Give us today our daily bread. (Matthew 6:11)

Again we have the idea of dependence on Christ, not food for the remainder of our life, but just enough for today.

Utter dependence on Christ is one of the three great virtues that must be created in each member of the Body of Christ.

The other two great virtues are the engraving of the eternal moral Law of God in our mind and heart as we continually embrace righteous behavior and renounce and turn away from sinful behavior; and dying in the Lord to our self-will that we might live in eternal resurrection life.

"Lord Jesus, help each one of us possess fully these three virtues until we come to maturity in Christ."

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (Matthew 6:12)

If we expect God to forgive our offenses against Him we in turn must forgive those who have offended us.

Sometimes we are wounded so severely and so unnecessarily that to forgive our adversary is extremely difficult—almost impossible! Or it may be impossible to us!

But when the Lord said, "Father forgive them, they do not know what they are doing," a Virtue was established in His blood as I stated previously. We can ask for some of that Virtue, and the power will prove sufficient to enable us to forgive those who have harmed us.

This is particularly important in the case of a woman who was molested as a young girl. She may not be able to forgive in her own strength, but she can forgive through the power of the blood.

But she must not then place herself in a position where someone, even a close relative, or her own father, can do this again!

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:13)

We understand that God would never make a person sin. We sin when we are drawn away by our own lusts.

But would God ever lead us into temptation?

Well, if He never would, the above petition makes no sense.

Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go and take a census of Israel and Judah." (II Samuel 24:1)

David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing." (II Samuel 24:10)

"The Lord incited David" because the Lord was angry with Israel.

We know that the Lord used Satan to do this.

Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. (I Chronicles 21:1)

It becomes kind of complicated, doesn't it?

But this is the way Heaven operates. God uses Satan to accomplish God's will. Christ always remains in control of events on the earth so we have no need to fear.

Or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. (II Corinthians 12:7)

Notice that Paul did not attempt to rebuke Satan, as many Christians do today (in error I believe). Rather Paul prayed to the Lord three times.

Satan always is seeking to provoke us to sin. If we pray to God, as Jesus taught us, we will not step into one of Satan's snares.

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:14,15)

The fact that verse 14 begin with "for" may suggest that God leading us into temptation depends on whether or not we forgive those who sin against us.

God will not lead us into temptation if we are asking Him not to and are doing His will carefully. However, He may expose us to a temptation if it is necessary to get at some "king" of evil in our personality.

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. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 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. (Matthew 6:16-18)

The verses above remind us of the previous exhortation to not do charitable works in front of people in order to parade our righteousness, but to give to the poor secretly so only God can observe what we have done.

I cannot say I have seen the above exhortation broken frequently in America; but then my experience with other Christians has been limited.

In any case we understand that we are to live so as to please our Father in Heaven, and not display our religious fervor in front of other people.

The idea of not doing religious works so people can see them must be important, since it is repeated. I believe this precept is violated by religious organizations in some of their sacraments, liturgies, and vestments.

We possibly would gain the esteem of other people by doing so, but we will not receive the true riches that come from the Father.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. (Matthew 6:19)

In a culture devoted to money, as is true of the United States, it appears we really have to pray to interpret the above exhortation correctly. It is kind of extreme to have no savings and make no effort to provide for our old age. We just have to hear from Jesus to apply this advice to our life.

There is no doubt that material riches can be lost in a moment. We see this in California when there is a major fire or an earthquake.

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Matthew 6:20)

The true Christian gives to the Lord every relationship, material possession, and circumstance. His cross consists to a great extent of deferred desires. He must be willing to have his desires deferred until he dies. Any possession not given readily to God when it is asked for is an idol.

We must be willing to wait until we die to receive back what we have given to the Lord, although sometimes we receive back our treasure in this present world.

However, according to the unchanging Word of God, our treasures shall be given back to us eventually if they will bring us righteousness, love, joy, and peace. God is faithful to see to that!

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21)

If our heart is fixed on a relationship, possession, or circumstance, on anything other than God and His Christ, we are in bondage. We may not realize this, but we are.

When God sees that our idols (and that is what they are) are hindering our growth in Christ, He will act to release us from these chains. We just have to trust that God knows what He is doing and is interested in our welfare.

The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 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! (Matthew 6:22,23)

If we would be a victorious Christian, we must make up our mind to serve God and Christ wholeheartedly. The lukewarm believer will be spit from Christ's mouth.

There are numerous lukewarm believers in the Christian churches in America. It is socially acceptable in the present hour to attend a Christian church, and it does give us the feeling that we are pleasing God and being righteous.

However, the day may be close at hand in our country when it is not socially acceptable but illegal to attend a Christian church. Then we shall see who is a Christian and who is not.

To be a victorious Christian is to be dedicated single-mindedly to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the first thing we think of when we awaken in the morning, and the last thing at night as we are going to sleep.

Through the day we are praying continually for the solutions to our problems, and for wisdom in how to proceed in every activity. It is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; night and day, day and night. Our eye is single toward the Lord, consequently our entire body is filled with light.

Only this sort of determination will please Jesus, who went to the cross on our behalf.

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. (Matthew 6:24)

It may be true that not many American Christians will be able to cope with the verse above.

We may not realize it but our culture is saturated with the desirability of possessing money. It is as though if we have enough money we will have righteousness, love, joy, and peace.

But Americans, as relatively rich as they are, have a great need of pain pills, drugs, alcohol, sleep medicines, heartburn medicines, psychiatrists, and other sources to relieve the anxiety of life.

If you think everyone is happy except you, drive by the local hospital and check out the parking area.

Yet the television continually urges us to buy this, buy that, buy the next thing, and we will be happy. All the while we may be struggling with divorce or suicide.

We, for the most part, look to money to provide comfort or joy in the present world. But it does not. All we actually need is a roof over our head, clothes, and food, and a few other necessities. Yet the television yells at us all day long to buy this or that.

If we are wise we will turn to Jesus and worship Him. There absolutely is no other source of righteousness, love, peace, and joy. Money is the power of Antichrist, and when we look to money to give us peace and joy we are worshiping Antichrist.

It is impossible to worship Christ and money at the same time!

Therefore I tell you, 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?

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?

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

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? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. (Matthew 6:25-32)

God has created us in a very dependent state. We need air, we need food, we need water, we need clothes, we need a roof over our head.

Then He says, do not worry about these things. God knows you need them.

Next Part But God is invisible!

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