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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