Matthew 6 Is Your House God's House too?

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Matthew 6:1-34
Jesus Teaches About Giving 1 "Be careful! When you do good things, don't do them in front of people to be seen by them. If you do that, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2"When you give to the poor, don't be like the hypocrites. They blow trumpets in the synagogues and on the streets so that people will see them and honor them. I tell you the truth, those hypocrites already have their full reward. 3So when you give to the poor, don't let anyone know what you are doing. 4Your giving should be done in secret. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you. Jesus Teaches About Prayer 5"When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites. They love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners and pray so people will see them. I tell you the truth, they already have their full reward. 6When you pray, you should go into your room and close the door and pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you. 7"And when you pray, don't be like those people who don't know God. They continue saying things that mean nothing, thinking that God will hear them because of their many words. 8Don't be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him. 9So when you pray, you should pray like this: '
Our Father in heaven, may your name always be kept holy. 10 May your kingdom come and what you want be done, here on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us the food we need for each day. 12 Forgive us for our sins, just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us. 13 And do not cause us to be tempted, but save us from the Evil One.' 14Yes, if you forgive others for their sins, your Father in heaven will also forgive you for your sins. 15But if you don't forgive others, your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.
Jesus Teaches About Worship 16"When you give up eating, F21 don't put on a sad face like the hypocrites. They make their faces look sad to show people they are giving up eating. I tell you the truth, those hypocrites already have their full reward. 17So when you give up eating, comb your hair and wash your face. 18Then people will not know that you are giving up eating, but your Father, whom you cannot see, will see you. Your Father sees what is done in secret, and he will reward you. God Is More Important than Money 19"Don't store treasures for yourselves here on earth where moths and rust will destroy them and thieves can break in and steal them. 20But store your treasures in heaven where they cannot be destroyed by moths or rust and where thieves cannot break in and steal them. 21Your heart will be where your treasure is. 22"The eye is a light for the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. And if the only light you have is really darkness, then you have the worst darkness. 24"No one can serve two masters. The person will hate one master and love the other, or will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and worldly riches.
Don't Worry 25"So I tell you, don't worry about the food or drink you need to live, or about the clothes you need for your body. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes. 26Look at the birds in the air. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds. 27You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it. 28"And why do you worry about clothes? Look at how the lilies in the field grow. They don't work or make clothes for themselves. 29But I tell you that even Solomon with his riches was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers. 30God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today but tomorrow is thrown into the fire. So you can be even more sure that God will clothe you. Don't have so little faith! 31Don't worry and say, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' 32The people who don't know God keep trying to get these things, and your Father in heaven knows you need them. 33The thing you should want most is God's kingdom and doing what God wants. Then all these other things you need will be given to you. 34So don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
FOOTNOTES:F21 give up eating - This is called "fasting." The people would give up eating for a special time of prayer and worship to God. It was also done to show sadness and disappointment.
Copyright Statement: New Century Version

~ Lena’s Journalin’~
It is so awesome that our gospel is a God-centered, God-exalting gospel and not a man-centered and man-exalting gospel. In fact, inside of our gospel is a war against man and self-centeredness, for satan is the man and self-centered author and with our entering into a new kingdom through the gospel of the Lordship of Christ, we change fathers and masters and we go from a life of thinking in a prideful self-centered way to thinking and loving for Christ and all of His God-centered ways.
This citizenship change is not without controversy, for satan, the father of lies, does not appreciate losing a citizen and a fellow worker! Why do you think there is intimidation involved in worship? Why do people feel uncomfortable dancing, jumping, clapping and raising their hands in church? It is a warring against an old self-centered, satan-exalting lifestyle. One must worship God on and with purpose, not in the flesh, but in and by the spirit. Remember who Lucifer was, the worship leader of heaven. He likes worship and likes it directed for him and his purposes which is hatred of God.
Prayer can even be self-centered and self-exalting in nature. It can be about me and me and me and my wishes and my desires. What is so cool and shows maturity in prayer is when my wishes become His wishes, His wishes become mine. That does not come automatically. It comes through humility, study and the building of a relationship where I listen to His word and am willing to do whatever it is He says to do.
The very initiation and beginning of our prayer life is for the will and exaltation of God as Father of our eternal family. After we are willing to hear and do and we have gone and done His will, then we can declare we have all we need, because we’ve been a participant in giving Him what He needs from those who populate the earth for Him to win this war of pride and self-exaltation!
If we do not forgive then the nature of God is not yet in us. God did not hold a grudge against you. He sent His beloved Son who shed all of His blood for you. You may have been a child abuser, had an abortion, been an angry tyrant, hated people, been a God curser or whatever, but His Son knowing that full well, decided to love you anyway and to die for you! Wow! If we do not forgive than we do not give honor to that bloodshed and if we do not give honor to that bloodshed are we His? Do we belong to Him, do we look and act as sons? If not, than we are not, and so we are not - forgiven.
What is of eternal value that we do here? Anything we do as we live for God. Behaviors, attitudes and actions in any and everything we do. If what we do or what we buy or how we spend our time does not promote a deep love for Christ, God, and the world, then we need to make a trade off and do more of what promotes and brings exercise to this lifestyle.
There are so many monetary things we are working for and spending our life and time on that have nothing to do with making an eternal investment at all. That investment is both being made for us and for our kids and those around us who see our lives. If we invest in the kingdom, we bring the kingdom into their lives as we touch their lives, if we don’t invest in the kingdom we have stolen from them what could have been due them through us.
What do you do on break at work? When you sit to read what do you read? , (Like while in Drs. Office waiting rooms, at break with magazines, at home with newspaper articles, scanning the internet, etc.) When you listen to music while you drive down the road are you building up your spiritually alive in Christ man towards more God exaltation? Or is your music self or man-exalting and emotion stirring? When you take your child to a movie who or what is it about? When you come away from the movie what is your child left to think about for days on end? Do you take him or her to God’s house with you, or maybe drop them off? Are what goes on in God’s house and the actions and behaviors of your house the same? Like could and would you bring what your family does in your house into what you perceive as God’s house, and be comfortable doing it?
Our house is God’s house, if we call ourselves His. THIS is a big breech in the religious church that God wants to repair. That I’d go to God’s house and then go home to a different kind of house is an unjust measure and an unjust balance. It is an abomination. We’re not in a social club with God that’s nice and good, we’re here to do His will. It says we CANNOT serve God’s call and money’s call. It is not maybe some can, it is, none can.
The biggest part of that change over in right thinking that leads to right action is - Trust. Who do we really trust? Also just hoping and trying do not cut it. it is faithful life application of the word and faithful withdrawals of the benefits of our covenant relationship that bring His power into our situations. Just like The Lord’s prayer above. As we seek God’s kingdom first, worship Him first, do His will first, then we have all the right in the world to command His blessings on everything we put our hands unto! The money we make can be multiplied and we can watch God do the miraculous where we are concerned! Serving God and having our money blessed is so different than serving money.
Wanting what God wants moves His heart to move heaven and earth’s circumstances for His kids, wouldn’t you do that for your loving honoring obedient child? Even human fathers give love to their kids, how much MORE does God the Father love us.

Daily Repetitive Verses -
John 17:15 I'm not asking you to take them out of the world but to protect them from the evil one.