Repetitive Prayer

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father in heaven.

So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.

But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.

But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words.

Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.

“Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

“For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well.

But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.

“Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.

But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,

so that your fasting isn’t obvious to others but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness!

“No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

“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?

Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?

Can any of you add one moment to his life-span by worrying?

And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread.

Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these.

If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you — you of little faith?

So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? ’ or ‘What will we drink? ’ or ‘What will we wear?’

For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

After leaving them, he went away again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.

During those days he went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God.

Now the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace.

Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone,

for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

This is good, and it pleases God our Savior,

who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus,

who gave himself as a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time.

For this I was appointed a herald, an apostle (I am telling the truth; I am not lying), and a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come.