Topic: Praying in Secret  [Church of God Mission International] Above Only Daily Devotional 7 July 2021

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Above Only Devotional

Wednesday, July 07, 2021

Praying in Secret

Matthew 6:5-6 (TPT), Mark 1:35 (CEV)
“Whenever you pray, be sincere and not like the pretenders who love the attention they receive while praying before others in the meetings and on street corners. Believe me, they’ve already received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your innermost chamber and be alone with Father God, praying to him in secret. And your Father, who sees all you do, will reward you openly.” *Very early the next morning, Jesus got up and went to a place where he could be alone and pray.

One of the greatest thing we must learn how to do in secret is to pray, maintaining a consistent, quality time of prayer with God our Father is one of the most important foundations that we need in our lives. It should be one of our greatest desires because of the many blessings and benefits embedded in it.

Our relationship with God is the most important relationship we must build in our lives. That consistent, quality time of prayer and fellowship is what builds our relationship with God and cause us to grow spiritually. You cannot build your relationship with someone if you are unwilling to spend quality time with that person. Of course, our time of prayer and fellowship with other believers is also very important (Heb.10:25, Prov.27:17), but it cannot replace our personal time of prayer and fellowship with God our Father. We must not only be prayerful when we are in the presence of others. We must be prayerful when we are alone also. In our second text above, we see that Jesus often spent time alone in prayer unto God. As noted in our initial text above, the God who sees and hears our prayers in secret will answer our prayers in the open.

When we spend time in prayer and fellowship with God our Father, there is a stirring up of the glorious and divine life of God in us. In much the same way Jesus’ countenance was changed as He spent time in prayer (Luke 9:28-29), we too experience a transformation from glory to glory each time we pray and fellowship with God (2Cor.3:18). Moses did not know that his face was shining as he fellowshipped with God (Exo.34:29-30). In prayer and fellowship with God, we also receive direction from God and activate His will for our lives.

Prayer Focus:
Pour out your heart to God, your Heavenly Father, right now. Receive His love, His wisdom and His abundant grace for every area of your life.

Bible in One Year Reading Plan
1 Chronicles 4:5-5:17, Acts 25:1-27, Psalm 5:1-12, Proverbs 18:16-19