Because we are the children of a loving Heavenly
Father. You and I are entitled to expect that
our Heavenly Father will provide us fully with
everything that we need, and He's made provision
for exactly that. I'm the only person in the
whole world who knows real security. The only
person in the whole world who holds the title
deed to a real life insurance policy are God's
children. You know, we talk about life insurance
policies, and most of you, as I talk with you,
say certainly. I have a life insurance policy.
No, you don't. You have a death insurance policy.
When that one comes to your house and writes
out that insurance policy, it isn't really a
life insurance policy. It's an insurance policy
to provide for your loved ones after your death.
So it isn't a life insurance policy. The only
one who can give a real, honest -to -goodness
life insurance policy is our Heavenly Father,
Jesus Christ, His Son. Think about that a minute.
And you're the richest person in the whole world.
You are the most secure person in the whole world.
If you have the life insurance policy that God
gives, if you're able to look up and say, my
heavenly father, you know, you and I have been
studying the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray.
And I have a feeling that if you've been following
me day after day in these heart to heart talks,
somehow. You have a different idea regarding
life, living life. Life holds a different meaning
to you entirely. Not only that, this wonderful
relationship. If you fully understand the meaning
of the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, if
you are living and... if you have that relationship
that this prayer speaks of, the prayer that Jesus
taught you and taught me to pray, then there
can be no fear in that life of yours whatsoever.
You will not fear tomorrow. Oh, and there's so
much fear in the hearts of men and women today.
There's so much frustration. And the greatest...
that any human being can take into his life is
the enemy of fear. You fear the unknown. You
fear tomorrow. But the greatest enemy is just
fear itself. No matter what happens to you tomorrow,
no matter what happens to you next week, it cannot
be as great an enemy as the enemy of fear. Fear
itself. Without fear, you're equipped to conquer
that thing, to get victory over that thing. But
you will never get victory over it if you as
an individual are mastered by fear. Therefore,
when you understand the full meaning of this
wonderful prayer, if you are enjoying this relationship,
As a child of God, an heir of God, one of His
children, and you can look up and say, My Heavenly
Father. There can be no fear. Perfect love casteth
out fear. There can be no frustration. You have
a Heavenly Father. Give us this day our daily
bread. All these things shall be added unto you.
Because you are the child of a loving Heavenly
Father, you are entitled to expect that your
Heavenly Father will provide you fully with everything
that you need. It's like that. us this day our
daily bread a daily allowance the word says for
every day so long as you shall live you have
a heavenly father he loves you he that looking
down and seeing individuals as one in a plane
would look down and see the trees and just see
the masses below. It's not that. You are as personal
to him as though you were the only person in
the whole world who had a need, as though you
were the only person who was trusting him. That
love, that everlasting love. You're surrounded
by his tender care. You're a child of his care
and his keeping. Give us this day our daily bread.
You can pray about your job. You can pray about
the clothing for your body. You can pray about
the daily needs for a little family of yours.
The shoes on the children's feet. I mean that.
A heavenly father who's interested in every detail
of your life. If my papa was interested in the
smallest details of the life of his child, dear
me, I can remember the child. I had Eric. It
was the pain of my life. I have known my papa
to not go to his office for an entire day and
sit in a rocking chair and hold me in his arms.
Just because he felt that I felt a little better
if he held me in his arms. And then he would
take his hand with a little sweet oil on cotton
and hold it in my ear. And there was something
about my papa's touch. Whether the sweet oil
did any good or not, I don't know. I couldn't
swear by it. But I will tell you just to know
that papa was holding me. Did more for me. than
all the doctors in the world than all the medication
that could be prescribed i'll tell you why i
felt the love in my papa's arms around me just
sitting on his lap and having him hold me eased
the pain and made me feel secure, secure in my
papa's love. You and I have a heavenly father.
He loves us. I feel so secure in his arms. He's
holding me. I'm his responsibility. Oh, to live
like that. Then why should I fear? But there's
something deeper in that portion of the prayer
that Jesus taught us to pray, give us this day
our daily bread. In its inner and most important
meaning, our daily bread signifies the realization
of the presence of God, an actual sense that
God exists, not merely in a nominal way. but
as the great reality, the sense that he is present
with us, the feeling that because he is God,
all good, all powerful, all wise, all loving,
perfect love, we have nothing to fear. We can
rely upon him to take care of our every need.
He will supply all that we have. need of. Teach
us all that we need to know. He'll guide our
steps so that we shall make no mistakes. This
is Emmanuel, our God with us. But there's more
than even that. He is the bread of life. the
hidden manna. And when one has that, he has all
things in deed and in truth. Over and over again,
Jesus refers to this experience as bread because
it's the nourishment of the soul. And just as
the physical food is the nourishment of the physical
body, so also must the soul be fed. daily on
spiritual food supplied with this food the soul
grows and waxes strong gradually developing to
adult stature without it the soul being deprived
of its essential nourishment is stunned and is
crippled oh Oh, I wish somehow the Holy Spirit
would make this clear to you. I'd give anything
in the world if your understanding could be open
to this marvelous spiritual truth. There are
those who wouldn't miss a breakfast for anything
in the world. There are those who wouldn't miss
lunch for anything. Millions would not miss their
evening meal, their dinner. Why? Because they
say they must have food to keep the physical
body strong and well. You must. The physical
body must have daily nourishment. And as surely
as the physical body needs nourishment to keep
it strong and to keep it well, the spiritual
part of man must be dead daily if it is to be
kept alive, if it is to be kept strong. We're
so inconsistent sometimes when we come to the
spiritual. We take such good care of our physical
bodies. We nourish it. We protect it. We guard
the physical well. And yet we treat the soul
and the spiritual man so lightly. Until literally
we starve part of one's life. It's like that.
It's just exactly like that. The common mistake
is to suppose that a formal recognition of God
is sufficient. Or that talking about divine things,
perhaps even talking very poetically, is the
same as possessing them. But this is exactly
on a par with supposing that looking at a tray
of food or discussing the chemical composition
of foodstuffs is the same as actually eating
a meal. It is this mistake which is responsible
for the fact that people sometimes pray for a
thing for years without any tangible result.
If prayer is a force at all, it cannot be possible
to pray without something happening. A realization
cannot be obtained to ardor. It must come spontaneously
as a result of a regular daily prayer. to seek
realization by willpower is the surest way to
miss it. It is not mental effort. Mental effort
and strain and struggle defeats the purpose.
I'm talking about about a daily communion. I'm
talking about a daily intake. I'm talking about
daily spiritual food. The reason why the food
or bread symbol for the experience of the presence
of God is such a telling one is that the fact
of the act of eating food is essentially a thing
that must be done for oneself. No one can assimilate
food for another. One may hire servants to do
all sorts of work for him, prepare the food.
But there is one thing that one must positively
do for himself, and that is to eat his own food.
You must eat your own food if it is to bring
light and sustenance to your own physical body.
Therefore, consider something. It's one thing
to talk about food. It's one thing to see good
food. It's another thing to have someone prepare
food. But you must consume your own food to receive
any value, any strength for your own physical
body. That's exactly the way it is when it comes
to the bread of life. In speaking of the bread
of life, Emmanuel, Jesus calls it our daily bread.
I wish I had hours to talk to you about this
thing, because this is one thing where we're
missing it. Thousands are missing it. You're
still living on that experience of salvation,
a way back there sometime, or maybe even a year
ago, or six months ago, or last week. That's
just the beginning of a spiritual life. Salvation
is just the starting point. It's not the end.
There are thousands when it comes to the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. You talk about your wonderful
experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit
way back there, 15 years ago, some longer than
that. And the first thing that you talk about
is that wonderful experience being given to the
Holy Spirit. I don't care what you experienced
way back there years ago. That was just the beginning.
For the Bible says God giveth the Holy Spirit
without measure. And I'm going to surprise you
when I tell many of you that there is never a
time when there's a miracle service. Never. But
what I receive a fresh baptism with the Holy
Spirit. And yet you, a professing Christian,
you who talk about believing in the baptism of
the Holy Spirit, you who feel so spiritually
secure because once you had the baptism of the
Holy Spirit, once I had been immersed over and
over and over and over again in the Spirit. It's
a daily, it's a... continual thing. Not once,
but a daily intake. As surely as there is a daily
intake of food to keep the body strong, there
must be a daily intake of the Holy Spirit. And
that's exactly what Paul meant when he said the
communion and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
It's a daily fellowship.