Prayer
Before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer from Psalm 119:35-36
35 Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.
36 Turn my heart towards your statutes, and not towards selfish gain. Amen.
Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your awareness of the voice of God, coming to you through His Word.
Reading
“6 … When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.”
When Jesus taught this way, He started by instructing His disciples never to become like the religious leaders of their day whose top priority in prayer was to gain attention and admiration. They would pray long, flowery prayers in the synagogues and, when the time of midday prayer arrived, they would find a spot on a busy street corner and lift their voices in loud prayer to make sure everyone saw and heard just how faithful and impressive they were. All they really wanted was to be seen and admired by others.
Jesus was clear that this applause and admiration would be their only reward for “prayer”. That, after all, had been their true intention all along. They had never been after the heart of God or the answers to their actual prayers in the first place.
As disciples of Jesus, we are to be completely different in our approach to prayer, and that difference starts in our aims and in our hearts. Our very highest aim in prayer should be to be with God Himself. Of course, God wants to hear the desires of our hearts when we spend time with Him in prayer, but even those desires need to be secondary to our desire for God Himself.
That’s why Jesus instructs us to spend our time in prayer behind closed doors, where it can only ever be about intimate fellowship with God. And remember, the Lord Himself has promised, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13); and, “Come near to God and he will come near to you.” (James 4:8)
In speaking about private prayer, the great Scottish minister Robert Murray M’Cheyne famously said “What a man is on his knees before God, that he is, and nothing more”
The same M’Cheyne also wrote this stunning paragraph about personal time in prayer:
Learn much of the Lord Jesus. For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ. He is altogether lovely. Such infinite majesty, and yet such meekness and grace, and all for sinners, even the chief! Live much in the smiles of God. Bask in his beams. (Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne, p.293)
How can you pray in secret today? And everyday?
Contemplation
Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn one or more of these declarations over in your mind. Keep them in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ:
- I will spend time alone with the Lord;
- I will open my heart to Him as honestly and completely as I am able;
- I will strive to keep my praying completely private.
Holy Spirit, fill my heart with holy love for the Father and for my Saviour, Jesus. Please empower me to love the Lord my God more completely and honestly, in secret prayer, with a pure heart. – today and every day. Amen.
Dave's Diary 
Leave a comment