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Matthew 6:11 Give us today our daily bread.
Each and every day we need our input from God, be it listening to others or reading it ourselves, we need to be refreshed so we can face another day.
This can be paralleled with the time when the Israelites would have to gather their manna each day, just enough for that day, not to store it up; each family would have to gather their own manna.
We cannot leave it to the priests or church leaders to do our reading for us – we have to hear that message from God because He alone is the author and finisher of the Gospel!
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Matthew 6:10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
The Jews used to pray something like “the kingdom of thy Messiah come” before Jesus changed the wording to show them the Messiah had already come and now they should look forward to heaven!
This is all about the success of the Gospel – the message being spread far and wide – just as it would be echoed in heaven.
We need to take heed of what Christ has taught us and continue to pass the same message on to all people around us, not just sharing it with other Christians, but everywhere!
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Matthew 6:9 This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
When Jesus was teaching the disciples, part of that teaching was about the ‘simple’ things in life like praying…
Jesus wants us to pray whenever we want and whenever we need to, but not forgetting that these prayers should be directed to God, our Father, who lives in heaven.
God is holy and so our prayers should in some way reflect that fact; don’t go asking to win the lottery or to have your enemy fall into hard times – that’s just what happens in life.
Speak to God with humbleness and honestly.
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1 Timothy 6:9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
The more we seek after money and riches, the more likely we will be tempted to do things which are not normal for us or the more we will be willing to take liberties.
This is exactly what the evil one wants – he wants us to fall off the rails and take on a sinful life instead of following Christ; how else can he hope to gain power?
It’s not like we don’t know what is good and what is wrong, but we will be more likely to take on those wrong things in our lives when we are chasing money…
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Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, without painful toil for it.
The things which come from God are always good and do not carry burdens with them; this does not mean we will not have any sorrows or burdens!
When we have to do something for God, we may well have to accept the hardships which come with that work – but the hardships come from mankind and not from God!
The earthly wealth we receive in doing work for God is coming from the world – we should be looking at the spiritual wealth we receive from God when doing His will in our lives…
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Matthew 23:28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
When Jesus was warning the Scribes and Pharisees about their actions, He also wanted them to understand how different they were on the inside because of their ways.
When we allow the world to encroach on the things we should be doing for God, we are allowing the sinful ways of the world to come before God.
We cannot hope to serve God effectively if we are not willing to have our sinful ways cleansed first of all!
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Matthew 23:5 Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;
The more leaders get into fashionable garments rather than leading the people, the more people begin to question whether the leaders are doing the right thing.
Jesus picked up on what the Scribes and Pharisees were doing; doing pretty much the opposite of what God wanted of them.
Don’t burden other people just so your burdens can be lighter unless they are asking that of you.
Be humble in what you do and always try to do it for God and not for pleasing mankind.
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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.
Do you do things so others can see you doing them, or do you do things because it is rightful to do so?
To often in our lives we end up doing things to impress others so they will “know” we are good. The only reward you are likely to get is the temporary adoration of those around us.
We should be aiming at a permanent reward we can get from God in Heaven; and not because we want to impress God, but because we have learned through His Spirit this is what we should be doing…
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James 5:12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear - not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.
When you try to tell a lie and try to convince others by swearing an oath about it, you have just condemned yourself to a position of non-trustworthiness before everyone!
No matter how much you try to convince others of one thing which is not true, when the truth does finally come out, everything is uncovered for you!
Keep things simple in life by telling the truth and not having to promise on or swear on something else to uphold your stories; this is pleasing to God!
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Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.
How often do we focus on the negative side of life or of people? How often do we ignore the good and righteous things in life?
Don’t you find it brings you down by thinking about all the wrong things in life?
God wants us to try and focus on our lives with Him and bring what that shows us to the forefront of our thoughts.
If we try to think of the righteous ways and things more often, just maybe we will do and follow those ways!
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Genesis 37:11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
When Joseph started having dreams about what would happen in the future, the reaction from his brothers was one of rejection and hatred.
The initial reaction from his father was to rebuke Joseph for saying such things; but he did know God could do anything and so kept those dreams in mind.
We often rebuke others for saying things which we do not like, but if they are coming from God, we need to listen and bury them in our hearts.
It would be better to listen and think about things rather than rejecting them without thought – God does move in mysterious ways!
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Luke 2:51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
When Jesus returned to Nazareth, He showed great respect to His parents – even though He knew His Father in heaven was above all.
Jesus was willing to teach us through His subjection to His parents just as He taught us about God the Father; it was through His example that His mother remembered His teachings and held them in her heart.
Showing respect to our parents comes alongside loving others and loving God; God wants us to love without limit!
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1 Timothy 5:4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.
Our parents and grandparents are the ones who are responsible for us being in this world and they should be honoured for what they have done.
If we can learn to have such honour and love within our own families, then we will be able to extend that love to God more easily than someone who has not been able to love their families.
God has always upheld families and wants us to be able to uphold our families and look after those who have raised us. When we do so, we please God because He knows what is best for us!
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Proverbs 23:4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness.
How many times have you heard it said you must work 7 days a week in order to be successful?
The more we focus on getting rich from our deeds, the more we will lose focus on Christ and His ways!
God has commanded us to have a day of each week set aside to rest and recuperate; a day we can spend in His arms and worshipping Him. Don’t waste that day!
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Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding
The focus of our trust should be our Lord and God; not in the religion, deeds, exercises or anything else, but in the Lord.
Miracles come about when God wants them to be done and not when it pleases mankind because it is God we worship and not mankind.
We may not understand how things can be possible, but when we come to our Lord and request things, He can make things happen which we think are impossible.
Nothing is impossible with God!
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Judges 21:25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.
What happens when people have no person of authority to show them right from wrong? They tend to go and do what they want!
What happens when the person in authority loses their own way and instils doubt in the people’s hearts? They lose respect for the authority and do what they want!
God is our ultimate authority and He has never given us any reason to doubt Him – in fact He has shown us so many reasons why we should keep Him alone as our one true God! So follow Him!
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Luke 14:33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
One thing I learned very quickly about working for God is we have to be willing to face hardships but also willing to let go of our prized worldly possessions!
If we keep ourselves focused on the worldly things, we have built up instead of what God is calling us to do, we will tend to uphold those worldly things instead of God’s Word.
God may call us to put aside those special things in our lives because they do not make a firm foundation for us to build on. Stick with what God gives you and trust Him!
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Luke 14:28 Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?
Starting, or doing something for God is compared to building a tower here – in order for it to succeed we have to make sure we follow good advice but also make sure we build it on a firm foundation!
Rushing ahead and hoping things will hold together is never wise. God wants us to be prepared for the work we do for Him.
If you rush into His work and things fall apart because you have not expected the hardships it is likely you have not listened to the Lord when He warned us the path ahead is not simple and straightforward.
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Proverbs 15:22 Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
How many times have you jumped into a project and seen it fail almost as soon as you started? How much advice did you seek on that project?
Chances are you jumped ahead because you thought it was such a good idea and did not seek much advice because you were so sure!
God places many people around us who can give us advice, be it on physical matters or on spiritual matters. He puts them there for a reason – listen to those around you…
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Proverbs 15:8 The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.
Do you like it when people say one thing and do another – when others deceive you into doing something because they lie to you first?
Imagine being able to tell exactly when people are trying to deceive you or being able to always see the truth! God is never deceived by what we do or say!
If we pretend to do things right, we may be able to fool many people much of the time, but God sees through us and does not like us deceiving others.
Lift up your honest prayers to God because He does want to hear us admitting to the truth and accepting His help to make things right…