desire within our hearts for a private prayer life; a closet prayer life in obedience to the command of Christ given in Matthew 6:6: “….enter into your closet, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees you in secret shall reward you openly”.
The greatest force of power in this congregation is yet to be tapped___an in-the-garden type of praying that builds an intimacy with Christ our Lord.
Confined by inclement weather on a cold winter morning; seated before my television, I view a tremendous congregation that appears unbelievably large. The camera scans from side to side until it comes in close-up focus on God’s man in the pulpit. His voice speaks with emotional tones of sincerity and with tear-filled eyes he tells of the intimacy with Jesus that he enjoys in secret prayer. At that moment I was fully convinced that Adrian Rogers was truly in love with Jesus.
The instructions of Jesus to enter into secrecy with Him (Mathew 6:6) is an invitation to walk and talk with Him as did Adam and Eve in the “cool of the day.” (Genesis 3:8)
The Closet
Only in the closet with the door shut, separated from all the busy boisterous commotion of a sin-driven world is it possible to walk with Jesus alone, “while the dew is still on the roses.” For certain the hymn writer C. Austin Miles knew indeed what it means to pray in the garden alone. Such conversation of joy as He “walks with me and He talks with me” can only be found in the intimacy of private praying.
Enter Into The Closet
To enter into the closet is to walk side by side with Jesus our dear Savior. The peaceful quietness is awesome in His presence__and then He speaks “and the sound of His voice is so sweet, the birds hush their singing.” He tells me I am His and He is mine. In the closet I am secure and find relief from all pressures of life. To think that such intimacy is gracefully allowed to such a sinner as I, who though saved by grace, still walk with imperfection, is beyond the comprehension of a natural human mind. How can such be possible? The answer comes in a medley of song__ “Oh, the blood of Jesus. There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains." “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission” __there is no cleansing! As I walk in the garden of prayer with Christ, He looks upon me through the blood and I am just as though I had never sinned, justified! Pleading the blood, I enter the garden of prayer. My mind tells me I belong here. I am not trespassing. This is my place, the garden of prayer. I am a child of the owner of this place. Though unworthy I am, yet rightly I am in the secret garden of prayer along with Jesus.
Outside The Closet
But not always are we in the garden praying. The voice of Jesus says, “You must go into all the world and preach”. Outside the closet I must continue still to walk with Him. When Jesus compels me “to go”, He does not say that I should go alone. He says, “Go and I will go with you. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.” Each day we must enter into the closet and in a time of secrecy, where the ears of others cannot hear, we pray in private and He will reward us openly. This is an intimate walk with Jesus __ a time of walking and talking with Him in the “cool of the day”. Stay in the garden of prayer until you hear the voice of God telling you to go into the world and witness for Him. “But, He bids me go, through the voice of woe, His voice to me is calling.”
Agony In The Garden
“And when He was at the place, He said unto him, pray that ye enter not into temptation.” (Luke 22:40) Often the prayer garden (the closet) can become a place of agony. When agonizing with God it is best to be alone. The sympathy received from friends, while sincere, is most often without understanding. How many of us really understand what Jesus meant when He prayed for “the cup” to pass from Him?
Many understand this prayer to mean; If there is any way other than for me to die in order that sinners can be saved, then let it be. I personally am not convinced that Jesus prayed in agony that the cross would pass from Him. The work of redemption was accomplished during the three hours of darkness on the cross. The prayer that Jesus prayed in the garden in anticipation of the cross surely had to do with that terrible moment when God would turn His back upon the scene as Calvary became the most sinful spot ever upon the face of the globe.
The agony of that moment to come was so heavy upon Jesus that “His sweat became like great drops of blood.” It was the most trying time of the crucifixion of Christ; so trying that God sent an angel to strengthen Him. Kneeling in agonizing thought of contact with sin; knowing that He must be made sinful, placed great stress on the human body of Jesus, Who had never known the experience of sinning. He had never known the unclean feeling of guilt. Yet, it was not the moment of imputed sin that was the cup of agony but rather that dreaded moment when God the Father must turn His back upon the sinful scene. When that dreaded moment came, Jehovah Son cried out to Jehovah Father, “My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken me?”
Never-The-Less
Never-the-less praying can best be done in the garden alone. With our most sincere surrender to the will of God, yet it takes the secret closet in which to really pray, “not my will, but Thine be done.” It is never the lesser thing to do God’s will. As I bring to a close this appeal for closet (in the garden) praying, I challenge you to pray in complete surrender to this holy will for your life. Let us lay aside our personal desires and forsake our selfish plans ___ yes, die to self and make yourself count for Jesus. My invitation is to you who will walk down this church aisle and surrender yourself to a deeper than ever prayer life that will find you alone each day with God in the closet.
(The above message was prepared and first preached to a Sunday morning congregation at Antioch Church, Sevierville, Tenn. W. Clyde Martin is editor of the monthly online magazine, THE PRAYER LIFE)
BACK TO:
