06 October 2019
Two-Minute Features | 13 October 2019

Prayer That Makes Us Look Nice (TMF:1235)

Friday, October 11, 2019
Peace to Live By: Prayer That Makes Us Look Nice (TMF:1235) - Daniel Litton
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       When we pray in front of others to be seen by them, Jesus tells us that that’s the only reward we are going to receive—the praise of men. We aren’t going to receive any praise from God for such an action—no reward now in this life and no reward for Heaven in the future. Basically, in essence, the prayer doesn’t count. It falls short of even reaching God’s ears because it was not prayed with a right heart attitude. Jesus talked about some of the customs of the Jews in his time. These are things he observed, hypocritical things that he had seen probably growing up as a child and as he was out in public. He said, “For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others” (ESV). So, Jesus uses the word ‘love’ here to denote just how much the Pharisees enjoyed doing this. During the time of Jesus, the Pharisees, the religious leaders of his day, would stand up and pray in their church services, their synagogues, and on the street corners. And Jesus could tell that they really did this to be seen by others—to look good.

Praying with a Right Heart Attitude (TMF:1234)

Thursday, October 10, 2019
Peace to Live By: Praying with a Right Heart Attitude (TMF:1234) - Daniel Litton
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       So, to start, Jesus sets up his discussion here in Matthew 6 by first talking about the fact that we should not be doing things in front of others just to be seen by them. In other words, if we are acting religious, or praying eloquent prayers, just so others can see and hear us, and think we’re a great person, we don’t have a right heart attitude before God. We are praying just for the sake of looking good instead of for the purpose of talking with God. We are doing the right thing, but for the wrong reason. Now, this doesn’t mean it’s wrong to pray in public; it certainly doesn’t mean that. It’s okay to pray out in public, like on a prayer walk or at a restaurant. The point is that we need to watch our motive when we pray. We can even pray in secret and still have a wrong motive. We can pray with a group of friends, or at a Bible study, and still have an incorrect motive. When we pray in front of others to be seen by them, Jesus tells us that that’s the only reward we are going to receive—the praise of men. We aren’t going to receive any praise from God for such an action—no reward now in this life and no reward for Heaven in the future.

Morningtime Spent with God, Part 2 (TMF:1233)

Wednesday, October 09, 2019
Peace to Live By: Morningtime Spent with God, Part 2 (TMF:1233) - Daniel Litton
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       I would also suggest and highly recommend that you spend a significant amount of time, say at least five minutes, praying before you go to work. This again is putting God first. Plus, I believe you will see your day flowing smoother and on a more level ground because you’ve prayed and asked for God to help you with your day. You’ve spend time praising and thanking him. You’ve made your fellowship time with him a priority for the day. And I think God honors that. Sometime ago I told my friends at Bible study to try this, and weeks later at one our meetings one of my friends told me he tried this, and was amazed at how it worked out for him. It really does work, folks. I have found that when I skip a significant prayer time before I go to work for the day that I usually find myself struggling in no short amount of time. And not to mention our prayer time even sets our minds in the right place. That’s also good for us. Today, however, we want to focus on our primary prayer time with God.

Morningtime Spent with God, Part 1 (TMF:1232)

Tuesday, October 08, 2019
Peace to Live By: Morningtime Spent with God, Part 1 (TMF:1232) - Daniel Litton
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       When we first wake up in the morning and get out of bed, I would recommend that you say at least a short prayer, a greeting to God, if you will, to start the day. In the most basic form this is a way we can put God first and set our day in the right direction. Remember, in verse 5 of Matthew 6 here, Jesus said “when you pray,” not “if you pray.” We should always have prayer on our minds, and not every prayer we do has to be in a formal formula or setting. Praying is to be done all the time, really. Personally, I like to call it being in continual or constant conversation with God. However, that’s not our focus for today; that discussion is for another time. I would also suggest and highly recommend that you spend a significant amount of time, say at least five minutes, praying before you go to work. This again is putting God first. Plus, I believe you will see your day flowing smoother and on a more level ground because you’ve prayed and asked for God to help you with your day. You’ve spend time praising and thanking him. You’ve made your fellowship time with him a priority for the day. And I think God honors that.

Casting Off Our Anxieties to God (TMF:1231)

Monday, October 07, 2019
Peace to Live By: Casting Off Our Anxieties to God (TMF:1231) - Daniel Litton
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       Thirdly, prayer allows us to cast off our cares, our anxieties, on God so that he can deal with them and instead of us sitting around and worrying about them. I think we can all agree that anxiety is a big problem for us as we all face varying life circumstances that can weigh us down. We need to learn to cast our cares on God so that our minds can be at rest, so that we are not carrying around our problems in our heads throughout the day, thinking about them and worrying about them regularly. God indeed wants to help us with our difficulties, and he will surely help us when we let him—when we allow him to. A problem for us is that we often choose to worry about our issues instead of giving them to him, which doesn’t do us any good at all. It only enhances, or amplifies, our current trouble. Finally, before we go into studying the Lord’s Prayer, I would like to say that putting God first when we start our day is important for us. Some of us are particularly good at this, but some of us require some work at this. When we first wake up in the morning and get out of bed, I would recommend that you say at least a short prayer, a greeting to God, if you will, to start the day.