Private Prayer and Public Proof

“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” (Mt 6:6 AV)

The words of Jesus above are a comparison of genuine prayer with the presumptuous public prayer of the hypocritical Pharisees.  The Pharisee believed it was more advantageous to be seen by others than to be heard by God. To the Pharisee, being seen was his answer to prayer.  Conversely, the disciple who loves God will take his intimate prayer life into the privacy of his prayer closet.  The assurance is that God rewards the humble prayer and rejects the proud one.  That which encouraged my heart this morning was the promise of God’s reward to those who seek His face.  Often, we pray and forget that the very practice of prayer is pleasing to God, and because it is, He rewards the devotion.  What I see above isn’t necessarily a guarantee that He will grant us every petition if asked privately; that is certainly not the case; but rather, God will acknowledge our heart’s desire and bless us with a countenance of peace and faith that others can see.  In short, if we desire the blessings of God, then private prayer is the key.

We unnecessarily carry with us heavy hearts.  We are burdened with the cares of this life.  We carry them like a load of boulders upon our shoulders because we believe these burdens are what we have earned or deserve because of some fault or failure on our part.  Sometimes, these burdens are not specific to us.  That is, we are not the first, nor will be the last, to carry such a burden.  In fact, others are going through the same burdens we are enduring because that is what life brings.  These burdens are the way of life.  When we carry these burdens we are tempted to carry them in such a way as to garner attention in the hope of affirmation and encouragement.  It is one thing to share our burden so that others may pray for us.  This is certainly encouraged in God’s word.  It is another thing altogether to allow the burdens of life to overwhelm us to the point we will not permit the ministry of others to strengthen us.  This is where private prayer is so important.

God uses the church, the Word, and the Holy Spirit as the means to lighten our load. But they are not meant to be a substitute for private prayer.  Private prayer is where a lion’s share of ministry between God and the saint takes place.  Our hearts become united with the Father as we pour out our cares to Him.  He listens as though we are the only ones who He hears.  When in this private prayer, our burdens are unloaded into the arms of the One who made us and loves us.  He is moved by our worries, fears, needs, desires, and faults.  He does not minimize how we feel.  God is larger than all He has created, yet is infinitely interested in the details of our burdens.  He has an infinite capacity to take upon Himself the struggles we face and as we pour out our hearts to Him, He refreshes the soul.  This is why we are rewarded openly.  That which is accomplished in the prayer closet can be seen in the public square.