Matthew 6
6. But when you pray, go away by yourself, all alone, and
shut the door behind you and pray to your Father secretly,
and your Father, who knows your secrets, will reward you.
7. "Don't recite the same prayer over and over as the heathen do,
who think prayers are answered only by repeating them again and
again. Remember, your Father knows exactly what you need even
before you ask him!
9. "Pray along these lines: 'Our Father in heaven,
we honor your holy name.
10. We ask that your kingdom will come now. May your will
be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven.
11. Give us our food again today, as usual,
12. and forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those
who have sinned against us.
13. Don't bring us into temptation, but deliver us from
the Evil One.
Amen.'
14. Your heavenly Father will forgive you if you forgive
those who sin against you; but if you refuse to forgive
them, he will not forgive you.
LB
After we have honoured and glorified our God and Father, next,
Jesus expects us to pray about the things that are important to God.
God's interests in the earth are about His kingdom being established
here. It is evident from all the evil around us that God's kingdom
does not have dominion in the earth. Our priority in prayer and
life-style should be promoting God's kingdom where we are.
Last of all, we must bring our own needs before our Father -
especially the needs of today.
Many times we allow the past to dominate our thinking and prayers.
Sometimes we are overwhelmed by things we see coming in the future.
But in this pattern prayer, Jesus concentrates on today and our
present needs.
At the end of this chapter of Matthew, He says this:
34. "So don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your
tomorrow too. Live one day at a time."
LB
To develop a successful prayer life,
I need to say to myself and God regularly, how good He is to me!
Prayer:
Father, I have never made a priority of praying about Your concerns
in the earth. Please forgive me for getting my prayer mixed up and
only thinking about my own concerns.
Help me to make the effort not to be so taken up with my own needs
that I forget that I am responsible to promote Your kingdom where
I life by my life-style and by my prayer,
in Jesus' name,
Amen.
Matthew 6
6. But when you pray, go away by yourself, all alone, and shut the
door behind you and pray to your Father secretly, and your Father,
who knows your secrets, will reward you.
7. "Don't recite the same prayer over and over as the heathen do,
who think prayers are answered only by repeating them again and
again. Remember, your Father knows exactly what you need even
before you ask him!
9. "Pray along these lines: 'Our Father in heaven,
we honor your holy name.
10. We ask that your kingdom will come now. May your will be
done here on earth, just as it is in heaven.
11. Give us our food again today, as usual,
12. and forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who
have sinned against us.
13. Don't bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One.
Amen.'
14. Your heavenly Father will forgive you if you forgive those
who sin against you; but if you refuse to forgive them,
he will not forgive you.
LB
LB stands for
"The Living Bible",
by Tyndale House Publishers
NKJV stands for
"The New King James Bible",
by Thomas Nelson Publishers