But when you pray, go into your [most] private room, and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open (Matthew 6:6- Amplified).
This most private room Jesus mentioned here is a bedchamber. It’s a place of intimacy between husband and wife. It’s a place where no one else is invited. It’s a place that is secure from intrusion.
The Father wants to develop an intimate relationship with each one of His children. He wants each of us to find that private place of meeting with Him where we can bear our heart to Him and share our deepest secrets. He wants to develop a closeness with us that affects the whole of life.
Many believers find this private place with the Father intimidating. They’ve not been raised in an environment that allows them to really bear their heart. Relationships are casual and surface.
It takes time to become comfortable enough with someone to be able to share the intimate secrets of your heart with them. The father wants this kind of relationship with us. It’s a branch-vine relationship. It’s life-freeing and life-producing.
To begin this private room experience with the Father, find a place free from intrusion where no one will interrupt you. Then read Psalm 139. Realize that the Father loves you as much as He loves Jesus! He knows every thought, purpose, motive, intent, desire, need, and want in your life. He sees everything about you. He is absolute love and wants the best for you. He is longing for you to open your heart to Him.
Talk to Him about the things that bother you. Tell Him everything; the good, the bad, and the ugly. He already knows. But He wants you to submit your needs to Him in simple faith. When you do this, it gives Him permission to help you, and it will free you from life’s intense pressures that build up inside. It’s this acknowledging Him in all your ways (Proverbs 3: 4-5) that allows Him to move on your behalf.
Intimacy with the Father makes us care free and worry free, and keeps stress from building up inside. Most of our mental, emotional, and physical problems are stress related. Personal intimacy with the Father is His answer to human stress.
The Father has a longing to be close to you today. Go find Him in the private room.
Monday, August 16, 2010
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I talk to God and tell him everything and bear my heart. However, I am still in a place of despair. Then I wonder if he has been listening to me. I'm at my wits end right now. I tell him my needs and I feel as though my never ending difficulties are still here. What am I to do? It makes me want to turn away and stop bearing my heart and soul. Life does not seem worth living anymore. I was hoping that my talks with God would get me out of the struggle I am going through.
ReplyDeleteI hear what you're saying, and can empathize with the "hard place" you find yourself in. Because faith deals with heart issues, it's important to bear your thoughts to the Lord as I mentioned in the blog.
ReplyDeleteBut that's only part of the equation. The other side is to trust the faithfulness of God's word to you, whether it seems real or not, completely void of feelings or emotions. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:18: "So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever." He tells us further in 2 Corinthians 5:7: "For we live by believing and not by seeing." Paul told Timothy to "fight the good fight of faith." Our faith in the promises of God's word is what we must rely on when things look and feel bleak and negative. We all have those times in the cycles of life. So, when there is no feeling to it, and it seems as though God is turning a deaf ear, we must challenge those thoughts with the promises God has made to us! Jesus told Thomas in John 20 that the blessed ones are those that have not seen (or felt) yet still believe!
I encourage you to look up the following passages, and begin to meditate on them, that is, think about them over and over again. Then pray and ask the Father to work out the solutions to your problems! Then, praise Him and thank Him for answering, though you feel nothing. He who promised is faithful! (Numbers 23:19; Psalm 119:89; Isaiah 55:11; Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:24; John 16:23-24; 1 John 5:14-15).