Today’s Reading, Matthew 5-6
Focal Scripture: Matthew 6:6 “But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
I had the privilege one time of being a blessing to a family and I didn’t even know I was involved. A person I knew asked me to deliver an envelope to a family during Christmas after the morning service. They told me to just hand it to them and not say where it came from for any reason. So I walked to this family, handed them the envelope and then walked away. After the service this family came to me in tears and thanked me tremendously for my act of graciousness. I was completely confused and the person who gave me the envelope saw this interaction. They were smiling from ear to ear and said being a secret blessing was better than being known. This person let me get the credit for something they did in private. This taught me a valuable lesson.
In today’s reading we see that private prayer matters a great deal. Our focal verse tells us that when we pray we should go to a private room and pray to our Father in heaven. This private prayer will be rewarded because it demonstrates a pure heart not a heart that wants to be noticed by others. A prayer life that desires more of God not attention from men should be our heart in prayer.
So what does your prayer life look like? Do you find a place to pray privately? When you are praying privately do you pour out your heart before the Lord? Or are you a person who doesn’t have much to say if there is no audience? I know that these are a lot of questions but they are all very important.
Our prayer life should be passionate and powerful in private. When we pray our only desire should be to pour out our hearts before the Lord. Private prayer brings a blessing. Prayer it reveals who we are and how we view God. It reveals our passion and our theology. It exposes the purposes of our prayers. I encourage you today to spend more time in private prayer than you do anywhere else. Make it a priority and watch how God moves in your life.
Tomorrow, I plan on reading Matthew 7-8
