Our Footsteps: The Importance of Private Prayer

Sunday, November 1, 2009

The Importance of Private Prayer

Secret prayer. This is a spiritual discipline that I need much work in, and I venture to say that most Christians would say the same. Who of us is ready to claim in pride that we have arrived at a satisfactory level of prayer and communion with God ? When speaking of the faithful servant and praying Christian, Thomas Brooks makes some profound statements regarding this in his book ‘The Secret Key to Heaven, the Vital Importance of Private Prayer’. Listen to these words that fall from the pen of this Puritan writer:

“God may very well expect better and greater things from [gracious servants] than from all other servants in the world. God may very well expect that they should do singular things for his glory, who has done such singular things for their good. Certainly, God expects that gracious servants should be blessing him, when other servants are blaspheming him; that they should be magnifying him when other servants are debasing him; that they should be redeeming precious time when other servants are trifling, fooling, playing or sinning away precious time; that they should be weeping in a corner when other servants are playing sports and making themselves merry among their jovial companions; that they should be mourning in secret when other servants are sinning in secret; and that they should be at their private devotion when other servants are sleeping and snoring.” Can't I just hit the snooze button on the alarm just one more time?

But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. - Matthew 6:6

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I Believe...

1). I believe that there is one God. I believe God consists of three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
2). I believe that God is holy, righteous, loving, and just.
3). I believe that mankind is separated from God by sin; that sin entered the world through Adam and death through sin.
4). I believe that, because of sin, man is condemned. Because of God’s utter hatred for sin, there is an eternal conscious punishment in hell for all those who do not come to God on His terms, dealing with their sin.
5). I believe that confessing our sins and confessing Jesus Christ as Lord is the only way to properly deal with the sin that has infected everyone. Jesus Christ paid our sin debt on the cross; reconciliation by substitution. There is nothing we can do to add to the finished work of Christ.
6). I believe in the security of the believer, that once he is truly born-again, there is nothing that would cause him to lose his salvation.
7). I believe that upon the death of a true believer in Christ, that he is ushered immediately into the presence of the Lord, where he will live in everlasting joy in Heaven, experiencing eternal fellowship with God.
8). I believe in believer’s baptism by immersion. I don’t believe baptism is necessary for salvation, but it is a beautiful outward profession of an inward possession.
9). I believe in a literal 6-day creation where God created the heavens and the earth and then rested on the seventh day.
10). I believe that the words written in the Bible are truth. I believe that the Bible is inerrant in its parts and in its whole. I believe that the 66 books that make up the canon of scripture make the Bible complete and that God inspired the words written therein. The things that were written down in the Bible are sufficient for every need we have. Not only is God’s Word sufficient, but it is far superior to any other method of handling the problems that man faces, since He has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness.