Pastor's Blog

7. The following passages have a bearing on effective prayer. Point out the essential principles from:
(1) 6:14-15 – We cannot pray effectively to our heavenly Father with malice in our hearts toward his other children
(2) 6:16-18 – The necessity of avoiding external religiousness and of practicing internal religion
(3) 6:19-24 – Men are either mastered by God with their hearts in heaven, or mastered by things with their hearts on earth
(4) 6:24 – The utter impossibility of living for things and at the same time living for God
(5) 6:25-27 – The unreasonableness and consequent uselessness of worrying
(6) 6:28-32 – The reasonableness of confidence in the integrity of the heavenly Father
(7) 6:32a – The worldliness of worrying about the necessities of life
(8) 6:33 – Obtaining the necessities of life will be an easy matter when first things are put first
(9) 6:34 – The need of simplifying our lives by living for God a day at a time without adding to it the problems of tomorrow, many of which resolve themselves by the time tomorrow comes

8. Note Luther’s translation for “all these things shall be added unto you” (v. 32): “So wird Euch das andere alles zufallen.” (“Then everything else,” i.e., the necessities of life, “will come your way without effort”)

9. The effortless adding of the necessities of life is contingent upon what, 6:33?
(1) Upon giving priority to the interests of the kingdom of God over our personal interests
(2) Upon personal conformity to the standards of righteousness required by the laws of the kingdom of God