Matthew 6:6 "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou hath shut the door, pray to the Father which is in secret, and thy Father, which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."

There is a confession that I must make before I preach to you today. It is an inadequacy in prayer that I am unable to completely be rid of. It is indeed a very serious sin and it is not pleasant for me to confess it from the pulpit. I do not know how to pray properly! I am still learning to pray.

I stumble in my approach to God. I stammer and I hesitate in speech, but I have experienced some of the sweetest times of fellowship with God that a mortal man can possible have.

Therefore, as I stand to preach, I stand as a student of prayer, searching and ever pursuing the proper way to pray. This one thing I know; a child of God cannot live without praying.

I have prayed with some truly great saints of God. I have prayed with Robert G. Lee, W. A. Criswell, J. Harold Smith. I have knelt in prayer with Vance Havner, Billy Graham, John R. Rice. I have prayed with Adrian Rogers and Jack Taylor. I have prayed with the great evangelist Eddie Martin and many more. All of these great men of prayer humbly confessed before God, "Lord, I do not know how to pray. Teach me to pray."

There is a pamphlet called HOW TO PRAY written by Dr. Vander Warner Jr. I urge you to read it. It is indeed a classic piece of writing in which he states, "The number one lesson in the school of prayer is, We need to be taught."

LIVING HOLY

It has become evident to me that if we who live in these days just prior to the return of our Lord, are to be holy as God demands us to be, it must be accomplished through the closet. The concept of sin and holiness has been lost in the Church. I observe this everywhere in my travels. I detect it even in conservative congregations. The concept of sin and holiness has been lost in the average New Testament local church. It is only in that secret place, after we have shut the door and are alone with God that we can learn again the way of holiness.

My personal position of holiness is the fact that Christ, the Holy One, is in the Holy Father and He is in me. Jesus said, "I am in the father, I am in you and you are in me." As a child of God I am to abide in Christ. As Christians we are in Christ. Hold that position! You are in a position which allows you to establish a phase of praying that will perhaps go beyond anything you have experienced before.

From the closet we learn to practice God's holiness in daily living. Peter exhorts us to be holy in conversation. (1 Peter 1:15) Paul says, " He will make our hearts unblameable in holiness." ( I Thess. 3:13 )

CAN THE HUMAN BE HOLY?

God commands holiness. Holiness is the absence of sin. Holiness is something that God expects of you and me; yet you and I know that we cannot come up to that expectation because we are still in the carnal flesh. We cannot live above sin. We desire and must strive for perfection, yet this fleshly body will not allow us to live holy. Our prayer must be as McCheyne prayed, "Lord make me as holy as it is possible for man to be on this side of heaven."

ABIDING IN CHRIST

Paul talks about a state of being set aside. Sanctification is a progressive act of God which sets us aside from the old life. When we accept Christ as our personal Saviour, we are placed in Christ. We are in Christ, Christ is in the Father, Christ is in me and I am in Him. (John 14:20 ) In this secure position we are to stay. Abiding means to stay where you are.

Jesus assures us that as we abide in Him and His Words abide in us, then we may ask whatsoever we will and He will do it. If we are abiding in Him and His words are abiding in us, then our desire is controlled by our being in Him; therefore, as we pray in the center of God's will, we know our prayers are answered.

IN THE CLOSET

From the closet we learn to practice this thing of holiness. I must be very open and honest with you. Some of you in this congregation may never reach this stage of praying. This is most unfortunate. Some of you may be happy with your present prayer life. There is a price to be paid for a deeper, more intimate prayer life. As long as you remain satisfied, nothing I may say will persuade you to engage in this deeper phase of praying. It is for that certain few who are willing to sacrifice and seek new things about Jesus. I urge you to consider a closet prayer life. There is an intimacy with Jesus that can only be had in closet praying.

What is closet praying? It is when you go into a special place of solitude and pray in secret. Allow me to give you a description of my closet. I live on one of the highest peaks just outside the Smoky Mountain National Park. I am high above everything else. On my mountain there is above my house a higher peak where I have built a small one room building. This building is my closet. It has been appropriately named by my wife, "Higher Ground". When I climb that graded path and enter, I close the door. Here alone with God I pray in secret.

Perhaps you also have established a prayer closet. If so, you have no doubt discovered the peaceful joy of talking and listening to God in secret.

CLOSET PRAYER IS SINCERE

Closet prayer is a time of sincerity. In our text we are warned against hypocrisy in prayer. ( Matt. 6:7 ) Closet prayer eliminates the necessity to impress other men. When we are called upon to lead in public prayer, we immediately lock our mind into a protective mode. We dare not speak openly to God because we are aware that our words are falling on the ears of others and we become hypocritical. If there is anything that will bring out hypocrisy in a sincere Christian, it is public praying. Being alone with God in your closet you speak openly and in secret. There is no need for repetition of words.

Verse eight of our text ( Matt. 6:8 ) tells us that He knows what we need long before we ask for it. So why pray? If God knows my needs, why should I have a closet? Why should I have a time of praying in my life at all? What is the need of praying? There is a reason for prayer. There is a need for collective praying and there is a need for closet praying. In the early Church, they met for collective prayer. ( Acts 2, 12, 13, 14, 20 ) The Church must congregate for the purpose of praying. In open assembly we prayerfully worship in obedience to His command.

There is also a reason for closet prayer. It is a time when we are alone with God. It is a secret time. It is a time of Divine intimacy. In the closet you develop an intimacy with Christ that goes almost beyond description. You who have witnessed such know of which I speak. It is an innermost familiarity. It is often informal with no need of vain repetitions. It is a time when we speak sweet, tender affections of adoration. It is a time when we speak to and listen to God. Alone with Him you can say, "Jesus I love you" and hear Him call your name and say, " I love you, too." You can share every little secret. It is a time when I can discuss all my shortcomings and faults without them falling on the ears of my enemies.

I have an altar in my closet and I use it occasionally, but I have discovered that when I enter my closet and close the door, I am automatically ( in my mind and heart ) on my knees before God. In my closet I can walk about while talking with Him. I can walk and talk and listen to Him. It is a conversation much like husbands and wives ought to have, but very few do. It is a time of real intimacy without interference from others. Such fellowship has a way of developing into hours upon hours.

For certain He already knows our needs but ask Him anyway because it is that time of conversing and fellowship with almighty God. Many times I find myself saying, Lord you know I need this and I name the need only to hear Him say, "You've got it!" Then there are things that really may not be in the category of need but desire. I say to Him in secret, "Lord Jesus, do you think I could have this? Sometimes He says, "Yes". Sometimes He says "no"; sometimes He says, like my daddy used to say, "we'll talk about that later, son."

In your closet you can learn more about your Master everyday. This is not the kind of praying that you do on your knees with others. Group praying is wonderful and I participate in many prayer meetings in the course of a day. I have favorite prayer partners and I love to agree and claim God's promises together with them. However, nothing takes the place of closet praying where periods of silence means something. Moments of meditation mean something in a prayer closet. Speaking face to face with Him and waiting for Him to speak to you is to know the full joy of His presence.

Today I am preaching to some who have never yet experienced this phase of prayer. O' my dear Christian, you must, you must without delay establish a prayer closet or you may not survive these days of terror. In order to stand up against the pressures of world terror you must have a hiding place.

Isaiah 26:20,21 is somewhat akin to my New Testament text. "Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut the door about thee. Hide thyself, as it were, for a little while, a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For behold, the Lord cometh out of the place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain."

I have a notation written in the margin of my Bible, "September 11, 2001." What a tragic day for our nation! There are times when you must go and hide away until God's indignation is performed and judged upon this world. Dear Christian, there shall be more instances like this one. The first thing that came to my mind on 9/11/2001 was, I must go to Higher Ground, I must enter my closet. God's protracted judgement was set in motion on that infamous day of September 11, 2001, a day which effected every nation upon this globe. May we never think that this act of terror was not the judgement of God upon a nation and world that has turned away from God.

The closet is a precious hiding place. A God-fearing man needs a place to hide. When the storms of life surround us we need to enter our closet. How often I run to my closet and ask God to hold me in His arms. In your closet you can look upon the face of God and loose all fears of life. In the closet I can say, "Jesus, I'm scared, would you just hug me?" Like a loving parent, God says to me, "Come here son", and with His mighty arms about me He says, "Don't worry I'm here."

Some are thinking, such intimacy can not be had with the creator of this world. Oh, but it can and you must have such closeness with Him or you shall not survive these days of terror.

I climax this message with the thought that I must not challenge you to a closet life, without telling you of the transforming power that conditions your heart for salvation. There is no closet for the unconverted sinner. If you do not know my Lord, you have nowhere on earth to hide; You have no place to run for safety.

I must preach to you God's love that carried Jesus to the cross where He shed His redeeming blood. Christ our Saviour died for your sin, and was buried, and was resurrected from the grave by the power of God. Today He is at the right hand of the heavenly Father. You must have a personal saving grace experience with Him before you can have a prayer closet. There is no closet of prayer for the lost soul.

If you have never accepted Christ as your personal Saviour, please do it now. (click here for instructions) How To Become A Christian.

To all born again children of God, I challenge you to establish a closet of prayer. I challenge you to develop an intimacy with your Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. It is so easy to do. Simply enter into a place of solitude and close the door and pray in secret and He will hear your prayer in secret and reward you openly.
 

 

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