Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art

Do not Worry, But Seek God First Matthew 6/7. Day 16, Jan 16

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[TheBirdsAir_811_sm+02-13-2009.JPG]
Nancy Standlee

MATTHEW 6


    25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry


If Jesus says it, then of course, this is a doable enterprise. 


So what are you worrying about? 
I am concerned about a blip in our family’s publishing business after a great December.
I don’t have a particularly good feeling about an upcoming meeting.
Think of two of your worries.
Think of the worst outcome in all these situations.
You will be in the loving hand of God even if the worst possible thing happens in all these situations.
There is no guarantee that they will work out as you might wish, but God’s love and power and grace will be with you however these work out.
Do not worry. You are God’s child. He will hold you through the best and worst outcomes, and make the latter work out for good.
In particular, do not worry


 about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they? 
The creatures are alive and happy, depending on their Father’s abundance. And you are more valuable than they are. And anyway.


 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
ALL worrying is futile anyway, so make the mental effort not to do it.

   28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 
Have more faith in God. He will look after your needs as he looks after those of the beautiful flowers of the field.

30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 
Jesus coined the Greek word for you of little faith–oligopistoi. It has a slightly comical sound.

31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 

Your father knows what you will need. He will give it to you. So quit worrying.


33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Use this as a rule and guide. When you want money, seek first for him to be your King. Submit yourself to him. Obey him. Seek to do his will.

Seek to do his will in the situations and institutions in which you are involved.
Seek to do the right thing.

And when your focus shifts from money to obeying your Heavenly Father, and seeking to do the right thing, money will be given to you as well.

Seek first things first, and second things will look after themselves.


34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Do not worry about tomorrow. You will be given wisdom and strength tomorrow.  


Matthew 7

 1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

   3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Do not sit as a judge over the actions, intentions and hearts of people, deciding if they are innocent or guilty.


I really believe this is the solution when wrong is done, and anger and a judgemental spirit overwhelm our hearts.

Beam-research. Repent.

What is there is my eyes which you wish to remove? How can I dance more closely with you, Jesus? Allow you to breathe your Holy Spirit into me more constantly?Use my time and my gifts better?

You know what–there is energy in these questions and answers, but none at all in judging and anger.


Blog on this subject–http://theoxfordchristian.blogspot.com/2010/12/judge-not.html

 6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
Be wise and careful and canny in how you reveal your heart, and what you reveal. 
 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Asking, seeking, and knocking will be rewarded. A great saying of Jesus. And how do we know if this is true? We will have to take him at his word as the Syro-Phoenician woman did, and ask, seek, knock. 

   9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 
We, selfish as we are, look out for our children. Similarly, our Father WILL give good gifts to those who ask him.


12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

The so-called Golden Rule is an excellent guide to  behaviour. However, it has limits.
What if someone is being abusive? Leading by fear and control. Nobody would wish to be confronted or “called” but sometimes this is the right thing to do for the greater good. 
   13 “Enter through the narrow gate.
The poet Rainer Maria Rilke has this puzzling saying, “Trust what is difficult.” If two choices face you, God is often more likely to be what is the more difficult part (I think). 
 For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
True life, true spiritual life, is not easy. The gate to it is is narrow, and so is the road to it. 
The ESV describes the easy path as seeking the approval of man rather than God.
And many church-goers miss it. Miss the joy, and miss the peace, and miss the love. Miss living in the force-field of God’s love, power and provision. In the meteor shower of his grace and presence. 
Do whatever it takes to be truly and fully alive in God’s presence. 


Do not Worry, But Seek God First Matthew 6/7. Day 16, Jan 16, Read Through the Bible Project

By

[TheBirdsAir_811_sm+02-13-2009.JPG]
Nancy Standlee
MATTHEW 6

    25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry

If Jesus says it, then of course, this is a doable enterprise. 

So what are you worrying about? 
I am concerned about a blip in our family’s publishing business after a great December.
I don’t have a particularly good feeling about an upcoming meeting.
Think of two of your worries.
Think of the worst outcome in all these situations.
You will be in the loving hand of God even if the worst possible thing happens in all these situations.
There is no guarantee that they will work out as you might wish, but God’s love and power and grace will be with you however these work out.
Do not worry. You are God’s child. He will hold you through the best and worst outcomes, and make the latter work out for good.
In particular, do not worry
 about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they? 
The creatures are alive and happy, depending on their Father’s abundance. And you are more valuable than they are. And anyway.
 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
ALL worrying is futile anyway, so make the mental effort not to do it.

   28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 
Have more faith in God. He will look after your needs as he looks after those of the beautiful flowers of the field.

30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
Jesus coined the Greek word for you of little faith–oligopistoi. It has a slightly comical sound.

31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 

Your father knows what you will need. He will give it to you. So quit worrying.


33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Use this as a rule and guide. When you want money, seek first for him to be your King. Submit yourself to him. Obey him. Seek to do his will.

Seek to do his will in the situations and institutions in which you are involved.
Seek to do the right thing.

And when your focus shifts from money to obeying your Heavenly Father, and seeking to do the right thing, money will be given to you as well.

Seek first things first, and second things will look after themselves.


34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Do not worry about tomorrow. You will be given wisdom and strength tomorrow.  
Matthew 7
 1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
   3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Do not sit as a judge over the actions, intentions and hearts of people, deciding if they are innocent or guilty.
I really believe this is the solution when wrong is done, and anger and a judgemental spirit overwhelm our hearts.

Beam-research. Repent.

What is there is my eyes which you wish to remove? How can I dance more closely with you, Jesus? Allow you to breathe your Holy Spirit into me more constantly?Use my time and my gifts better?

You know what–there is energy in these questions and answers, but none at all in judging and anger.

Blog on this subject–http://theoxfordchristian.blogspot.com/2010/12/judge-not.html

 6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
Be wise and careful and canny in how you reveal your heart, and what you reveal. 
 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Asking, seeking, and knocking will be rewarded. A great saying of Jesus. And how do we know if this is true? We will have to take him at his word as the Syro-Phoenician woman did, and ask, seek, knock. 
   9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 
We, selfish as we are, look out for our children. Similarly, our Father WILL give good gifts to those who ask him.


12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

The so-called Golden Rule is an excellent guide to  behaviour. However, it has limits.
What if someone is being abusive? Leading by fear and control. Nobody would wish to be confronted or “called” but sometimes this is the right thing to do for the greater good. 
   13 “Enter through the narrow gate.
The poet Rainer Maria Rilke has this puzzling saying, “Trust what is difficult.” If two choices face you, God is often more likely to be what is the more difficult part (I think). 
 For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
True life, true spiritual life, is not easy. The gate to it is is narrow, and so is the road to it. 
The ESV describes the easy path as seeking the approval of man rather than God.
And many church-goers miss it. Miss the joy, and miss the peace, and miss the love. Miss living in the force-field of God’s love, power and provision. In the meteor shower of his grace and presence. 
Do whatever it takes to be truly and fully alive in God’s presence. 


Proverbs 2
 1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God. 
Seeking wisdom, understanding, insight desperately will teach you to KNOW God, and will teach you the fear of God which will save you from much folly.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 
The Lord gives us wisdom, and he also gives us knowledge and understanding.

7 He holds success in store for the upright, 
He often gives the upright success, according to his plans for them.
 he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8 for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.
He protects those whose walk is blameless.

 9 Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path. 
If you desperately seek wisdom, you gain the understanding of what is right and just and fair.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
Wisdom and knowledge will grow sweet and pleasant to you.
11 Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you.
 12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
from men whose words are perverse,
13 who have left the straight paths
to walk in dark ways,
14 who delight in doing wrong
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
15 whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways.
Wisdom and discretion will protect you from wicked, perverse, devious people. Thank you, Lord. 

 

 

The Powerful Intercession of the Friend of God, Gen 19-19,

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ABRAHAM INTERCEDES FOR SODOM

Genesis 18
16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. 17 Then the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 

I love this verse. First of all, it shows God as human. As a good friend.
And then it reveals the prophetic insight God gives his friends.


18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

It was partly a conditional covenant.

 20 Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
 22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.
 23 Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

The traits of the ones the Lord blesses. Note Abraham’s concern for Lot, his selfish young nephew.


 26 The LORD said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
 27 Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”
   “If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”
 29 Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”
   He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
 30 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”
   He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
 31 Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”
   He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
 32 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”
   He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
 33 When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

I adore this. What is the point of prayer one might say? We see here two things
1)     The power of prayer to persuade God to relent and change his mind. The city would have been destroyed, but God promises not to do so if ten righteous people could be found.
2)     One praying person, and ten righteous people can save a city. 
NIV Study Bible, “Abraham was God’s friend, and because he was now God’s covenant friend, God convened his heavenly council at Abraham’s tent. He gave Abraham the opportunity to speak in his court and to intercede for the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah. God reveals his purposes to his covenant friends, and allows their voices to be heard in intercession in the court of heaven itself.
Genesis 19
 1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”
   “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”
3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
 6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
 9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

The immense, but impalpable blessings of hospitality. Lot’s hospitality probably played a role in his protection.

10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.
 12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,  because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”
 14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

Faith is never easy. In this case, their scepticism cost them their lives.

 15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”
 16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”
 18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! 19 Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. 20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”

The power of prayer in changing one’s destiny—and changing the—what appears inexorable—course of events.

 21 He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.
 23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
 27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
 29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
 30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. 32 Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”
 33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
 34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” 35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
 36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab[g]; he is the father of the Moabites of today. 38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.

The danger of chosing one’s own solutions rather than being patient, and godly and waiting for God’s solutions.

And so were conceived two more nations, that like Ismael’s descendants would be bitter enemies of Abraham’s descendants. 
It’s worth stopping and thinking of what problems, and difficulties you might be trying to solve by your own human efforts, rather than asking God for his solution, and waiting for his deliverance.
Or, you might ask God to bring such areas to your attention. 

Psalm 8: You have set your Glory in the Heavens.

By

STARRY NIGHT OVER THE RHONE.


Psalm 8

 1 LORD, our Lord,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You are majestic

You have set your glory
   in the heavens. 
The scatter of stars in the heavens tells of your glory

2 Through the praise of children and infants
   you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
   to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
   the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
   which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
   human beings that you care for them?
You who created the galaxies, is mindful of me, he cares for me.God cares for the big and small; the galaxies, and the details of my life.

 5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
   and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
   you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
   and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
   and the fish in the sea,
   all that swim the paths of the seas.

 9 LORD, our Lord,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!

God will silence your enemies–C.H. Spurgeon. Thought for the Day.

By

“Sometimes God pleads the cause of his people by silencing their enemies. What a remarkable instance you have of this in the case of Jacob! His sons had most cruelly and basely killed the Shechemites. Having betrayed them by false promises, they then slew them in cold blood. Jacob said, “Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.”

How strange was it, that he suffered no molestation; surely the Lord had cast a solemn awe upon the hearts of the Canaanites round about. His all-commanding voice was heard in their hearts, “Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophet no harm;” so that though Jacob’s family was grossly in the wrong, and his sons had committed a foul deed, yet nevertheless, the Lord pleaded the cause of his chosen servant, and his enemies were as still as stones. It will often be so with the Lord’s peculiar ones. When your foot has slipped – when you have spoken unadvisedly with your lips, if you have deeply repented of the sin, you may leave the matter before God, for he will either silence every dog’s tongue, or turn their barkings to his glory.”

From a sermon entitled “God Pleading For Saints, And Saints Pleading For God,” delivered July 10, 1864

Psalm 8: You have set your Glory in the Heavens.

By

STARRY NIGHT OVER THE RHONE.


Psalm 8

 1 LORD, our Lord,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You are majestic


You have set your glory
   in the heavens. 

The scatter of stars in the heavens tells of your glory


2 Through the praise of children and infants
   you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
   to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
   the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
   which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
   human beings that you care for them?

You who created the galaxies, is mindful of me, he cares for me.God cares for the big and small; the galaxies, and the details of my life.


 5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
   and crowned themwith glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
   you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
   and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
   and the fish in the sea,
   all that swim the paths of the seas.


 9 LORD, our Lord,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Money and Hypocrites, Matthew 6, Day 14, Jan 14,

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These are my daughters, Zoe and Irene. Irene, just 4, spontaneously started praying and thanking God for the Rhine Falls in Switzerland, seen in the background. She then realized that we were photographing her, but continued unfazed, with, however, the tiniest smile on her face. “She is praying as the hypocrites do,” Roy said, but I think God smiled too.

Matthew 6
 1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
That’s really scary. If we are righteous merely to be seen by other, we will have no reward from our Father in heaven.
I would say that the key word, the key principle, of the Sermon on the Mount is faith. Should we be good to receive praise from men, or be quietly good, and receive a reward from our Father in heaven?
Praise from men is immediate and gratifying. To believe that we will receive a reward from our heavenly father takes faith. Will it be now? Or later? What form will it take?
Personally, I would love to receive a reward from my heavenly Father, both in this life, and in the life to come.
And I am cool with any reward he gives me—whether the practical desires of my heart (travel, sufficient money, health, success in my work, an increasingly happy marriage, successful and Christian children) or more importantly, his spiritual gifts—joy, peace, love, contentment. And the former are worth little without the latter.

   2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
So, if you work for the praise of men, you do get a reward (or no one would do it.)
You’ve fooled people into thinking you are the real deal, and have got your reward from them in terms of their good opinion (in full).
You do not get the exponential blessings of the Father in this life, or later.

3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Again, the demand of faith.
Be generous, but don’t let a soul know what you have done. Nobody will be impressed with you.
But your Father who has seen what you have done secretly will reward you, openly, it says in some versions

    5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 
Hypocrite, play-actor, like the Greek actors who put a mask over their face when they were acting.
Don’t be a prayer-meeting bore. Don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t stand up and bore everyone with long-winded prayers, losing tracking of your audience in your display of your own compassion and wisdom. Don’t pray to be seen and to impress. Don’t worry about the impression you create when you pray. In fact, don’t pray in public without putting your prayers through the sieve of strict honesty. Are you addressing God or impressing your audience?
Will you have a reward? Will people be impressed with you? Yeah. You’ll have your reward, such as it is, in full. However, these prayers will never make it to your heavenly Father.
 But then  perhaps they were not intended to!

6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 
You do it in secret, when there are hundreds of lucrative, pleasurable, career-boosting things you could be doing instead of praying.
But God sees and values the time you have spent with him, and if, we choose to pray, in secret, he will give us a reward.
A reward!! From God!! That’s truly exciting. Whatever he may choose to give us.
Blessed is the one whom GOD rewards.

7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Let your prayers be short, brief, and to the point, since you are speaking to someone who knows your needs anyway.

   9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
   “‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name, 
May your name be revered.

 10 your kingdom come, 
Let us see your beautiful kingdom in our lives, and in the world around us.

 your will be done, 
   on earth as it is in heaven. 
Help me to do your will. And may it be done on earth as it is in your heaven. 

11 Give us today our daily bread. 
Give us what we need to stay full alive, in mind, body and soul

12 And forgive us our debts,
   as we also have forgiven our debtors. 
Wipe our sins off your books, as we wipe the sins of those who sin against us off our books.

13 And lead us not into temptation,
Protect us from temptation, for you know how weak we are. Temptation can also be translated as testing or trials.
   
but deliver us from the evil one.
The phrase tou ponerou can mean either evil or the evil one, Satan. ESV note, “The best protection from sin and temptation is to turn to God and to depend on his direction.”
And in particular, deliver us from the power of the evil one.
Here’s a longer blog post I did on The Lord’s Prayer.
   14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
If we do not write off other people’s weakness, treachery, and perfidy, our Father will also hold our sins against us. And then, who would stand? 

    16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Do you want the rewards of God? Then fast–in secret.(This is a spiritual discipline I’ve never learnt!)
Live under the eyes of God. Do things to be seen only by God. Be rewarded by God.

    19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 
Elsewhere Jesus says,“Do not work for food which perishes, but for food which endures to eternal life.” We often have a choice as to whether we will spend our energy on things which will bring us more money, or things which will be rewarded in heaven (prayer and giving, for instance).
Do not pile up money, for there is a risk that your heart will be where your money is. Do not make your money your treasure. It can be lost.
Break your focus on your bank balance.  How?
I ask the Holy Spirit to come and flood my heart and mind and spirit when I find myself thinking too much about money—how much I have, how much I should have, how much I have coming in, how to make more.
Store nothing? That’s one way to live. I don’t have the stomach for that.  At present, when I find money entering my thoughts over-much I pray for the Spirit to invade my mind instead. If it becomes a serious problem, there is nothing like increasing one’s giving to break the hold of money on your mind.

20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 
Store up treasures—of love, of goodness, of good deeds—in heaven.

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Your emotional life and love and desires will inevitably be caught up with what you treasure, whether it’s your bank balance or your God. Or success, or your blog or your writing or social/churchly success or the idol du jour.

   22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
If you focus on glorious things, your whole being will be suffused by light.
If you focus on unhealthy things, your soul, your spirit, will be in darkness. Oh no!!
Focus on the light instead. This takes a deliberate effort—a deliberate flipping out of the tape, and replacing it.

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Serve, douleo, implies the work of a slave. A slave can only belong to one master.
We cannot love two things with all our hearts, with all our minds, and with all our spirits. So we have to choose. It’s either God—or money. Or all the things which come under the dominion of the devouring God Mammon—success, fame, wealth, reputation.
Oh Lord, Lord, Lord, let it be you. First of all, you are lovely, and you can fill my spirit with joy. Secondly, you can give me all the money I need, but money cannot give me as much of you as I need! Or any of you!