The Secret Place of Prayer

^' But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.' Matthew 6:6 (NASB)

Here it is, the proper way to pray. So for the Christian it is to be when and not if we pray. Would a Christian even be worthy of the name if they never took the time to even speak to the person that they bear the name of? Forgive me Lord, if I failed You in that area before. I know better now. I know that I must talk to You Father, and I do that quite frequently. Praying should be like breathing. Praying is where I find You. Praying is where I find Your Grace.

Your Grace is where my joy comes from. If I am to find all that there is in life for me, and You are the Giver of Life, I must first find the way to get to know You better. Why then, is talking to You such a battle? Finding the time has not been easy and even then, not being distracted by every little thing and every place my mind wants to take me is another challenge. It is a battle of the will. So I must be willing to try to find a way to a improve my prayer life.

Your Word teaches me that my conversations with You are to be deliberate and in a secret place. You even call that secret place the inner room. That's the quiet place in my house, and the quiet place in my mind where You are. That place is where I will find You. You really are that close. You are not then, some heavenly being that I do not know and must conger up in my mind. But You are just simply You; personal, approachable, a good listener, my friend.

You are my ever present friend and my God. When I pray to You, I am to find my inner room and to close the door. In my inner room, there is where it is just You and me with no distractions. My quiet time room. My secret garden. My secret stillness place. I am devoting this time to You. In the secret place, of the secret prayers, I will find the secret God, and He rewards me. Secretly, and deliberately, I am closing the door to my emotions and keeping out all of the distractions in my mind.

You say that You see what is done in secret and that You will reward me. Praying Your model prayer will cover me in all circumstances of life and I know that You do. Your covering is a reward. You cover me and Your Spirit helps me to pray. To You, what is important doesn't seem to be the length or even the words that I pray for the most part the most powerful prayers seem to be those that come from the groanings that cannot be uttered. I love that state of mind groaning place where I need You and our secrets are shared. From that vulnerable place it becomes impossible for me to doubt You. With all of the prayers that I have seen you answer, how could I ever doubt You? 

Through prayer, I have learned to trust You. I am more aware of You than I am of myself. My secret place prayer habits have soon enough become like breathing to me as I am learning to open the door to my life and to invite You into the rest of it. Why not consult You throughout the day? As I learn to rely on You more and more I see You becoming involved in my everyday and my everything. The things that I pray to You about in secret, soon enough have Your name written all over them in public. You answer my prayers and that is my reward. Your Will. My will. Your Way. Our way.  And isn't it all because I took the time to get to know You? It is all because of prayer. My prayer life matters. In life, my prayer life makes all the difference to me.

Dear Father. Thank you for the rain and for watering the flowers and the seeds in the ground. May it lead to a bountiful harvest in You this year. Amen.