Yesterday I mentioned that there were stories in early December of people receiving calls to come in and pick up their merchandise that someone came in and took care of the lay away bills. Matthew 6:4 Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. Now most of us aren't financially able to do what these people did, but imagine the little things that we could do and if done in private imagine what your reward would be from our generous Lord. In addition, I am just thinking imagine with all of the stress and darkness that seems to blanket us, maybe these little prisms of light could be spread. Wouldn't it be wonderful to hear of more stories of joy and laughter than the ones we hear.
Jesus also teaches us about prayer. Personally, I like the NIV (New International Version) Bible but I picked up the NLT (New Living Translation) Bible by mistake and I learned the Lord's Prayer by the KJV (King James Version) Bible, and that is the one I most prefer. I mention this because when I write out a verse it has been from my NLT Bible. However, for the Lord's Prayer I am going to use the New King James Version. To read different versions, please visit Blue Letter Bible. http://www.blueletterbible.org/
Matthew 6:9-13 Pray like this:
Our Father which art in Heaven,
Hallowed be your name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done
in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we have forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and glory, for ever. Amen..
If you are new to reading the Bible daily, then I don't want to overwhelm you. However, later in this year I hope to go through all of the Psalms. You will see when you read the Psalms, more examples of how we can sing praises to the Lord in our prayers. You will see through examples of writings in Psalms how we pray but we still must accept the Lord's will. Yes, it can be frustrating at times when we don't see and understand clearly at the moment, however, we can take comfort in the knowledge that the Lord is in control and, therefore, he knows them and understands what is best for us and others.
With all of this said, The Lord's Prayer above teaches us the best way to pray to our Father in heaven. Give him the glory, recognize his will is to be done, send your supplications, ask for forgiveness, and ask to keep us from the evil one.
Jesus taught us to do our good deeds in private, (i.e. charity, prayer, and fasting). Our reward will be in heaven. That's all that we need to keep us going is the knowledge that we are storing up our treasures in heaven. Matthew 6:19-20 "Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and thieves break in and steal. 20Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.
However, it is this verse that jumps out at me today. Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. When it comes to money or finances, which leads to everything physical where is my heart? Is it in good balance to my daily living? When we have balance in our life, and put everything in their proper order, everything else seems to fall into place.
Along with this Jesus also teaches us not to worry. Now let me tell you something I haven't wanted to repeat in years. In middle school, I was nominated the worry wort of my class. That isn't exactly a complement. Then years later the verses about worry hit home. Matthew 6:25-34. You see worrying is a sin. If we have good, solid faith than we know the Lord is in control and there is no need to worry. So I will leave you and me with this verse. Matthew 6:34 "So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today.
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