to stand before God, send out thy light and thy truth, let them lead me unto thy holy hill, then will I go unto God my exceeding joy. Beloved, that's worshipping God in spirit and in truth.

When your heart is so deeply in love with God that you can't stand to be without him anymore. But your soul constantly seeking, constantly seeking. And when your soul is a seeker after God, it is a finder.

Glory to God. They that seek me early shall find me. And everyone that seeketh findeth in the very seeking is the finding. Granted. In the very asking is the giving. God wants me to ask because he wants to give.

Glory to God. And he wants me to ask with confidence, with boldness, with faith, because he wants to give. It isn't my proposition that I should pray and be filled with all the fullness of God. It's God's proposition.

It isn't my proposition, as I said some time ago, that God should forgive all my transgressions. It's his proposition. It's his will that I should be clean. It isn't my will that I should be healed of all my infirmities.

God’s Care and the Hallowing of His Name

It's his will. And for this cause, he himself took my infirmities and bare my sicknesses. My heavenly Father cares. He cares. He will guard you as the apple of his eye. I trust in God. I know he cares for me.

That's the principle of the kingdom of God. And if I don't let him care for me, I will be lost. Or at least I will miss my crown. Oh, I must come and pray. And that's why it says, when ye pray, say, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

And I don't hallow his name unless I trust him, unless I come to him and abide in his presence and let him care for me and turn every care and all the care of all that concerns me over to him. I had to learn that when God brought me into the ministry.

I used to be so fearful and so careful, and God had to teach me to turn all my care and all the care of all the work over to him. And he's taken care of it so much better than I could have. He cares. Praise God.

The care of my body, of my spirit, of my soul, of my days, of my eternity, of everything. Beloved, when he says, hallowed be thy name, he says, if I'm a father, where is my honor? When you don't trust me, when you don't lean hard upon me and stand on my promise.

Abraham gave glory to God when in the deepest, darkest trial that could come to any human being, when he drew the knife to slay his son. At that moment, he was fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able also to perform and that no devil in hell and no power of death could hinder God and stop God from fulfilling his promise.

That's the kind of a father I have. And listen, he is my father today, now, this very moment. Oh God. Hallelujah. He says, through the prophet, and it shall be my delight to do them good. Have you ever found out how God delights in you?

The Kingdom of God Within and the Call to Surrender

You're his child. You're ashamed of yourself, but Jesus is not ashamed to call you brother. He's not ashamed to dwell among us. He's not ashamed to dwell within us. And he's not ashamed to sing in other tongues through us and to laugh in us sometimes so heartily.

I never laughed like I've laughed since the Holy Ghost has come. And sometimes I've yodeled too. I can't do that myself, but when the Lord yodels in me, but I can't do it. Sounds like a rooster with a chicken bone stuck in his throat.

But when the Lord does it, whoo, hallelujah. Lord in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Yesterday we considered the words, thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom come. Where's the kingdom of God going to be? Why, it's going to be no place but inside of me, or I won't know anything about the kingdom of God.

That's what I'm here for. I am his kingdom, and my business is to make my choice everything between the devil and God. And when I say, thy kingdom come, I resist the devil. And when I sing the songs of the devil, may it be what it please.

These woe be gone murmurings and disputings, these complainings, these murmurings. Do you know how dangerous it is? Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

Twenty-three thousand slain in one day because they dare murmur against God. And Moses says, why do you complain against us? Your murmuring is not against us, but against the Lord who is in the midst of you.

But beloved, he is not only in the midst of us, he is our life. Hallelujah. He is my joy. He is my peace. He is my all in all. Oh, beloved, I need to know where in the kingdom of God consists. It isn't something I make.

Letting Christ Reign Through Faith

I don't manufacture joy or peace or love. That's given to me when I let Jesus Christ be the one, when I let him reign. When in the very place where sin reigns, and where I allow sin to gag me, now I plug in to the current of heaven and presently I'm electrified.

Faith is that attachment. Faith is that victory. Faith relates to the fullness of the Holy Ghost that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven and you can fully step out on it.

You can't do it. I cannot do it. We know what failures we are in ourselves. Hallelujah. But today we rejoice. We glory in our infirmities that the power of Christ might rest upon us. That his will might be done.

Jesus Christ has been given to us for that very purpose. That where sin reigns, God might reign. Grace might reign. He talks about the gift of righteousness. Hallelujah. They that receive abundance of grace.

Do you have abundance of grace today? Well you ought to show it on your face. Listen. The more you frown, the more you'll be bound. It's like cigarettes smoking. It becomes an addiction. And after a while you can't smile anymore.

You'll crack your lips. But if you receive abundance of grace. Oh hallelujah. Hallelujah. It is something I have not deserved. It's the salvation which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

But now it's made manifest through the appearing of the Son of God. Who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to life through the gospel. Wonderful Jesus. You notice these petitions come in pairs.

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. And here. Give us this day our daily bread. Now we have our bread baskets at home. We have them with that word inscribed. Give us this day our daily bread. God is not talking about rye bread nor Swedish hardtack or white bread or buns or anything like that.

Why is this? How much more shall your heavenly Father He feeds the sparrows and the ravens. How much more you oh ye of little faith you don't have to bother about that. Don't question what shall we eat or what shall we drink.

But labor for the meat. Which perisheth not. I am that bread of life which the Father giveth unto you. Beloved that's how the Father cared for his children. I used to be delighted when I visited my brother when all the boys were young.

Eight of them. They had an oval table and the eight of them sat around the table and I wondered how my brother ever got anything to eat. Here was the bread and here was the oleomargarine and here was the knife and here was Walter.

Give me a piece of bread and my brother was busy spreading that oleomargarine. Here. And then Edwin give me a piece of bread and then another. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here.

Here. Here. Here. Here. Why, the first one wanted another piece of bread and so it went on. My poor brother. I said Joe has boys and you got boys. But he cared for them. They were hungry. And my brother was Father.

Serve himself and let the children serve naturally. My Heavenly Father beloved He cares for me. He knows that man shall not live by bread only. Do you know why we're so lean spiritually? Do you know how to be filled with all the fullness of God?

The Word of God as Spiritual Bread

It cannot come any other way but by God's way. Man shall not live by bread alone. The word that proceeded out of my mouth, gracious, is my father to send his Jesus Christ and guarantee in the face of all hell that every word of God is full of power, full of life.

The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life. Blessed are your ears for they hear. You love the Word of God? Do you love the Bible? Maybe we do. We have quizzes on television. Haven't you wished you could answer some of those questions on television?

There was a woman in Quincy, Illinois, who had memorized the whole Bible word for word, but she knew nothing about the Bible. She didn't know a thing about salvation, not a thing. She just rattled it off like a parrot.

There are lots of people, lots of Bible students like that. And then there are those who have it intellectually so that they can argue and they can write books about it and they can preach about it and they haven't got a spark of life in them.

Beloved, the princes of this world have not known how different when the Father of life revealed it to be. Paul says, when God who chose me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles.

Intellectual Knowledge Versus Revelation by the Spirit

Now he had the Word of God intellectually. He knew the Bible from A to Z. But it wasn't until the Holy Ghost came and shed a broad light in his soul. He says, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

And if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not. Let the light, the glorious light of the gospel of Christ to shine on them.

Give us this day our daily bread. Oh my father wants to be your Bible teacher. I know we need teachers. I know God has set in the church preachers and teachers and thank God for them. They help us. If they lead us to the fountain, a good teacher will not chew the food for you like my neighbor chewed it for his tomcat.

He'll lead you to the fountain and show you how to eat yourself. He'll show you where the bread basket is. That's what Jesus Christ did. That's what the Apostle Paul did. He says, I commend you to God and to the Word of his grace which is able to build you up.

And the Apostle Peter says, now that you're born again as newborn be, desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. And to Timothy he says, meditate therein. Give thyself wholly to them.

And because that from a child I was known the holy scriptures that are able to make thee wise unto salvation. Beloved, I need this bread every day. And I need to come to my father every day. Oh what a meeting every day.

Daily Scripture Meditation and Spiritual Growth

What a wonderful day is this day. Today he will give me my daily bread. He won't give me a whole household today, but he'll give me as much as I need today. God knows what I need. God knows what you need.

Oh beloved, if we went to God like that every day and waited upon the Lord over the Bible, we would become Bible students. We would become teachers. You know what he says to the Hebrews? Why by this time you ought to be teachers.

And you have need that one teach you again the first principles of the doctrine of Christ. You have need of milk and not of meat. It's a rebuke. But oh and a dear child of God. And what does it say? Be ye followers of God as dear children.

As the dear child of God comes to the table of the Lord every day. God will be faithful. You may not read a whole chapter a day, but there will be some word of God that will be illuminated to your soul.

It may be just a sentence, but out of that sentence will come the atomic radiation that never ceases giving light. There will be light. It will speak to you. God will speak to you. Oh that's the wonder of this New Testament.

It's bread. It's the bread of life. Everyone that has really come to God knows what I'm talking about. It's unspeakably wonderful. But beloved, I need this bread and more than that. I need it from the hand of the Father.

Receiving and Eating the Word of God

Words were found and I did eat them. And thy word was the joy and the rejoicing of my heart. For I'm called by thy name. You know who spoke that? Jeremiah. Do you know at what occasion he spoke? It was at a time when the Bible as they knew it at that time was lost.

Had been lost for many many years. The Jews and Israel had fallen into deep sin, into idolatry. And there was a king, a wonderful king, Josiah, who was a godly young man. And he commanded the temple to be cleaned.

And as they cleaned the house of God, they found the book. Hilkiah the scribe found the book and Shabner brought it to the king. And he said, Hilkiah has found the book. He brought it tremblingly. So they honored that book.

It had been lost a long long time. And now Josiah had it read. And what did he read? Deprecation, warning, judgment. And that's what Jeremiah says, thy words were found and I did eat them. And Josiah rent his garment because he realized that this word convicted him.

What did you find? Have you found the book? Listen, have you found the book? Have you discovered the Testament in which your name is at the top? Some time ago in Germany, when I was there, I read of a man who got into grave sorrow of heart.

His uncle had gone to America many years ago and started a business here. And when he died, he left millions to his brother. And his brother was also an uncle of this man in Germany. And when this uncle died, the police sought for the heir and they found that this young man in Germany was the heir.

So they wrote him a letter, a registered letter, telling him that he was an heir of many millions of dollars. And when he got this letter, the postman wanted a certain amount of money for it, just a few pennies.

His father said, what? He never done anything for me. I'm not going to spend a mark and a half. Just take it back. I don't want it. This fella got old. Now he's an old man. And now he found out what he had lost and what he had turned back.

Millions of dollars could have been his and were offered him in this letter. And just because he was too stingy to pay a few pennies. And when he found out, he went to the government. He sued the government for this amount of money.

It was lost. Couldn't get it anymore. He dies of pauper and he could have been a millionaire. Have you found the book? You see, I found thy words. Are they so precious to you? But you know, it isn't just reading the Bible and studying the Bible.

I thank God that I had parents who taught me conscientiously to read a chapter in the Bible every day. I would never have gone to sleep at night without it. I couldn't if I was addicted to it. It was pounded into me.

And I'm thankful to God for that. But you know, God has something infinitely better for every one of his children. How sad his heart must be if I don't allow my father to care for me like that. To give me his word.

How that word will change me. Why God says it'll produce the fruit for which I sent it. It'll do the very thing unto which I sent it. Beloved, we would all be filled with exceeding great faith today. And we ought to be.

We ought to be teachers today. We ought to have that word in us because that word is substance. That word is brain by which man shall live eternally. And we're careless. Do you know this wonderful fellowship with the Father and with the Son over the Bible?

I believe God would like us to learn more about it. I think God would like us to be more diligent. Oh, the fountain of life that keeps flowing out of this book and most of it goes unheeded. What would have happened to the Christian Church if they had come upon this book like Josiah did and like Jeremiah did and had loved it and had eaten it and instead of that they use it for weapons to fight one another with.

And they use it for tech to preach sermons with and make money with. How very different when God can look down from heaven and he says, I found a man after my own heart who will do all my will. And when I pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.

God will say, my word is my will. It'll accomplish that where unto I sent it. We don't know how bread is changed into blood and into muscles and strength and how we derive what we do. We know we do. We know that it is our natural health and life to eat bread.

But how much more daily bread. Oh God, give us this day. Give us this day. They had to go out every morning before the sun was up. Do you know the blessing of the morning watch? Have you found it out?

The Morning Watch and Meeting God in His Word

Martin Luther says, if I fail to pray two hours in the morning, the devil gets the best of me. Then I'll have to pray three hours at night. That's approximately what he's saying. Do you know the blessing of meeting your father over his word every day?

Are you wasting your time when you do that? Well, you don't waste your time when you cook your meal. How carefully you cook your meal. It's got to be watched. We have clocks that ring the bell. Now, ding, now the roast has to come out of the oven.

And it's got to be carefully watched. Very careful. You remember the man who heard a woman sing, Jesus, lover of my soul, every morning as he went to work. Finally went in to see what a saint she was.

Every morning she sang that song. Well, she says, when I cook the eggs, so I think two verses and when they're hard-boiled, I sing three verses. That was the whole sainthood. Don't you do that. But beloved, Father's waiting.

Jesus says, Father's in secret. He's in your heart. He is there to feed you, to give you the bread of heaven. Oh, it's very different when God does it. Do you know that? Do you know that we don't take time enough?

The Bible as God’s Living Testament

We're not still enough over the Bible. You can't get it just by looking at it or reading it over. For shame, when in the Middle West, I saw a Pentecostal church having a Bible-reading marathon. They had a loudspeaker on the outside, and continuously they were reading from the Bible, just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

To me, it seems sacrilege. This is a diamond mine. This is a testament. This is given to us with the same love wherewith Jesus Christ gave his blood. In fact, this is his blood. It's his life. His life.

And to become a Bible student, I must open my heart so that God can write his law upon my heart, and make it my life, and make me a living epistle of Christ, written with the Spirit of the living God.