Meditation on Matthew 6

Meditation on Matthew 6

Lord, save me from self-righteousness and pride.  Help me not do good, be generous or religious just to be thought well of by other people.  Help me to have a private life of piety before you that no one else knows about.

In my prayers help fervency and sincerity be the greatest principles of my petitions and praise.

Heavenly Father, may the whole world see you for who you really are and reveal to all cultures the truth of your love for them in Messiah Jesus.  

Lord, rule over the rulers of every land.  Have them bend their knees to your word and will.  Let your  righteousness come to the earth.  

Lord, help us now at a physical level.  Give the sick new health, the distressed new hope, and the hungry ways to get bread.

In your great grace found in the sacrifice on the cross, now provide for us deep and real forgiveness of our sins.   Transform us into a forgiving and graceful people who can love our enemies.

Don't take us to places where we may be tested to fail to love people as we should love them.  Keep us from failing to love YOU.   Defeat the plans of the devil for our lives.

Help our hearts be filled with mercy and not bitterness.  Grant that in our attitudes we would be controlled by mercy and grace.   Help us know we have been given grace by our giving grace.

Provide for us a hunger to fast.  Help us become weak that we can become strong.

Keep us from the greed that turns money and objects into idols.  Help us to value righteousness and your rule in our lives more than success in our careers and wealth.

Lord, help our vision to be your vision.  Take our blindness from us.  Grant us to see things from your perspective.  Save us from our illusions and blindness.

Lord Jesus, be our MASTER.  Create in us a pure devotion to you.  Take away those things in our heart that would come lure us into making them our ultimate concern of life.  Lord, save us!

Help us trust that you provide all we need to do your will.  Help us make of first priority your rule and right living.   Don't allow our appetites control our decisions and actions.

Free us from the fear of the future and grant we might live today in true faith.  Help us to overcome the challenges of this day.  Amen