You must not be as the hypocrites (Matthew 6:5–8)

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Yomelijah

3 min readDec 24, 2022

Jesus Christ tells us how to pray to his Heavenly Father
“Also, when you pray, you must not be as the hypocrites; because they like to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the broad ways to be visible to men. Truly I say to you, They are having their reward in full. 6 You, however, when you pray, go into your private room and, after shutting your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; then your Father who looks on in secret will repay you. 7 But when praying, do not say the same things over and over again, just as the people of the nations do, for they imagine they will get a hearing for their use of many words. 8 So, do not make yourselves like them, for God your Father knows what things you are needing before ever you ask him” (Matthew 6:5–8).
“True worshipers” must worship God with “spirit,” or spiritually, without idolatrous religious objects, such as crosses, statues, images, or medals connected to Marian worship or others “saints”. If a Christian has such objects, he must get rid of them and destroy them (Acts 19:19,20). The Christian must worship God with the “truth” set forth in the Bible (John 17:17, 2; Timothy 3:16,17; 2 Peter 1:20,21). The Christian must not make gestures that are not suitable, biblically, before and after the prayer, such as making the sign of the cross. It is a non-biblical practice that did not exist in the time of the apostles. As the apostle Paul said, under inspiration: “Therefore, my beloved ones, flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:14).
“True worshipers” must worship God with “spirit,” or spiritually, without idolatrous religious objects, such as crosses, statues, images, or medals connected to Marian worship or others “saints”. If a Christian has such objects, he must get rid of them and destroy them (Acts 19:19,20). The Christian must worship God with the “truth” set forth in the Bible (John 17:17, 2; Timothy 3:16,17; 2 Peter 1:20,21). The Christian must not make gestures that are not suitable, biblically, before and after the prayer, such as making the sign of the cross. It is a non-biblical practice that did not exist in the time of the apostles. As the apostle Paul said, under inspiration: “Therefore, my beloved ones, flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:14).
Is it appropriate to repeat this prayer by rote, without thinking about it? On the basis of the declarations of Jesus Christ, it is obvious that no. We can read again what he said about not mechanically repeating, without thinking, always the same things, in our prayers: “When praying, do not say the same things over and over again as the people of the nations do, for they imagine they will get a hearing for their use of many words” (Matthew 6:7).

The teaching of Jesus Christ that leads to spiritual maturity

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 to 7)

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The prophecy of Daniel:

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Zechariah’s prophecy: