"When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and pray to thy Father which is in secret." Matthew 6:6Jesus did not say - Dream about thy Father in secret, but pray to thy Father in secret. Prayer is an effort of will. After we have entered our secret place and have shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is to pray; we cannot get our minds into working order, and the first thing that conflicts is wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is the overcoming of mental wool-gathering. We have to discipline our minds and concentrate on wilful prayer.We must have a selected place for prayer and when we get there the plague of flies begins - This must be done, and that. "Shut thy door." A secret silence means to shut the door deliberately on emotions and remember God. God is in secret, and He sees us from the secret place; He does not see us as other people see us, or as we see ourselves. When we live in the secret place it becomes impossible for us to doubt God, we become more sure of Him than of anything else. Your Father, Jesus says, is in secret and nowhere else. Enter the secret place, and right in the centre of the common round you find God there all the time. Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless in the first waking moment of the day you learn to fling the door wide back and let God in, you will work on a wrong level all day; but swing the door wide open and pray to your Father in secret, and every public thing will be stamped with the presence of God.
_________________SI Moderator - Greg Gordon
The choice is almost always whether ornot we will follow HIS Will for us, andthat is where the conflict comes in !!
_________________Martin G. Smith
How often we find ourselves thinking too deeply the things of our God. Yet how can we help but strain our brain. He is so very much more. On the other hand, it is understood that we are but tiny babes who put on daddy's shoes. Foolish we appear, yet dad knows what he sees. Oh! How my heart yearns for the One who loves me! How can words express what He inspires? Quaitify, if we will. We cannot hope to share the marvelous gift of prayer's experience with the tools of communication given to man. We seek a method, for we are a people of chaos. Yet, the Father knows and remembers our place. What is prayed, where, and for what reason, will not be forgotten by the Lord of Glory. In this reply, the intent is the mutual desire to touch Him who made us. Soverign God, accept our tiny feet in Your Great shoes. Amen.
_________________Paul Horton
