Matthew 6

1. Be careful! When you do good things, do not do them in front of people to be seen by them. If you do that, then you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

God is not in it when we do things to make ourselves look good. Stay as far away from this as you can!

2 – 4

When you give to the poor, do not be like the hypocrites. They blow trumpets before they give so that people will see them. They do that in the synagogues and on the streets. They want other people to honor them. I tell you the truth.

Those hypocrites already have their full reward. So when you give to the poor, give very secretly. Do not let anyone know what you are doing. Your giving should be done in secret. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you.


Some Jewish leaders taught that when you give to the poor this takes away your sin. If you are giving to God because you think He will then do something for you then you are trying to buy your way into heaven!

5 – 6

When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. They love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners and pray loudly. They want people to see them pray. I tell you the truth. They already have their full reward. When you pray, you should go into your room and close the door. Then pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you.

When people pray this way they are not talking to God but they are only talking for the people around them to hear.

7 – 9

And when you pray, do not be like those people who do not know God. They continue saying things that mean nothing. They think that God will hear them because of the many things they say. Do not be like them.

Your Father knows the things you need before you ask him. So when you pray, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, we pray that your name will always be kept holy.

God’s name will not be known if we do not go out and share the Gospel! Ask the Lord to teach you how to pray. This does show us that when children and others see us pray and the see what happens because of it, then they will want to learn how to pray. Try to put the ideas of this prayer in your own words instead of just repeating it as a religious chant.

10. We pray that your kingdom will come. We pray that what You want will be done, here on earth as it is in heaven.

Here are the basics of a kingdom: There can only be one king. A king needs people who have made a decision to stay under his protection. There need to be laws so that everyone knows what they should do. There need to be borders that the people agree not to cross. This is how a kingdom works. Are you ready to live in God’s kingdom? Pray that your kingdom will go away and God’s kingdom will come!

We pray that what God wants will be done even if it is not what we would want. All prayers that teach you to claim what you want would be saying that you want your will to be done. Getting what we want is not why we pray but working with what God wants.

11. Give us the food we need for each day.

We have to come back to God every day for what we need. When God fed the people in the desert the manna would become rotten if they tried to save it for the next day. Do not live off of only memories of what God has done but do not go out of your house until you have been fed with something new from God’s Word!

12. Forgive the sins we have done, just as we have forgiven those who did wrong to us.

There are people in mental hospitals today because they do not want to forgive the ones who have hurt them.
Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. That is what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart. Matthew 18:3435

13. And do not cause us to be tested; but save us from the Evil One. The kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours forever. Amen.

This prayer has words like: “we” and “us” so we need to pray it together! By prayer, we can be a covering for each from the attacks of the devil. When we stop praying we start wondering why things are going wrong.

14 – 15

Yes, if you forgive others for the things they do wrong, then your Father in heaven will also forgive you for the things you do wrong. But if you do not forgive the wrongs of others, then your Father in heaven will not forgive the wrong things you do.

Forgiveness means that you give up your right to hurt someone!

16 – 18

When you give up eating, do not put on a sad face like the hypocrites. They make their faces look strange to show people that they are giving up eating. I tell you the truth, those hypocrites already have their full reward. So when you give up eating, comb your hair and wash your face.

Then 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.


Sometimes we go without eating to show God that we want to be weak so that He can be strong in our lives. We do not let anybody know that we are doing this. It does not matter if you just skip a meal, or only drink juice for a day, or eat nothing -what matters is that you are showing God that you need His help and you want to hear from Him.

19 – 21

Do not store treasures for yourselves here on earth. Moths and rust will destroy treasures here on earth. And thieves can break into your house and steal the things you have. So store your treasure in heaven. The treasures in heaven cannot be destroyed by moths or rust. And thieves cannot break in and steal that treasure. Your heart will be where your treasure is.

Many families have been destroyed because they wanted more than they needed. They thought that if they gave their children everything then they would be happy. Too often these families are destroyed because making money was the most important thing and they did not spending time knowing each other and knowing the Lord!
This man thinks very highly of himself and he wants the best of everything there is in the world but not what is best for his soul and spirit. James 4:13

22 – 23

The eye is a light for the body. If your eyes are good, then your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are evil, then your whole body will be full of darkness. And if the only light you have is really darkness, then you have the worst darkness.

People can tell many things about us by looking into our eyes. A lighthouse next to the ocean cannot send a mixed signal, it has to be bright or people will die.

24. “No one can be a slave to two masters. He will hate one master and love the other. Or he will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. So you cannot serve God and money at the same time.

The Pharisees thought that having more than you need was a sign of God’s blessing. They were trying to serve God and money at the same time.

25 – 27

So I tell you, do not worry about the food you need to live. And don’t worry about the clothes you need for your body. Life is more important than food. And the body is more important than clothes.

Look at the birds in the air. They do not plant or harvest or store food in barns. But your heavenly Father feeds the birds. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds. You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.


Worry means that you have a mind that is in two parts. One part has fear of what will happen and the other part is knowing that we should be trusting God. Worry does not add to your life but makes your life shorter.

28 – 30

And why do you worry about clothes? Look at the flowers in the field. See how they grow. They do not work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that even Solomon with his riches was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers.

God clothes the grass in the field like that. The grass is living today, but tomorrow it is thrown into the fire to be burned. So you can be even more sure that God will clothe you. Do not have so little faith!


The best way to live is to trust God as a little child. A baby does not worry about how to pay the bills or find some food. He trusts his father to take care of these things. When we see this and live this way it makes God happy.

Prove to yourself that you are living this way by trusting God about some hard thing and watch what happens!

31 – 33

Do not worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ All the people who do not know God keep trying to get these things. And your Father in heaven knows that you need them. The thing you should want first is God’s kingdom and doing what God wants. Then all these other things you need will be given to you.

Put God’s things first and He will add to you everything that you need! Try it and see what God will do.

34. So do not worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Tomorrow will have its own worries.

The words used here for “worry” gives us the idea of imaginations. The devil is always putting thoughts in our minds about things that will never happen.

Throwing down imaginations and every other thing that sounds like it knows better than God. 2 Corinthians 10:5