for thought and meditation on Wednesday

[Markopolo]

morning all

Praying to God in Secret
By Oswald Chambers

When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place… —Matthew 6:6

The primary thought in the area of religion is— keep your eyes on God, not on people. Your motivation should not be the desire to be known as a praying person. Find an inner room in which to pray where no one even knows you are praying, shut the door, and talk to God in secret. Have no motivation other than to know your Father in heaven. It is impossible to carry on your life as a disciple without definite times of secret prayer.

“When you pray, do not use vain repetitions…” (Matthew 6:7). God does not hear us because we pray earnestly— He hears us solely on the basis of redemption. God is never impressed by our earnestness. Prayer is not simply getting things from God— that is only the most elementary kind of prayer. Prayer is coming into perfect fellowship and oneness with God. If the Son of God has been formed in us through regeneration (see Galatians 4:19), then He will continue to press on beyond our common sense and will change our attitude about the things for which we pray.

“Everyone who asks receives…” (Matthew 7:8). We pray religious nonsense without even involving our will, and then we say that God did not answer— but in reality we have never asked for anything. Jesus said, “…you will ask what you desire…” (John 15:7). Asking means that our will must be involved. Whenever Jesus talked about prayer, He spoke with wonderful childlike simplicity. Then we respond with our critical attitude, saying, “Yes, but even Jesus said that we must ask.” But remember that we have to ask things of God that are in keeping with the God whom Jesus Christ revealed.

have a great Wednesday !

[Pine Baron]

Thanks Marko for this very important message. The important distinction for prayer is not what we receive, but what brings us closer to God.

[USMC87]

Amen and praise God!

[Boaz]

Pine Baron is right and this is a good lesson on prayer . Prayer is the bridge to our Lord to share what's in our heart . It's not just a mercenary path to get what we want . It's given to share our true selves to him in building and strengthening our personal relationship with him .

[GhostHawk]

Agree with Pine Baron and Boaz.

[Thunder Stick]

Thank you for sharing this. I need to pray more.

[Markopolo]

awesome message!!!

[Blackwater]

Excellent posts. Many times, I've heard people pray for material things. That's not necessarily wrong, but it leaves our prayer incomplete and unfinished. When we pray "if it be Thy will," do we really mean that? Sincerely? Often, I'm afraid, we don't. But it's when Christ denies our requests that we have the opoorotunity to learn the most. If we're denied our wish, Christ always has a reason for that, and it's up to us to find out what that reason is. Or at minimum, accept that it's just not God's will for us at that time. Does He want us to wait, so we can more fully appreciate it? Is it bad for us in some way we don't understand right now? Does He want us to learn more before He grants our prayer? That's all for us to figure out.

But He always answers our prayer. Sometimes He just says "No," or "Not right now." That's a signal for us to search for the reason why. Even if it takes us a while to uneerstane.