But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
In our opening Scripture, the Word tells us that when we pray, we are to enter into our closet, and shut the door and pray to the Father God secretly; and He will answer or reward us openly. Here, the Lord Jesus uses the expression “when” you pray, which means that God wants us to have a prayer time, or a prayer schedule. If your prayer life is not scheduled, it may never be consistent. The Lord Jesus says “when” you pray, not “if” you pray. Our prayer life ought to be a “when” not an “if”. He then says we are meant to enter into our closet. What does that mean? A closet is a ‘shut in’ place wherein there is room for some devotion or attention. A closet is cut off from the general area of activities. It is a secluded place. Devotion to God is facilitated in a closet. Prayer is a transaction of devotion. You must devotedly pray to the Father God that is in secret and sees in secret, and He will reward us openly. In a closet, you shut yourself in with God and shut out all distractions. Hallelujah! Your spirit and mind and emotions must devotedly seek the Lord if you are going to pray effectively.
Distractions make prayer ineffective and inoperative. The only way to avoid distractions is to enter into your closet. Your devotion to God in prayer gets stronger by the day as you learn to take advantage of the closet. Seize the blessing of the closet. Enter into your closet and shut the door. In no time, your spirit connects with God and you are receiving blessings from Him; you enter into deep communion with Him. The Lord Jesus also spoke about congregational prayer, “when ye (you all) pray”. That means there ought to be times when we pray together; husband and wife, family members, congregational prayer in Church, prayer groups, etc. The Lord taught us that prayer should not be a sporadic thing or something that happens based on our feelings. You must not subject your prayer life to feelings. It is important for you to schedule your prayer life according to God’s Word, so you don’t pray by feelings, remember, we walk by faith and not by sight (sensory perception).
MY SOLID FRONT (YOUR CONFESSION):
Heavenly Father, thank You for calling me to prayer. I give myself to prayer daily. I refuse distractions. I enter into my closet and shut the door against distractions in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, I get awesome results in prayer in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Further Meditation:
Mark 1:35; Matthew 6:33.