The Secret Place of Prayer

Matthew 6:6, "But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you." ~ New Living Translation

Over the last few weeks, I have been thinking a lot about what it means to get into the "secret place" with the Lord. In case you are wondering, the secret place is where you and God meet together. It may be time in a prayer closet, out in the woods, in the car...it really doesn't matter, just a place where you and the Lord meet together in a time of intimacy.

Jesus modeled for every believer what it means to have this daily time of intimacy with the Father. The Bible is very clear about Jesus withdrawing to a place of prayer all by Himself. Making time with the Father was never an issue. He understood that being all that God had ordained for Him to be meant having the ability to always see what the Father was seeing, hearing what the Father was saying, and doing what the Father was doing.

Folks, making time for our Heavenly Father should never be an issue with us either. In fact, the issue should be making time for everything else. It's all about where we place our priority. If intimacy with the Father is what we want, it can only come in the secret place with the Lord. Jesus tells us plainly that if we will go into that closet of prayer that God will reward us. In fact, it is the best reward system available. There are plenty of opportunities to do things for God out in the open. But if we want to live the life that is truly blessed by God then we must find our closet, shut the door, and pray to the Father.

Why is this important?

1) The stillness of a prayer closet is a critical environment for hearing the Lord.
2) In a busy society we have lost the importance of rest. The secret place is a place of rest in Him.
3) Private worship and private prayer is the fuel for everything we do in the open.
4) The prayer closet is where we develop our own personal history with God.
5) Following Jesus means that we learn to follow Him into the prayer closet as well.

We live in a culture where everything is instant. Success can happen at any moment or any time. The "American Idol" mentality says that we can be a star right now. However, in the Lord, we learn the importance of abiding in Him. It is in the abiding that we allow the Lord to prune us, grow us, and have His life flow through us. Jesus said in John 15 that He was the vine and we are the branches. What God does in and through our lives is a product of our development in Him in the secret place.

David was considered a king before he ever took the throne.
Gideon was considered a mighty man of valor before he ever picked up a sword.
Abraham was considered a father of nations long before he ever had a child.
What was the difference? Who they were before the Lord in the secret places of their lives. God wants to do great things for us but He also wants us to learn what it means to be great in Him.

Take the time this week to withdraw to the secret place in Him. Allow God's dreams and visions for your life to become a reality. Discover what His heart is for you life as you pour out your heart to Him. And make the choice to never leave the prayer closet the same way you went in. Wait for the answers. Wait for the encounters with Him. Wait until you know that He has spoken.