The Secret Sacred Place

BIBLE MEDITATION:
 Matthew 6:6  "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."

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
What did our Lord mean when He said, "Enter into your closet to pray?"
The word "closet" simply means a place where you can shut the door on the
world and open the windows to heaven.

IN JESUS' CULTURE, DEVOUT JEWS WOULD WEAR THEIR "CLOSET" AROUND THEIR SHOULDERS. THE TALIT OR PRAYER SHAWL WAS A QUICK RETREAT FROM THE WORLDLY DISTRACTIONS INTO A PLACE TO SHARPEN ONE'S DIVINE FOCUS.

As you study the life of Jesus, you'll discover that Jesus sought times to
be alone. Sometimes He would go on a mountain, sometimes into the
wilderness, and sometimes into a garden. It is the secret place that is the
sacred place. The mark of your prayer life is not really how well you pray
in public, but in private.

ACTION POINT:
When you enter your closet to pray, spend some of the time in silence. Clear your
mind. Then listen for His Words of edification, encouragement, and
exhortation.

Born Again AGAIN

Do you need to be born again again?

Let me say that sanctification is a process. Those who are sanctified are being sanctified. In the process of growing up in Christ we can reach a plateau and after walking on that plateau for some time begin to sense a need to go up higher. Unwittingly, we can begin expending effort to get to a new elevation, instead of simply trusting Christ. We can become frustrated, knowing that there is a deeper experience, but not able to achieve it, we get discouraged.

I have been in that place more than once. I am sad and discouraged with myself because I thought I would be further along than this. I feel like I haven'
t made progress in my walk. My disappointment with myself I begin to project to God.

Do you know that God has never been disappointed with me. Not that I have always been jack sprat with His program, no. But most of the time, if I am discouraged, I have failed to live up to expectations of myself or other people.

So God says, start over. Go back to square one. Kind of like a monopoly game, you pick up a card that says go back to GO.

That is where I get undressed and am naked before God. I take a shower once again in the blood of Christ and He hands me a clean towel and fresh garment. I think, "I may not be this or that, I may not have saved many souls, or built much, or earned any feathers in my cap, really I have just a boogered up life, but I know how to do this!"

Maybe that's what Paul was speaking of when He says "I do not count myself to arrived or really accomplished anything but THIS: Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I PRESS..."

So, Christian, when you are hearing the Spirit of God say, "Be born again," there is no shame in that. It is simply a do over point. It is like a "new life" in the video game of life. It is a way to regain your joy when you feel like a failure.

Not a bad thing to admit that I have failed. Not a bad thing to recognize the inability of the flesh to please God. Not a bad thing to cast myself once again at the feet of a merciful God and then look up to see that I am in His arms.

There is a parable in Luke 18 about two men who went up to prayer. One felt pretty good about his accomplishments, the other felt like he had messed up his whole life. He wouldn't even go in, but stood outside beating his chest, crying to Mercy. There wasn't a third guy there. So which one are you? Which one can you identify with?

The Pressing In Prayer

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.' For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'" And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:1-8)

Jesus is teaching that there will be opposition to our petitions. The unjust judge is not representative of God. God does not require us to wear Him down. Rather, the unjust judge represents the god of this world, Satan. While our petition is not to him, he is the one indifferent to the needs of the poor, not God. He is the one who seeks to block our petitions or delay the answer.

Unfortunately, because so many of our answers are delayed, Christians lose heart and waver in their faith. Jesus says plainly not to give up, that God is on our side and is answering speedily, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" Will there be anyone still persevering in prayer or will we grow discouraged and swallow the lie that God is indifferent, that God is actually opposed to the troubles of widows and orphans and the rest of us who are often struggling to get by?

If there were no opposition, we would ask and receive, boom! It would normally be that easy, because God is so willing to answer when we ask according to His will.

And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1Jn 5:15)

And those of us who have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires want nothing for ourselves but what will further the kingdom.

Jesus said, all things that the Father has are mine and He (the Holy Spirit) will take what is mine and show it to you (John 16:14-15, so we can know how to pray). Remember, we are joint heirs with Jesus, (Romans 8:16-17) so if all that the Father has is His, then all that the Father has is also ours (in Him, when we ask in His name, with His mind).

Considering that, it becomes all a matter of timing and protocol. In the Royal court of heaven there is a ton of protocol, which is not burdensome once we learn it. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. That is not burdensome. Then, soaking in worship tunes our hearts to the exact frequency of heaven. We become easily moved by the Spirit, aware of what the Father is doing, as Jesus was.

Jesus knew when to ask, how to ask. He knew when to walk by and when to stop and minister to the forlorn. For Him it was not difficult, something He had to work up. And when we move in faith, when we understand the willingness of God to answer, and the boogering work of Satan to block our prayers, we will press and press until we wear his little pointed butt into the dust where it belongs. WMS