From Matthew 6:19-24 (part of "The Sermon on the Mount"), the Lord taught how Kingdom citizens are to have the right perspective on earthly "treasures," which are merely temporary, as compared to heavenly "treasures," which last forever. The Christian is to set his affection on things above, "For where your heart is, there shall your heart be also".

In this lesson, we discuss how the Christian is to have a single focus and a solitary Master, "For no man can serve two masters . . . ye cannot serve God and mammon [money/material things". This is a serious message for our day of vast materialism!

To be effective in our prayer lives so God is honored and pleased by our prayers, we need to fulfill certain Christian "responsibilities". In this second lesson on the Lord's "Perfect Prayer Pattern" from His "Sermon on the Mount". Whereas the first three petitions of the Lord's prayer pattern deal with exalting God, His name, His Kingdom, and His will, the last three petitions (6:11-13) have to do with us (the believers). We discuss these petitions under the headings of (1) or present provision, (2) for past pardon, and (3) for future protection (from temptation and evil).

We also discuss the closing doxology of the prayer ("For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen"), as well as the postscript on the subject of forgiveness found in verses 14 and 15. That postscript has upset a lot of Christians over the centuries, for they think Jesus was saying a person's savlational forgiveness is conditional upon his own forgiveness of others. That is not what He was teaching, and we explain the meaning of those verses in this lesson.

Prayer is perhaps the single greatest activity in which the human soul can engage, for in prayer we come face-to-face with God. Prayer is our golden opportunity to give God the opportunity to manifest His power, majesty, love, and providence to His beloved children. Although prayer is one of the most vital aspects of the Christian life, most of us feel it is the area in which we are the weakest. The disciples of Christ obviously felt this way, too, which is why they asked Him to teach them to pray. Thus, He gave them instruction and guidance for proper, effective prayer in Matthew 6:7-15 (part of "The Sermon on the Mount").

First, Jesus spoke about the errors of ineffective prayer (vanity prayers, valueless prayers, and verbose prayers), before He then taught about the essentials for effect prayer (having right relationships, with God and others; having right responsibilites, and making right requests - which is discussed in Part II of this study).