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Subject 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 6-1] The Lord’s Teaching on Prayer (1) (Matthew 6:1-15)
(Matthew 6:1-15)
“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
There is a child named Jin Woo Kim at our church. He was almost dying because of a rare disease. When he was first hospitalized, even the doctors did not know the cause, so they were at a loss how to cure him. We could only pray to God to heal the child. And now, the Lord led the child to meet a better doctor, so he is now in a much better condition. When hard times come our way, we must do all we are supposed to do, but we must first remember to pray.
In Matthew 6:1, the Lord says, “Be careful not to carry out righteous deeds to show off to other people. Otherwise, you will not be rewarded by your Father, who is in Heaven.” This means we should not show off our righteousness to others in our religious life. These words are for both those who are born again and those who are not yet born again. However, we, the righteous ones, should keep in mind this saying, “Be careful not to do righteous deeds to show off to other people.” The Lord said that if we carry out righteous deeds in order to show off to others, we would not be rewarded later by the Father, who is in Heaven.
We can find a common theme in today’s scriptural lesson. That is whatever we do, we should not do it in front of others in order to show off our righteousness. The Lord says that we should believe in Him and His Word in our hearts, and wholeheartedly do righteous work before God who sees us in secret. This means that we should do something good from our heart rather than to show off. Only then will God the Father reward us, and we can receive the reward as God pays us back. In other words, if we live a life of faith only to show off, God will not have God’s approval. No matter how hard a man tries to do something good, it will not be approved if it is done to show off.
Then, is everything we do hypocritical, if other people come to know it? That is not so. Whether it is known to other people or not, if a man carries out righteousness because of his faith, that is done with his faith, and not to show off. Everything that is not done with faith and believing heart is hypocritical. It does not matter whether the other people happen to see our good deeds or not. In short, carrying out the Word of God before Him by faith is always approved by God, but anything that we do in order to win others’ approval rather than God’s is showing off.
God will not reward the hypocritical faith, and therefore, we have to avoid such faith in our religious life. We have to keep in mind this teaching when we do a charitable deed or pray.
This Is How He Wants Us to Pray
In Matthew 6:5-6, it says: “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly”.
When we pray, what do we really need? We must pray with the heart that comes before God like a little child. “God, I do not have this. Give this to me.” “Father God I am in trouble, please help me.” Praying with a heart of a child is praying like this, and it is possible when we have a simple faith. Therefore, when we pray or carry out righteous deeds, we should do all these things because we have faith in our heart.
The Lord also said, “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:6). When we pray to God, we must go into the secret room of our heart to say our prayers to God who is in the secret place. God, the Father listens to our prayers and rewards us when we only look to God and ask God in His presence. In other words, when we pray to God, we pray to God who is in the secret place, and therefore we need not show off to others. This does not mean that we can only pray in secret, but rather we do not pray to be seen by others, but we pray with the heart that we ask God because we truly want to in our hearts.
What do you learn from the Scripture lesson above? We learned that the Lord abhors show-offs. Why does God not like show-offs?
People gather around and shout “Lord” three times loudly, and knock on the pulpit, and many repent in agony saying, “Lord, forgive me. I have sinned.” People cry out like this, but as soon as they walk out of the church, they laugh. They cry at one moment and then the next moment, they are clapping and laughing and making a fuss. Because everyone in such worship is in a crazy state of mind, even a sane person feels, “Am I insane? I feel like I am going crazy, watching people who cry at one moment and laugh the next moment.” That’s why people with a right mind and senses do not go to churches like that. God also abhors people like that the most, turns His face away from them and calls them hypocrites.
Then, who are the people who cry and shout as they pray and want to have nothing to do with the Lord as soon as they come home? Most of these people are demon possessed. At their meetings, even the leaders are demon-possessed and speak in tongues that people cannot understand. They sometimes spur their followers on to excitement using the sound effects with microphone saying, “Receive fire! Fire-fire-fire!” They make the people confused, leading them to pray with tears and cries one moment, and then the next moment, to praise the Lord in boisterous insanity.
Behaviors such as these are of show-offs that have nothing to do with the will of the Lord. When we read the Word of God, we can see that God does not like show-offs. Only praying with faith by giving our heart to God wholeheartedly pleases God. God already knows what kind of faith we pray with, and wants to hear our true prayer before God.
We must change our attitude for prayer before our Lord. All we have to do is be honest and simple as we ask, “Lord, I do not have this. Please give it to me.” It is because our faith is not strong enough that we use many florid phrases as we pray. If we keep hearing about the Word of God, our faith that trusts in God also grows. As we hold onto the Word of God and pray, we grow to believe in God, and as we receive His answers to our prayers that we offered with faith, we are even more thankful to God. And as we learn more about God, we grow to be a person of faith later. So we come to pray to God more and more, and become a person who prays only to God whenever we pray. Sometimes, we pray to God in agreement about certain issues. In truth, there are times we pray out loud, but in any case, that is not for other people to hear our prayers, but to God. True prayers are of simple faith like these: “God, help so-and-so since he is in this kind of condition. Heal so-and-so. Give so-and-so health. Bless so-and-so since he is in this kind of situation.”
Before I was born again, I used to pray with many florid phrases such as this: “Our Father, who is holy, and merciful and full of blessing. Thank you for the love and mercy that the Father God gives us…” I used to marshal all sorts of flowery words whenever I prayed. Are such prayers really prayers to the Lord who is in the secret places? If we really pray constantly like that, will the Lord listen? Do we really have that many things to pray about? I do not think so. The Lord said “Do not repeat yourself like the Gentiles or the Pharisees. Do you think I can hear you only if you say many words? That is not true.” And He said, “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). This is the prayer that the Lord taught us as the example of how we should pray.
In the Lord’s Prayer, It Tells Us to Pray for the Forgiveness of Sins First
From Matthew 6:9, the Lord teaches us how to pray with His sample prayer. This is what the Lord’s Prayer is all about. He said, “In this manner, therefore, pray.” The first is, “Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” This means that we must pray so that the Lord’s name will be hallowed. Here, those who have not yet received the remission of sins must know that they must pray first to receive the remission of sins, because such is the very prayer that honors the Lord’s name. Therefore, a sinner must pray like this first: “God, please wipe out my sins. Make me a child of God.” This is how they should pray first. They should also pray, “Please help me be born again by hearing the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Help me believe in all Your words. Help me understand every and each word of God.” This is how they must pray first.
However, only we, the righteous people who have received the remission of sins, could pray the proper prayer and live a proper life that meet the first line of the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” Truly, if we want to avoid blemishing God’s name and live a holy life, we must ask God for help like this: “Please do not let me be a stumbling block and blemish Your name. Help me live a holy life by faith throughout all my life. Help me live a holy life that is for the righteousness of God.” We must pray to God to “hold us every moment” as we ask for help to glorify God’s name.
He gave us, the righteous, the first prayer topic to live our lives holy so that His name will be hallowed. Since the sinners cannot call God as their Father, they must first pray for the remission of their sins: “Please wipe out my sins. Let me understand the gospel of the water and the Spirit that You gave me. Let me receive your remission of sin by knowing and believing in the Truth of Your Atonement.” In order to glorify God’s name as the first line of the Lord’s Prayer, every sinner must first pray to God for help for the remission of sin.
We Must Live a Life of Prayer That Is for the Kingdom of God on Earth
What is the second part of the prayer? It is “Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” We must pray that God’s Kingdom will be established on earth. Our God Father sent our Lord and blotted out all our sins once and for all by the Lord’s baptism and the blood of the Cross. Therefore, we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts, and God’s Kingdom is in our heart spiritually.
However, there are still many people who have not received the remission of their sins in their hearts and struggle with sin. Because, God’s Kingdom is not yet in their heart, so they must pray for the forgiveness of their sins first. Our Lord has blotted out all the sins of the world about 2,000 years ago as He was baptized by John the Baptist and crucified. However, there are still many people who have sins because they do not know and do not believe this. Therefore, we must pray that they may receive the remission of their sins thoroughly.
God is the only Master of every human being. However, the reality is that many people in this world give in to the devil and live as his servants rather than serving God. The Lord really hates such degradation, and eagerly wants all of His creatures that He made to believe in His words, be born again and become His people. Therefore, we must pray that the Kingdom of God will come in everyone’s heart before the end of the world and His Millennium Kingdom come. God wants us to pray that everyone will receive the remission of sin, and so the entire universe will be a Kingdom that God reigns, and that all this will be done. Therefore, God commands us who are born again for the expansion of His Kingdom. In other words, we, the righteous people, must pray for the expansion of God’s Kingdom.
We Must Live a Life of Faith for the Food of Life
Let’s read Matthew 6:11, which has the third prayer topic in the Lord’s Prayer. “Give us this day our daily bread.” We must pray for our daily food that we eat. But this means that we should also ask the Lord for the food of eternal life. We need to take in food both for our body and spirit. So, we must pray, “Give us the food that we can eat for our body and spirit.” What we ask for is not for a year’s worth or a month’s worth, but we ask for what we need for our flesh and spirit everyday.
Dear fellow Christians, we need to pray for our spiritual bread everyday. It is not wrong for us to pray to God for our food for the flesh and spirit. Because we became people who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and thus obtain the privilege to ask God the Father whatever we need, therefore we should also pray according to this third prayer topic. Those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are clearly people who work for the righteousness of God, and so must pray that God helps with the worldly material for the gospel of the water and the Spirit, to bless the works in progress. It is proper for the righteous to live for the righteousness of God and live properly for the spreading of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. It is not that we pray the Lord’s Prayer only once in life, but we must say such prayer topics everyday.
If we pray to God to give us the daily food we need, God will answer us. When we pray with our heart, we can experience God’s allowance for us of food for the flesh and spirit within God’s church. He gives us such food sufficiently so that God’s servants, His people and all Christians can gather together in His Church and live in union with each other as they work for the gospel, or praise or serve the Lord. God gives us spiritual food everyday when we listen to the sermons of His servants, the testimonies of the saints, and even when we meditate the Bible on our own.
We, the righteous, often can obtain more food from our everyday lives than from reading the Word of God. The Holy Spirit in our hearts is always pleased and delighted with our spiritual work that pleases God, the Father. And what makes the Holy Spirit pleased in our hearts is the very daily food for us. If we pray everyday to the Lord “Give us the food” and do not do anything, this is not a genuine prayer. If you have prayed to God, you must anticipate how God will answer to the prayer and do your best in your place, so that God can work through us. If we do not work for the gospel of the water and the Spirit and expect God to give us the spiritual food when we are only sitting around, it is mocking God.
We gather often in God’s Church for worship services. This is exactly the food we can eat, and not just listening to the words in the church, doing the Lord’s work according to His will becomes exactly the spiritual food to us. If a righteous person does not do the work of God after receiving the remission of sin, his faith dies sooner or later and he will end up leaving God’s Church. Some people even lose the faith that believes in the Truth of God’s perfect salvation. Therefore, we must do the righteous work of spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit in order to obtain our daily food.
Those Who Have Become Righteous by Faith Should Be Able to Forgive Each Other
It is written in Matthew 6:12, “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” This is the fourth topic of the Lord’s Prayer. We could misunderstand this fourth prayer topic as saying that we must repent everyday and be forgiven everyday. However, this fourth topic is not about being forgiven everyday. The fourth topic is conditional. Since we received the remission of sin from God all at once by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we must also live for the righteousness of God by forgiving people who have done wrong to us. We must forgive people who have done us wrong just as the Lord has forgiven all our sins unconditionally by the water and the blood. What these words of God are telling us is that we must write off other’s wrongs to us since God has remitted us of all our sins.
Imagine we have debt of $5 hundred billion, which is such a large sum of money that we cannot pay it back even if we worked for all our lives. The wages of sin of each one of us will be that amount. But, God took pity on us and wrote off the debt for our sins unconditionally. Rather than saying ‘I will consider it paid,’ God, the Father send His Son, had Him baptized, taking on the sins of the world, and crucified. Therefore, He paid the price of our sins and saved us by Jesus’ baptism and the blood on the Cross. This is how the Lord wrote off our debt by believing in His remission of sins. We received the remission of sin by doing nothing to wipe out the sins, but only by believing in the Truth. By the faith we have, we have received the gift of salvation and the cleansing of all our sins from God. Since Jesus paid off the debt of $5 hundred billion that we could not pay back enough throughout our entire life by His baptism and the blood on the Cross, our sins were written off by doing nothing, but only by His grace.
Now, we must write off little wrongdoings others have done to us. We must live on the premise of forgiveness for each other. Living with other righteous people and sinners, we need to forgive each other for wrongs that others have done to us. We need to forgive each other according to the gospel of the Lord.
We are indebted to God for our sins, but the Lord came to this world and forgave all our sins by the baptism He received from John the Baptist and His blood. The Lord saw our sins and our helplessness, so He wiped them all out from His end. Because the Lord knew that we could not be righteous even if we devoted our life to it, He washed out all our sins once and for all by the Truth of the gospel of the water and the Spirit. God, the Father sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, had Him take on the sins of the world by His baptism, be crucified and risen, and saved us perfectly from all our sins. Thus, Jesus Christ became our eternal Savior, who saved us from our eternal sin.
We have met the Lord, who is alive, by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Do you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit as your own salvation in your heart? —Yes.— Have we received the remission of sins by believing that Jesus forgave all of our sins by the gospel of the water and the Spirit? —Yes.—
Then, since we have been forgiven of the sins of the world by amazing grace, we need to forgive the wrongs that others have done to us. The fourth topic of the Lord’s Prayer is to forgive each other. Carrying out this prayer the Lord commanded us is the proper way of our spiritual life.
Here in the fourth part of the Lord’s Prayer, what we need to be clear on is not that we receive remission of sins by saying prayers of repentance. Some look at this passage that says “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” and say, “Look at this. You receive remission of sins when you say prayers of repentance.” But this is not the case. Such fallacy is due to their misunderstanding of the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
This line exactly says that those who have received the remission of sins by the gospel of the water and the Spirit should forgive each other and cover the insufficiencies of each other. The sins of a man cannot be remitted just by forgiving them by lips, but require a lawful atonement: A lawful animal without blemish, transferring of the sins by laying of hands on, and its vicarious death that pays the wages of sins. Jesus Christ has completed all the premises of our mutual forgiveness by taking away all the sins of the world. Therefore, through our faith that gave us the remission of sins, we must write off each other’s wrongdoings as we live.
We Must Pray That God Will Protect Us in Every Way
In Matthew 6:13, it says: “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Temptation means running into difficulties. So, “lead us not into temptation” means praying to prevent us from being thrown into confusion and difficulty. When we pray before God the Father, we have to pray like this: “God the Father, do not let me run into difficulties, protect me in every dangerous situation. God, please bless me, keep me from going wrong because I have too much worldly material or do not have enough material, keep me from evil ones, and do not let me fall into its temptations.” We must pray often not to lead us into temptation.
We must carefully pray from the first prayer to the sixth prayer everyday. If a man falls into temptation, it becomes burdensome to the mind, and he ends up dying. Therefore, we must pray to God everyday not to run into difficulties.
In addition, we must get out of the difficulties in our hearts by having fellowship of faith and truth with brothers and sisters in the church of God. God’s Church is a great place for fellowship among born again Christians. It cannot be possible to have a sincere and earnest fellowship among people who are not yet born again. However, in God’s Church, there are as many people to have fellowship with as you want.
And, when you try to have fellowship with someone, you had better do this with someone who is in a little higher spiritual level than yourself. It is because such persons can share their spiritual knowledge and experiences, which are realistic and affordable to, in detail with you. It is good for us since they make it easier for us to eat spiritual food of faith by talking to us, and they can relate to us in the way that is very much like our own situation. There is much food of faith for people who are ahead. However, if we have fellowship with someone who is too far ahead in faith, it is not beneficial to us since they may share too hard a spiritual food for us to digest.
This could be compared to when we first learn to ride a bicycle. The best teacher to a child who is just learning to ride a bicycle is their older sisters or brothers, who have also just mastered riding, rather than their parents. The one who can explain at the level that the child can understand best is someone who has just gone through the same thing. If a father was going to teach a little child how to ride a bicycle, he might bring a big bicycle that is at his level and dispirit the child who is trying to learn. The child can learn faster by watching their older sisters or brothers riding a little bicycle and be encouraged with the thought ‘I can do that much.’ The older siblings can help the child with realistic instructions. The big bicycle of the father may stupefy a child who learns to ride it from his father even before they get on the bicycle.
This is the same with our fellowship in faith. The one who can help us grow in faith step by step in the most realistic and matter-of-fact way at my level is someone who just went through the same path. Fellowship is most beneficial when it is with someone who went through the same thing immediately before me.
We must always pray ‘do not lead us into temptation and keep us safe’ and ‘deliver us from the evil one’ with faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. The biggest danger when we are in the hand of the evil one is that we do not even realize that we are in danger. How dangerous is that? Therefore, we must pray that we do not fall into the hands of the evil one, and that God saves us from the evil one. And, if you feel that you are in temptation, get out of it as quickly as possible with your faith.
Matthew 6:14-15 says, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
We must forgive each other. As a matter of fact, those who are born again are good at forgiving. However, even among us, the righteous people, what is the most difficult part is forgiving someone. Perhaps that is why our Lord reiterates it here. Do you forgive easily or not when you see others’ faults, mistakes and weaknesses?
Since some things are irrevocable, we may be hurt in our hearts, but we forgive easily. When the other person truly repents from what they have done and turns their heart around, there is nothing that we cannot forgive. When they come back and turn around their behavior, there is nothing we cannot accept.
However, there are many who cannot do this. Those who fall into the temptation of the evil one lead others into temptation rather than forgiving them. Therefore, we must not lead others into temptation owing to the difficulties and situation we are in. Those who make their fellow believers confused and stand against God will surely end up in destruction.
We must not lead our religious life to show off our faith. To make a long story short, whether it is right or wrong, we must consider it before God. When we do that, if we realize from our hearts that we have done wrong, all we have to do is acknowledge it and admit that it was wrong, saying, “It was wrong.” If we hear words of apology or forgiving or admitting the wrongs they have done, we now must stop being angry from our hearts and forgive. Jesus said, “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37). We do not need explanation or excuse. The only thing we have to do is to consider righteousness before God and admit our wrongs if there has been any wrong.
When we hear the full story from a brother, if he is wrong, all we need to do is tell him ‘that is wrong’ and for him to admit it. And all he needs to do is consider these things before God, look to the Lord who has blotted out even these faults with His baptism and blood on the Cross, and stand on faith again. Whatever wrong we have done, we just need to stand on faith in the righteousness of God, thank God who wiped out our sins, and then seek God’s guidance through the Holy Spirit to do better in the future.
Summary of the Lord’s Prayer
We must pray according to the first prayer topic, “Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” To a sinner who has not yet been born again, the first part of the prayer, “Hallowed be Your name,” means to pray “Help me receive the remission of sin so that I can glorify God’s name.” But to us, the born-again who have already received the remission of sin, this means to pray “Help us to live a suitable life, a righteous life that will glorify God, and also live that way.” However, those who are not born again must pray first for the remission of sin so that they may glorify God.
Therefore, the righteous must pray as such: “Please let me live a holy life. Please let me live a life of faith. Please do not let me blemish Your name.” Walking up to a sinner and approving their faith in order to work together as a righteous person is ungrateful behavior to God that taints God’s name. We must not do that. We must fight against those who stand against God. Making peace with them and seeking fellowship with them is a big sin that is against God. Therefore, working for the gospel with faith in union with those who have faith is righteous. Harmonizing our hearts with sinners is falling for evil and blemishing the Lord.
What would become of us if we collaborate with a spy who comes into our country to sneak out important information? This would make us just as bad as the spy and a traitor who sells out his country. This is something that a traitor does, who does not know where he should belong and collaborates with the enemy to sell his own country and is a big sin that cannot escape the punishment of death.
The second line of the Lord’s Prayer is “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,” and this is for the righteous to pray for the souls who have not received the remission of sin yet. It is to pray that the will of God will be done on earth.
Then, what is God’s will? It is that every life receives the remission of sin. We must ask God for help with that. We must pray for workers and worldly materials, and then, we need to devote all of ourselves to the Lord to do His work. We must devote all of ourselves and our time and effort as well as everything that belongs to us so that the will of God will be done on earth. We must live for the work that will lead everyone to the remission of sin. We must pray for it everyday, and make efforts that God’s will be done on earth by giving our heart and body in reality.
Some people, after they receive the remission of sin, ignore the Lord’s admonition that He taught us to pray for the Kingdom of God. If a man who has received the remission of sin does not pray for the spreading of the gospel or does not unite with God’s Church for this purpose, then he is sitting in the place of an evil man. A man like that should not expect the blessings for the flesh and soul from God. Therefore, in reality, those righteous people who do not live and pray for the righteousness of God are living outside of God’s will, and are not in union with God’s will.
We must pray for our daily food every day, which is the third prayer topic. “Give us food, so we do not starve. Give us the food for the flesh and spirit. Bless our business so that we can do the work of God.” We should pray for His provisions in order to serve the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This is the third part of the prayer.
The fourth part of the prayer is that we must forgive others who have done us wrong just as the Lord forgave all our sins by the water and the blood. Among the brothers and sisters in our family who have received the remission of sins, and the male and female servants of God, we must forgive each other’s wrongs just as the Lord blotted out all our sins. When one says, “This is wrong,” the other person should admit, “Ah, yes, I am wrong.” Then, we must forgive each other from our heart. Even if I do not talk about it anymore, I believe that you all easily forgive. That is why you have lived faithfully until now, isn’t it?
We must pray that we do not fall into temptation, that we do not run into difficulties, and that the Lord will keep us safe. And the sixth part of the prayer is “Deliver us from the evil one”. We must pray that we, the born again, do not fall into the hands of evil ones or be captivated by them, and that God will deliver us from the evil ones when we are in the hands of the evil ones.
Then, the Lord said, “We must forgive each others mistakes.” This means that righteous people must forgive each other.
We, the righteous must always pray according to the way the Lord taught us to pray and believe in it. We must pray for such topics everyday. In addition, we must live in that way everyday. We must pray for to forgive each other, for not to fall in temptation or evil, for daily food, and for the Kingdom of God on earth. Not only that, we must try to live such a faithful life by faith. We must live a life of prayer for the areas we fall short in order to glorify God. The one who say prayers everyday as the Lord taught us is the ‘person of faith.’
Dear fellow Christians, if we take today’s Scripture passage to those who are not born again yet, they interpret it differently. However, when we the born-gain take the passage and examine and interpret it, I believe they also admit that what I have said so far is not wrong, but right. Do you believe that? —Yes.—
The first prayer topic that He says to the ones who are born again is “Hallowed be Your name.” However, in our everyday life, do we perhaps do things that blemish God’s name rather than glorifying His name? Are you and I people who can do a 100% effort all the time? Even if we cannot glorify the Lord, at least we should not blemish the Lord’s name. This means, rather than being a stumbling block to what God’s Church is trying to do, we must respect, love, unite and collaborate with His Church and its ministries so that God’s name can be hallowed.
Dear fellow Christians, we must truly pray for the brothers and sisters, for the male and female servants, for the expansion of God’s Kingdom, for the life that does not blemish God’s name, and for our daily food. We must also forgive everyone who has done us wrong from our hearts, just as our Lord wiped out all our sins. We must pray that we do not run into trouble.
Let us pray that our hearts do not fall into temptation. If we do not listen to the Word, our hearts fall for temptation and run into trouble. When we have not heard the Word, the spiritual food, our hearts become unhealthy. When that happens, we fall for temptation, in other words, trouble. Our carnal thoughts come up and control the spiritual thoughts. When this happens, since we, who are righteous people cannot follow the desires of the flesh with a 100% result, our hearts are in trouble because we have to go back and forth between flesh and spirit. Therefore, we must take heed not to fall into such a situation.
In order to prepare for spiritual health, we must come to the church of God and hear the Word. Regardless of who preaches the Word during the service, the Word is preached for a week in God’s Church. Even if there is not any particular realization, we can at least get rid of the dregs while listening to the Word. We can only get rid of the dregs of carnal thoughts and faults by hearing the Word. Just as the flowing water does not become rotten because the water has the ability to purify the dregs and impurities as long as it flows, the Word of God can get rid of the dregs in our hearts as long as it flows as the living water in our hearts. When we are rid of carnal thoughts, new spiritual thoughts come up and occupy the vacant place, so our mind is kept safe and protected.
Therefore, we must examine as often as possible whether we have been negligent with any prayer topics that are written in the Bible. If there has been anything in which we have been negligent, we must stop it from now on. We must start praying for these areas, and take the more heed of these areas. This is why the Lord said not to show off when we pray, and taught us how to pray in a few different sections.
In the Lord’s Prayer, everything is covered. This shows how we can live a life of prayer. In reality, the first part of the prayer is already answered for us. The remission of sin in the first part of the prayer is fulfilled, but now we must pray so that we can live a holy life. Therefore, we must hear the Word and spread the gospel everyday to maintain holiness, so that we do not become those who obstruct the glory of God. In order to avoid being one of those who obstructs the glory of God, we must pray everyday to the Lord to keep us safe and bless us.
Not only do our carnal bodies have to eat, but also our spirits have to eat. To the righteous people, who have received the remission of all their sins, hearing the Word and praying could be their spiritual food, but in reality, what is true spiritual food for them is spreading the gospel. If it stops at hearing the Word and carving it in our hearts, it cannot be food that gives strong health. High quality nutrient that truly gives health to our hearts is faith that acts. When we believe in the Word from the heart and act on that faith, it truly becomes our faith, and that we can stand strong in faith, and in that way we become full spiritually so that high quality necessary nutrients spread throughout our body, and we can grow as people of faith.
If an evil one causes disturbances, we must unite and repulse the evil, and if someone among us fell in the hands of the evil one, we must unite to help him. We must unite and defend ourselves by praying, “God, Please stop this spiritual storm from the evil one. Please help each one of us.”
We must think about prayer topics of which we have been negligent, and if there really has been an area where we have been negligent, we must turn around and live a righteous life.
The Lord advised us to hold each other, love each other, encourage and admonish each other, as the end draws near. We, the righteous ones, who are born again, must fill our hearts with faith and pull each other along and bestow a generous and loving heart. If someone is in trouble, rather than taking advantage of his situation, we must put ourselves in his situation and pray that his trouble will be resolved. That is what we should do as people of God. We must think of it as our own trouble, and interact with considerations such as “What would it be like if it were my situation? What would I do?” Even if the other person does not act as we would and does not lead a righteous life so that it would be hard to tolerate, we must pray and accept him with a hope that he would turn around.
Since we are humans with many shortcomings, we often make indescribably awful mistakes. Even then, since God is the Judge for the final judgment, it is no great matter if we turn around by holding onto the Word that wiped out even such sins with the faith in God. That is because if God says it is nothing, then it is nothing. We must accept each other within the faith that believes in the Lord’s heart by which we are all accepted.
Regardless of what it is, we must make a final decision on God-centered criterion, prayer centered around God, lives centered around God, and live according to the Lord’s Prayer. We should not be those with a weak faith, who merely understand the Lord’s Prayer, but rather become those with strong faith that have a right mind, who act on faith in the prayer. That is when we all become those who live according to the Lord’s Prayer by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
I cannot give thanks enough to God, who helps us live according to the Lord’s will.
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