Your Father who is in secret.
Yesterday I shared three assumptions of Jesus regarding His followers…He assumed we would give, pray, and fast. I try to limit my comments in this blog to prayer so I would encourage you to read Matthew 6:5-15. It is one of Jesus’ most known statements and I’ve already spent time with the Lord’s Prayer as an outline, but I would call your attention to 6:6, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
The religious leaders would stand and pray, but they would do it in places where they could be seen praying…synagogues and street corners…it is one thing to stop and pray at a place like this, but it is altogether different when you choose those places so others will see you pray. The only reward one gets for praying like this is the applause of man, but there is another way to pray.
Jesus says, when you pray go to a private place and talk to God who “is in secret.” God is in the secret places, the wilderness, the back room, the outdoor swing, the car when you are alone, of a corner at work. The idea is to get alone with God because all you want is God. When you get into His presence you won’t care about man’s applause.
Jesus saw one of the secrets of prayer is secret prayer. Spurgeon said, “Get into some quiet nook — some secret place, no matter where. Shut thy door, so that nobody can hear you — not wishing anybody to know even that you are at prayer.”
There are times as a parent that you begin to feel that your children only wanted you for what you could give them…ever feel like that? I wonder what God thinks when we pray simply so we could say we prayed, or when we pray so others will honor us for our prayers. I think the words of JC Ryle are helpful, “In praying, the principle object to be sought is to be alone with God."
Most of my prayer times at home are either at the kitchen table or outside in the back yard…it really depends on the weather and if the sun is up! I ask God to help me understand His Word and to show me His glory and then I read and as I read I pray. After I read the text, I move into my prayer time and I almost always start with something like “Good Morning Lord.” I really just love to be in His presence…just me and Him.
Look at the words of Jesus and see what adjustments you need to make. It is possible to draw away to a secret place in the midst of the crowd and we all have to do that from time to time, but set aside a place, a secret place, and go meet God.
The religious leaders would stand and pray, but they would do it in places where they could be seen praying…synagogues and street corners…it is one thing to stop and pray at a place like this, but it is altogether different when you choose those places so others will see you pray. The only reward one gets for praying like this is the applause of man, but there is another way to pray.
Jesus says, when you pray go to a private place and talk to God who “is in secret.” God is in the secret places, the wilderness, the back room, the outdoor swing, the car when you are alone, of a corner at work. The idea is to get alone with God because all you want is God. When you get into His presence you won’t care about man’s applause.
Jesus saw one of the secrets of prayer is secret prayer. Spurgeon said, “Get into some quiet nook — some secret place, no matter where. Shut thy door, so that nobody can hear you — not wishing anybody to know even that you are at prayer.”
There are times as a parent that you begin to feel that your children only wanted you for what you could give them…ever feel like that? I wonder what God thinks when we pray simply so we could say we prayed, or when we pray so others will honor us for our prayers. I think the words of JC Ryle are helpful, “In praying, the principle object to be sought is to be alone with God."
Most of my prayer times at home are either at the kitchen table or outside in the back yard…it really depends on the weather and if the sun is up! I ask God to help me understand His Word and to show me His glory and then I read and as I read I pray. After I read the text, I move into my prayer time and I almost always start with something like “Good Morning Lord.” I really just love to be in His presence…just me and Him.
Look at the words of Jesus and see what adjustments you need to make. It is possible to draw away to a secret place in the midst of the crowd and we all have to do that from time to time, but set aside a place, a secret place, and go meet God.
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