Short prayers based on the book of Matthew
<aside> 🙏🏻 “An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1)
Our faithful God, we praise you that the promises you make to your people, you really do keep. You promised King David, that one of his sons would rule from his throne forever. You promised Abraham that one of his offspring would bring blessing to all the nations on earth by undoing the curse that sin has brought upon creation. Thank you that with the announcement that Jesus is the Son of David and the Son of Abraham these promises have been kept. We thank you for saving us from our sins by living the life we could not live, dying the death we deserve to die, and conquering the twin enemies of sin and death we could not conquer. Help us, by your Spirit, to trust Him to forgive us and to follow Him by obeying everything He has commanded. We praise you, Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “Now Jesus began to go all over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” (Matthew 4:23)
Lord Jesus, we praise you that you are the light of the world, who came to drive away darkness. Where there is confusion about what to believe and how to live, you brought the light of revelation. Where sin abounds in immoral and rebellious lives, you brought light by proclaiming the good news of forgiveness and peace with God. Where there is suffering and sadness and misery, you came to make sure that one day tears will be wiped away from your people’s eyes as you completely heal them. Thank you that through faith in you, we can experience what it is like to be in your kingdom of light in part now, and one day fully when you return. Keep us turning from darkness of sin and following you who has brought us light. Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20)
Our God, there is nothing we can do to make ourselves acceptable in your sight. If the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was not sufficient to gain entry into the kingdom of heaven, our righteousness and obedience will not be sufficient either. We need the righteousness of your Son Jesus Christ who fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. Thank you that His perfect righteousness was credited to us when we put our faith in Him. And having been given His righteousness, we praise you that we can now show we have a righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees because you have written your law on our hearts and given us your Spirit which moves us to keep it. Help us to give evidence of this today by keeping in step with your Spirit’s work in our lives. Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)
Loving Father, please calm our anxious hearts. We confess that we are prone to have all kinds of worries, and often it is right to. Yet we pray that our trust in you would be such, that we don’t let these concerns we have take over our lives and shape our behaviour, because you are able to provide what we need for every situation and circumstance we face. We thank you that you are a faithful God who takes care of His children, and so we can rely on you to take care of us. Help us to do that today by bringing our worries to you. Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.“ (Matthew 7:21)
Our God, we take seriously the warning your Word gives which tells us that it is possible to think we are a Christian, to say we are a Christian, to outwardly appear to be a Christian, and turn out not to be a Christian and someone to whom Jesus says “I never knew you”. How we need to make sure we have truly entered through the narrow gate by turning from our sins and trusting in Christ alone because only He can get us into the kingdom of heaven through His blood and righteousness. Father, thank you that if we are looking to Him and relying on Him as our only hope on the Day of Judgment, we can take heart, for He will make sure we will enter in. Help us to trust that He really can do this for us. We praise you for the wonderful Saviour that He is and the love you’ve shown to us by sending Him into the world to save sinners. Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “Reaching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying, “I am willing; be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” (Matthew 8:4)
Lord, how we need to be made clean. Not just to have a reformation of our outward behaviour, but to have a new clean heart so that we can be acceptable in your sight. Thank you Lord Jesus, that when we come to you in our hopelessness and helplessness and say to you, “Lord, if you are willing you can make me clean,” you can! We praise you that you are willing and able to make sinners clean because when you died on the cross, you took upon yourself all the uncleanness of your people. We come to you again now, asking for forgiveness for all the ways we have fallen short of your glory and for all the times we have transgressed your commands. As we trust in your forgiveness, by your Spirit, let us hear your voice say to us again, “Be clean!” Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “As you go, proclaim, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’” (Matthew 10:7)
Sovereign God, we know that we each have a responsibility to go to the lost with the good news of the gospel. We feel so ordinary, so weak, so flawed, and yet those are the people you delight to use in this task of making disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that you can use us to proclaim that Jesus is the Saviour of the world and there is forgiveness of sins and eternal life for everyone who trusts in Him. Give us opportunities each day to speak to someone about your love for the world and the salvation found only in Christ. As we seek to go to all nations as you have commanded us, we pray that we wouldn’t neglect those who are from a Jewish background. May we pray for them and for those ministries seeking to reach them, as well as speaking about the Messiah to any Jews who we are in contact with. So help us to go and to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is open to all who come to Jesus. Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
Thank you Lord Jesus that when we come to you tired or anxious, disappointed or feeling guilty, or weighed down by the burdens of life, and we hand over to you all our sins, all our cares, all our failures, all our worries, all our sadness, and trust you to take care of them, you are able to. Thank you that you promise that when we do, you will give us rest. The rest of enjoying life under your rule, the rest of enjoying your blessings, and the rest that comes from knowing that we have the guaranteed hope of perfect eternal rest in the future. We pray that we would know this rest in our hearts now. For those who have not yet come to you, we pray that you would be merciful to them by convicting them of their need to come to you and receive this promised rest. Amen.
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<aside> 🙏🏻 “Therefore,” he said to them, “every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom treasures new and old.” (Matthew 13:52)
Father, you don’t want us to keep to ourselves, what we have learned from the Lord Jesus as we have listened to His words. You want us to bring out of our storeroom the treasure we have discovered about Him and His kingdom by sharing it with other people. We pray that as we do, we will encounter good hearts which will believe the word, persevere under difficult circumstances, not be pulled away by the world, and be true followers of Jesus so that the kingdom of heaven grows. We pray that people as they hear of Jesus will see Him as the greatest treasure of all, and joyfully and willingly give up everything to follow Him. Bless our efforts when we speak of what we know about our Saviour. Amen.
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