Secret Prayer

<p>SECRET PRAYER    Much of what Jesus taught his disciples had to do with being sincere and real. They had grown up under the influence of an external Jewish religion where there was an outward show of pretence in the prancing around of their religious observances, from giving to fasting and praying. Jesus wanted to teach them to become real in the inner faithfulness of their heart towards God, and not to be concerned with the praise of man.  Matthew 6:1 “Take care! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired, for then you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. … When you do a kindness to someone, do it secret, and your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you.</p> <p>At this particular time of instruction Jesus was especially interested in telling them about the need for this inner quality of the heart in regard to prayer. Matthew 6:5 “And now about prayer. When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who pretend piety by praying publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. Truly, that is all the reward they will ever get.  So go into your room and close door behind you and be with the Father in secret, and the Father who sees in secret will reward your going out… for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.</p> <p>Jesus taught them to do as he did when he would leave the company of others and settle into a place of silent humble stillness where he would capture the truth of who he was in the presence of his loving Father. He would walk out from that place of prayer with a clear understanding of the will of his all-knowing Father. He taught his disciples his process of ‘secret prayer’. He had to close the door on the outer busyness of life and on the many human demands and challenges that acted upon his mind and emotions.</p> <p>Jesus taught them how to close the door of their minds and emotions to their own outer troubling circumstances and to be with the Father in secret, where they would find his reward of peace and find faith to overcome t