I am a Jesus pusher!!! Jesus expresses His heart in the spiritual discipline of prayer. It becomes difficult for us to distinguish between the clarifications on prayer and fasting in the remainder of the chapter (Matthew 6:22-24). In fact, the fundamental motive underlying the Kingdom person’s involvement in charitable deeds, prayer, and fasting may all be one. Jesus distinctly contrasts two treasures; He even calls them two masters (Matthew 6:24). He says, “You cannot serve God and mammon (riches)” (Matthew 6:24). You would initially apply this to the charitable deeds. If you focused on and were mastered by riches, this would definitely affect your giving of alms.
But let’s apply this to prayer and fasting. If Jesus is your Master, the content of your prayers will be vastly different than if materialism is your master. If materialism is your focus, you will worry about the necessities of life. For instance, “what you will eat or what you will drink” becomes your highest priority (Matthew 6:25). You will focus your prayer life on these things. Worrying about your life will become the emotional state of your being. A Kingdom person’s focus is on Jesus. He recognizes life is more than food and the body more than clothing (Matthew 6:25). Jesus said, “For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (Matthew 6:32). These things are His concern for you! If He is concerned about these things for you, then you need not be worry. I am a Jesus pusher!!!