The Secret Place - Matthew 6:6

Matthew 6:6 

"But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

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Are you ever stuck for how to pray to God?  Do you close your eyes sometimes and don't know where to start?  Well immediately following today's verse in Matthew 6, Jesus spells out for us a model prayer which we know as the "Lord's Prayer".  Jesus says he does not want us to pray on the street corners or to babble on and on about our needs.  Jesus knows exactly what we need so our prayers should be focused on Praising Him, Admitting our mistakes (confessing our sins), and Thanking him for what he has done for us.

Many of you might have acronyms to help you remember the key elements of prayer.  The one I learned a long time ago was P-A-R-T which stands for: Praise, Admit, Request (yes, you can verbalize your requests but only as one "part" of your conversation with God), and Thank.  I learned this acronym from a speaker (Becky Tirabassi) that Kay and I saw many years.  She said that P-A-R-T was your part of speaking to God, and God's methods of speaking to you were "L-M-N-O-P" which stands for L (Listening - meditating, being quiet in prayer), Messages (from Pastors, etc...), N (New Testament), O (Old Testament), and P (Psalms & Provebers).  That must have been an effective mnemonic as I have not forgotten that in over 20 years!

Now the element of prayer that our verse today focuses on is "location".   This passage tells us that we need to go into a room (King James translates it literally as a "Closet") by ourselves and pray to our father who will meet us there.  I believe this means that we need to get away from the clutter and noise of the world sometimes so we can meditate on God's word and listen for that still, small, voice.  We recently converted our den in our house from a computer room to a library/prayer room and I like to go in there, shut the doors, and read, write devotions, pray, and just think sometimes.  Even Jesus, the very son of God, often got away to be with God in a "solitary place" (Mark 1:35).

I pray you find that place where you can be alone with and focus on God.  He wants to have a deep and continual relationship with you and if you seek him, you will find him in that secret place.

...and don't forget to love God with all your heart, love others as He does, and use every minute for His will and to His glory!