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Matthew Chapter
Six
Matthew 6:9~13 Lord’s Prayer
I cannot say “our” if I live only for myself.
I cannot say “Father” if I do not endeavor each day to act like his child.
I cannot say “Who art in heaven” if I am laying up no treasure there.
I cannot say “Hallowed be thy name” if I am not striving for holiness.
I cannot say “thy kingdom come” if I am not doing all in my power to hasten
that wonderful event.
I cannot say “thy will be done” if I am disobedient to his Word.
I cannot say “on earth as it is in heaven” if I’ll not serve him here and
now.
I cannot say “give us this day our daily bread” if I am dishonest or am
seeking things by subterfuge.
I cannot say “forgive us our debts” if I harbor a grudge against anyone.
I cannot say “lead us not into temptation” if I deliberately place myself
in its path.
I cannot say “deliver us from evil” if I do not put on the whole armor of
God.
I cannot say “thine is the kingdom” if I do not give the King the loyalty
due him from a faithful subject.
I cannot attribute to him “the power” if I fear what men may do.
I cannot ascribe to him “the glory” if I’m seeking honor only for myself,
and I cannot say “forever” if the horizon of my life is bounded completely by
time.
The Purpose of Prayer
(Overcomer Wu)
“Your Father knows
the things you have need of before you ask Him” Matthew 6:8.
Based on the above verse, the Father already knows everything that we need
before we ask, why then does He still want us to pray to Him? The point of
prayer is not to get answers from God, but to have perfect and complete oneness
with Him. If we pray only because we want answers, we are bound to be
disappointed and get irritated with God for seemingly ignoring our needs. We
receive an answer every time we pray, but it does not always come in the form
or in the timing that we expect. If we should get angry with the Lord for not
answering our prayers in the way we expect, it only exposes our refusal to
identify ourselves fully with our Lord and in His will in prayer. We are not
here to prove that God conforms to our will in prayer, but that we are
conformed to the mind of Christ in seeking God's will.
We too often think of the Cross of Christ as something we have to bear,
yet we bear the cross for the purpose of getting into it. The Cross in
our prayer represents one thing for us—the complete obliteration of our
self-will, and our entire, absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing in which the cross
of Christ needs to be applied to self and our flesh than in our prayer. The
Lord Jesus in John 16:26 says, “In that day you will ask in My name.”
In the Bible, the name designates the person or the nature of that person.
Therefore, to ask in the Name of Christ Jesus is to be found in the person of
Christ in our asking. And for us to be in Christ, we need to first cross out
our self – our self-will, self interests, selfish plan, selfish agenda, self-glory,
etc. .
“Do not say to you
that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you” (Jn 16:26–27). Have you reached such a level of oneness with Christ and intimacy with
God that the only thing that can account for your prayer life is that of
seeking only God's will and praying according to the mind of Christ? Has our
Lord exchanged your self life with His transcendent life? If so, then “in
that day” you will be so closely identified with Christ that there will be
no distinction between His mind and yours.
Consider the things you prayed about— were you devoted to your desire or
to God? Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit for yourself or
to get to God? “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you
ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). The reason for asking is so that we may gain
Christ, to know Him, and be found in Him (Phi 3:8-10). “Delight yourself
also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psa
37:4). Our purpose in prayer is to delight ourselves in God Himself and that
alone should draw us to prayer. The giving of the desires of your heart is up
to God to give; we should not concern ourselves with that.
Are you seeking great things for yourself, instead of seeking to gain the
Great One – Christ? God wants you to be in a much closer relationship with
Himself than simply receiving His gifts—He wants you to get to know Him and to
share in the riches of His life and His divine grace. What we ask for in the
human and material realm is transitory; it comes and it goes. We certainly
cannot take with us into the next life. But what God wish to give us is
something eternal that does not pass away and can never be lost.
If you have only come as far as asking God for
things, sorry to say that you have never come to the point of understanding
what the real purpose of prayer really means. When we do not find rest and
peace in our prayer. Ask the Lord for the reason. Nine out of ten times, the
Lord will puts His finger on the reason—you are not seeking the Lord at all;
you are seeking something for yourself. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be
given to you” (Matt 7:7). As we draw ever closer in oneness with the Lord
in prayer, you will cease asking for things altogether, for we shall see that
there is someone to gain far greater than anything else we could ever ask for
in this world, that is, God Himself.
Matthew 6:19~21
There is a story of a wealthy woman who, when she reached heaven, was
conducted to a very plain house. She objected. “Well,” she was told, “that is
the dwelling-place prepared for you.”
“Whose is that fine mansion across the way?” she asked.
Her guide replied, “It belongs to your gardener.”
“How is it that he has a house so much better than mine?”
“The houses here are prepared from the materials that are sent up. We do
not choose them; you do that by your faithfulness while on earth.”
This may be a story, but it bears a profound truth about the “treasures”
we accumulate.
Matthew 6:24 Convictions
At the outbreak of the Civil War, a
One day this man was caught in the middle of a skirmish between the two
armies. He stood up and shouted that he was neutral in this fight and expected
to be allowed to leave the field before the battle closed in on him. But Union
sharpshooters seeing the gray jacket, riddled it with bullets. And Confederate
marksmen, seeing the blur pants, filled them with lead.
The point is, you cannot serve two master.
Matthew6:25~34 Anxiety
Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small
ones. And when you have finished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is
awake! ―― Victor Hugo
Matthew 6:26
Said the Robin (知更鳥) to the Sparrow:
“There is one thing I would really like to know,
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.”
Said the Sparrow to the Robin:
“Friend, I think that it must be
That they have no heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me.”