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‘But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret.’
Mat_6:6
I. A little sanctuary.—Your own heart must be ‘the closet.’ You must manage—in business, in the street, in company, in a crowd,—to make a stillness; to draw the curtains round your mind, and constitute it, for a little while at least, ‘a little sanctuary,’—a quiet, separate, holy place,—and retiring into which, you must feel solitary. Only you and God. And then say your little, silent prayer withdrawn from outer life. So, from the rush and bustle of the day, you must go down into yourselves, and literally fulfil the command, wherever you are.
II. Suggestions for prayer.
(a) Have a purpose. By its being said, ‘Enter into thy closet,’ it implies that you are not there; but that you go there for the purpose of prayer. It could not, therefore, primarily mean the prayer you say in the morning and evening, when you are already in your room, though it includes it; but such as you go to your room, or to some other place, expressly that you may say it.
(b) Separate yourself. ‘Shut the door’ means separate yourself from all outer things: be, and feel, shut in with God. It would be to very little purpose to turn the handle, if you did not, by the same act, seclude yourself from the world without, worldly pleasures, and worldly business, and worldly associations.
(c) Pray audibly. It has been thought that you are to ‘shut your door’ in order that you may not be overheard, which implies that, even in your ‘closet,’ you pray out loud, in a soft, but in an audible voice. And I could not enjoin this too strongly. You will find it a very great help against wandering thoughts, and a real strength to prayer, if you use your lips in prayer.
(d) Have fatherly views of God. Let it be the prayer, not of a subject to a king, but of a child to a parent. ‘Pray to thy Father.’
(e) Be definite. Take care that your private communications with ‘your Father’ be not vague,—not such as any one else could say as well as you; but personal, confidential, minute.
(f) Be short. There are seasons when we feel that we could pray and praise for ever. But they are exceptions. More frequently we gain nothing by length, but a larger opportunity for distracting thought. Say what you have to say and finish.
(g) Adore God. There is another part of devotion, which does not occupy its proper place and degree, in most of our holy functions, and yet which is very important—adoration; adoring God for what God is in Himself; not for what He gives: simple, devout, admiring contemplation of God.
Always consider that the greatest act of the day is your private intercourse with God.
—
The Rev. James Vaughan.
Illustration‘A lady missionary of the C.M.S., working near Jerusalem among Mohammedans, writes: “One little boy, who attends our schools regularly, and is a most diligent, faithful little scholar, lives in a poor home, with just one small room for the whole family. His father is a carpenter, and from what I have heard, must be a harsh, unkind man. The mother (who told the story to a friend of ours) noticed that every night, even in the cold and rain, the little lad went out of the house before lying down to sleep, and remained away for some time. One night she remarked on it to him, and asked him where he went; he told her that he liked to go, and she could get little more out of him, so she determined to follow him and find out where he went. On reaching the door of the room, to her surprise she saw him not far off under a tree, with hands folded and eyes closed, praying!” ’
PRIVATE PRAYER
I. Private prayer.—But Christ is speaking about private prayer, not about public worship. He is blaming the Pharisees because they said their private prayers in public. That is the point. The danger in which most persons in these busy, matter-of-fact, worldly, pleasure-loving days stand, is not so much of too great publicity in your private prayers; but it is really the danger of never genuinely, seriously, sincerely praying in private at all. Do your pray regularly in private from your heart? Do you really give a few moments at the beginning and at the close of each day to talking on your knees with God? This is what is meant by private prayer.
II. Divine help in prayer.—From this day forth kneel down at your bedside morning and evening, if only for a few moments. Thoughts and words will come of themselves. Simply kneel down, and think for a moment of God, and of what you are yourself, and of what you want from Him. When once you have put your mind in the true attitude of prayer, then that Divine Power, the Holy Spirit, will help you. He kindles our aspirations, and does not let us rise from our knees until we have said something that is worth saying to God. Do you not want help? Amongst all the accidents and chances which may happen in these headlong days, do you need no protection from God? This little simple act of conversing with your Father in heaven the first thing in the morning will have started you well. And however tired you may be with your labours, do not let anything cause you to leave off the day without once more kneeling down and speaking to God before you go to sleep. It would perhaps be well for every one to repeat to themselves as they are closing their eyes, the great evening hymn, ‘Glory to Thee, my God, this night.’
III. Public worship.—But the two points which our Lord presses home so strongly about private prayer, refer also to public worship. Never go to the house of prayer to be seen of men, but only to meet your heavenly Father. And, above all things, do not insult the Almighty by using vain repetitions. That is a risk in all regular forms of worship, because they become so familiar that we sometimes hardly consider what we are saying. Let us be more than ever careful not to allow any words to escape our lips in the house of God without attending to their meaning.
Archdeacon Sinclair.
Illustrations(1) ‘I often say my prayers, but do I ever pray?
And do the wishes of my heart go with the words I say?
I may as well kneel down and worship gods of stone,
As offer to the living God a prayer of words alone.
For words without the heart the Lord will never hear;
Nor will He to those lips attend whose prayers are not sincere.’
(2) ‘Prayer is this: to look into the Bible and see what God has promised; to look into our own hearts and ask ourselves what we want; and to look up to God to give us what we want, and what He has promised as the purchase of Christ’s blood; expecting that though we are most unworthy, yet He will be as good as His word.’
PRAYER AND ITS ANSWER
I. What is prayer?—‘Prayer,’ said St. Augustine, ‘is our speech to God.’ ‘Prayer,’ says another, ‘is the link that connects earth with heaven,’ the impotence of man with the omnipotence of God. ‘Prayer,’ says a recent writer, ‘in its simplest essence is the turning of the soul towards God. It is that act by which the human spirit seeks to come in contact with the Divine Spirit.’
(a) Prayer is man calling upon God. In times of want, of danger, of loneliness, man instinctively calls upon his God. He believes in His omniscience and His omnipotence and His benevolence, and therefore in every moment of need he calls upon His God.
(b) Prayer is the intercourse of the soul with God. It is what our Lord here tells us, asking the Father. ‘When ye pray, say, Our Father.’ We shall never know God till we know Him as a Father. We shall never approach Him as He ought to be approached till we approach Him as a Father.
II. How may prayer be offered with acceptance?—In Christ’s name—‘In My name, My sufficiency, My completeness, My perfected work of redemption,’ the Name above every name, the name of our Great High Priest. This is the basis of our hope, the ground of our acceptance, the prevailing plea that God will hear.
III. May we look for an answer?—Prayer rightly offered is always answered. We find in Scripture, except as our Lord put it before us, absolutely no limits and no conditions. ‘Ask, and ye shall have whatsoever ye shall ask.’ The only condition, therefore, which at all limits the matter is that of fatherhood and sonship in which God stands to us and we stand to God. God may delay to send an answer, or give it us in another form.
IV. Learn two things—
(a) Be particular in your prayers. Generalities are the death of prayer. It is not enough to go with general confession and general petition before your Father. If you believe in the providence of God, if you believe that in every event of life you are under His control, why, you must go with every request and every duty and every care, and lay them before your Father which is in heaven.
(b) Seek from God the spirit of prayer.
Prebendary Eardley-Wilmot.
Illustration(1) ‘An arrow, if it be drawn up but a little way, goes not far, but if it be pulled up to the head it flies swiftly and pierces deep. Thus prayer, if it be only dribbled forth from careless lips, falls at our feet; but if in the strength of ejaculation and strong desire, it sends it to heaven and makes it pierce the clouds. It is not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they be; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how eloquent they be; nor their geometry, how long they be; nor their music, how sweet their voice may be; nor their logic, how argumentative they be; nor yet their method, how orderly they be; nor even their divinity, how good their doctrine may be, which God cares for: but it is the fervency of spirit which availeth much.’
(2) ‘Be not afraid to pray. To pray is right.
Pray if thou canst with hope,
Though hope be weak, or sick with long delay;
Pray in the darkness if there be no light.
Far is the time, remote from human sight,
When war and discord on the earth shall cease;
Yet every prayer for universal peace
Avails the blessed time to expedite.
Whate’er is good to wish, ask that of Heaven,
Though it be what thou canst not hope or see.
Pray to be perfect, though material leaven
Forbid the spirit so on earth to be.
But if for any wish thou darest not pray,
Then pray to God to cast that wish away!’