The Secret Closet
By Pastor Timothy Burdick
"As
for me, far be it from me that I should sin
against the Lord by failing to pray for you.
And I will teach you the way that is good
and right" (1 Samuel 12:23)
Many times today
people talk about coming "out of the
closet." Jesus, on the other hand,
encouraged men to go into their secret
closet and pray to a God who wants to listen
(Matthew 6:6). In the Bible, there are two
main types of sin: 1) The type that we tend to
commit outwardly is usually the first category that
comes to mind. But 2) many times we
omit things from our lives that we know are
right. These are often called "sins of omission"
and that is what Samuel the prophet is
talking about in this verse.
We get busy and one of
the first things to go is our time alone
with God. If you think I’m pointing fingers,
I’m not. I’m speaking from personal
experience, because initially I did not
understand much about prayer's power.
While we all still have
a lot to learn about prayer, I have encountered two men
through reading about them, and they have
challenged me to make prayer a lifestyle.
I hope they will challenge you as well. One
was Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China,
who founded the China Inland Mission. The
other was George Muller, an amazing man who
housed and fed thousands of orphans. Both
men had their needs supplied directly by
God through prayer and I might add that
although a great deal of money was involved in
what they did, no fundraising was involved.
While time doesn’t
permit me to go into their lives in detail, I would
just like to say that this dependence upon
God is something that most of us know
little or nothing about. Through prayer,
however, both of these men achieved the
impossible. I would encourage you to read
for yourself about these men.
We need to learn anew,
as they did, that our first priority
in life needs to be our relationship with God. For
the good news is that God hasn’t changed
and He wants to do the seemingly impossible
in your life and mine just like He has done
for many others. No matter what you may be
facing, let that obstacle draw you nearer to God, who wants the best for you. When you
are tempted to give in to despair and put
your prayer life on the shelf, think about
how far God has brought you and the new
doors He can open. Today make it a point to
go often into your prayer closet and talk
with Him.
Visit Pastor Timothy at New Vision Ministries website www.mynvm.org
Visit Friday Study Ministries
www.FridayStudy.org
www.FirstChurchOnTheNet.org
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