February 5, 2002

WHEN YOU PRAY

"When you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets,.. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly." (M, NKJV).

"In the name of Jesus we may come into God's presence with the confidence of a child. No man is needed to act as a mediator. Through Jesus we may open our hearts to God as to one who knows and loves us.

"In the secret place of prayer, where no eye but God's can see, no ear but His can hear, we may pour out our most hidden desires and longings to the Father of infinite pity, and in the hush and silence of the soul that voice which never fails to answer the cry of human need will speak to our hearts.

" 'The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy' (James 5:11). He waits with unwearied love to hear the confessions of the wayward and to accept their penitence. He watches for some return of gratitude from us, as the mother watches for the smile of recognition from her beloved child. He would have us understand how earnestly and tenderly His heart yearns over us. He invites us to take our trials to His sympathy, our sorrows to His love, our wounds to His healing, our weakness to His strength, our emptiness to His fullness. Never has one been disappointed who came to Him. 'They looked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed' (Psalm 34:5).

Those who seek God in secret telling the Lord their needs and pleading for help, will not plead in vain. 'Thy Father which seeth in secret Himself shall reward thee openly.' As we make Christ our daily companion we shall feel that the powers of an unseen world are all around us; and by looking unto Jesus we shall become assimilated to His image. By beholding we become changed. The character is softened, refined, and ennobled for the heavenly kingdom. The sure result of our intercourse and fellowship with our Lord will be to increase piety, purity, and fervor. There will be a growing intelligence in prayer. We are receiving a divine education, and this is illustrated in a life of diligence and zeal... Outward troubles cannot reach the life that is lived by faith in the Son of God."--Thoughts From The Mount Of Blessing, pp., 83-86.