09/16/2023
Do you have questions about faith, or revelations about yourself that you need to communicate to God? Are there things so personal that you blush with embarrassment and shame at the mere thought of them? These are the most pressing things that you need to reveal to the Lord, and they require a secret place where you can be absolutely open and honest with Him.
“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Matthew 6:6 ESV
We have all been told repeatedly that "there is no such thing as a dumb question" but although the question might not be dumb, where we ask it certainly could be. In an academic setting, probably not so much, but many of our most pressing questions reveal intimate details about who we are, and how we think, that are extremely personal. They require the absolute confidence of the person we ask them of, and a trust in not being judged based on what we ask... often they lead to more than an answer... they lead us to ask for forgiveness. There is no better confidant than God, and only one award of forgiveness that is eternal and without any condition other than "go and sin no more." He fields all questions and can discuss our most intimate thoughts to a good conclusion.
“For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
Matthew 7:8 ESV
God is our Heavenly Father, and unlike some earthly fathers He won't roll His eyes, wince, or sigh in obvious disappointment at our revelations. There is nothing we have done or could think that He hasn't seen or heard before, and as a matter of fact He already knows what you are wanting to tell Him before the first word is spoken. Did you really think that you did all those things without Him seeing and knowing? He knows us better than we know ourselves... he has known us from before our conception, through every baby step, past every idiotic prank or act we have committed in our lives. He knows us now, He knows what lies ahead in our future, and how we will address those things. We are the ones who are in the dark regarding the now and future of our lives, and for most of us, we can't even remember the details of our past to any significant degree. So, who better to discuss our intimacies with than the One who knows the absolute truth and is unwaveringly good?
“And he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”
Luke 16:15 ESV
For us to talk about or ask questions related to our most intimate and embarrassing thoughts requires a level of trust that only God is capable of, and a place where we can speak freely with Him. As we reveal our hearts to Him, we come to understand His. We can tell anyone about the great things we do in our lives, and they will lift us up, but how would they react to our most vile thoughts? When we open ourselves up and lay our most repulsive selves before God it allows us to leave those things behind and change our lives, He forgives and separates us from our sins...
“as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.”
Psalms 103:12-13 ESV
And then He never revisits them or holds us to account for them again...
“For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."”
Hebrews 8:12 ESV
So speaking secretly with God gives us the ability to voice our contrition and seek forgiveness without fear. When we are alone with God in our prayer closets we offload our foul baggage and begin anew. This is the ultimate "reset button" and only you and God will know it has been pressed. Then, in that moment when the burden has been lifted, the peace and Joy of God returns to you. How could you continue in a life of faith if there was unforgivable sin that had already damned you? Secret prayer allows us to resume our role as a child of God... as a disciple, and as a believer. I read a wonderful statement made by Oswald Chambers this morning; it goes like this:
"The main idea in the region of religion is - Your eyes upon God, not on men. Do not have as your motive the desire to be known as a praying man. Get an inner chamber in which to pray where no one knows you are praying, shut the door and talk to God in secret. Have no other motive than to know your Father in heaven. It is impossible to conduct your life as a disciple without definite times of secret prayer." - Oswald Chambers
Today we have thought about secret prayer and made some key observations regarding it. In secret we can reveal ourselves completely to God and come to know Him more intimately as well. In secret we can resolve our most basic and sinful challenges without negative repercussions that will follow us through life. In secret we renew ourselves through God's forgiveness, and in secret we restore the peace and joy of God into ourselves. We also discover that on a worldly plain, we can pray without making our prayers a vanity... an object of pride before others.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for secret prayer; thank you for allowing me to come before you with my most intimate thoughts and embarrassing failures and questions. I thank you most Father for the trust I can have in you and the forgiveness and restoration you have made provision for. Jesus I thank you for your life, death, and resurrection that made possible my ability to stand before our Father unencumbered by sin... washed clean by your blood and sacrifice as you suffered and upheld the Father's will. Lord your forgiveness is absolute and though men might hold my shortcomings against me I find solace in your choosing not to remember my failures. Though the world may judge me guilty forever, you set aside all guilt and accept my heartfelt contrition in your perfect forgiveness. Most Glorious Father, you grace me with your presence in my secret place of prayer, and you listen as I confess to you those things that trouble me most and that have come to stand as encumbrances to me as I seek you. In the quiet of my secret place you speak to me and in my remorse and desire to sin no more you restore our relationship and return me to righteousness. Praised be your name Holy Father, and may all the world say Amen to your glory and goodness... not in secret, as our prayers, but shouted from the mountaintop in recognition of your everlasting mercy and grace.
“”And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you””
Matthew 6:5-6 ESV
Rich Forbes