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Matthew 6:5-6
New International Version (NIV)
Prayer
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the
hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
I was thinking earlier about how the Lord desires that we worship and not just give him all the flesh that we can afford to offer but true worship which is the fragrance of his son presented to him in spirit ; the vast of his satisfaction lies in a heart that is to worship him in spirit and truth. Jesus gave an instruction about prayer and gave a good description of how we ought to communicate in order to access the father. He says in Mathew 6:5
But when you pray, go into your room, close
the door and pray to your Father, who is
unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is
done in secret, will reward you.
The first thing I thought about as i read this was how we ought not to be showcasers of our works, always doing shows for our own good, like we show casing something that we even have an upper hand in. We think we have it all and don't need the Lord's help .But as I sat with an open mind waiting for the Lord to show me a deeper insight , he revealed to me something deeper and I think it drives the point home. there is so much of destruction out of the presence of the Lord but his word is true and alive. It divides between bone and marrow.
It pleases the Lord to present to him a pure heart because that heart is one with his very own fulfilment. He desires a heart drawn entirely to his righteousness, a heart that knows him. Psalms 51:10 says;
Create in me a pure heart, O God, 10 and renew a steadfast spirit within me;
Am sure King David knew strongly what he desired besides what he felt. king David did ask the lord to create in him a pure heart and to renew a steadfast spirit with him and the portion goes on like the famous song "cast me not a away from thy presence" . David first of all realised his position and he knew he was in a worse state where he needed the Lords hand. The key point here is "acceptance" His request was drawn from the fact that he knew that the only access to the father was to be of a pure heart. To see and have the vision God desired him to have, David had to have his spirit renewed but the tremendous thing in his request; was acceptance! He accepted his weakness hence laying ground for the Lord to deal with him. He didn't act in the power of his will, he never presented to the Lord flesh as he knew it couldn't give birth to anything but only flesh so he pleaded to the Lord to create in him a clean heart, one that has the grounds for the Lords presence. His very own realm of spirit and truth.
Prayer is access to the father! It is communication to him hence every thing which is not of his realm hinders that communication. The act of reaching him from a silent quiet room behind closed doors represents a place void of noise and destruction of the world obviously am talking about a heart situation here to see the light not just natural or physical noise. Such a place he can't reach and we hardly hear him. Our hearts desire the Lord but are very far from him. we have been brought to life with him, raised in water but we decide to have the view of the ocean instead of being involved in the ocean. Surely there's much to see about the flesh and its expression in the relationship we have in Christ. Its just that little thing that's always contaminating the Doug and creating yeast in the bread. We are called to access the father in total silence "a hearts condition of pureness" not in noise and destruction and when we do have that approach, we are rewarded. To me this portion of scripture speaks more than just the Act of prayer but more like access and relation to the father in eternity. This is not a one time thing but an eternal hearts condition to see the Lord.
Salvation is a gift ; or to say its an opportunity that the father offers to us through his son to share life with him. that life is by faith through grace..we don't earn it. Much as salvation is a a free gift however its not automatic for us to live as the life we have been brought in "knowing the Lord in his fullness". The story changes a bit. We can live in a house where we have never seen the view of the sun simply because we never walk out of that house or may be I could use the analogy of a seed growing and responding to light; it will never grow unless there is some y portion of light exposed to it . When that light is cut off, the tree or plant is bound to die. But that plant is initially planted for a reason and it has to bring to fulfillment of that purpose. It has to bear fruit , give life to a new seed which will eventually do the same.
As am speaking now, something scratches my heart and I don't know how best I can say this but the Lord desires a quiet safe place behind closed doors. He desires the purity of our hearts. It was Paul's duty to let the world know of how wonderful the saviour Jesus Christ is and how we could be in perfect sync with him. Paul mentions something that tips my understanding. he says he beats his body, dies daily, he presses on towards the goal to attain the prize .such words are very sound to me. it makes me think of how paul did go through the same trials and struggles that we go through daily but he never gave up as a saint. The word of God was inscribed on his heart like an emblem . Our life or let me say the only life that believers have, draws its source from righteousness and for us to be in sync with the father, the author and finisher of our faith, there is need to die to this old man so that we press on towards the goal, to attain the prize prepared by the father, his reward . Each day that we walk in death of our flesh, the father rewards us with reality. This reality is the true revealing of his son Jesus Christ in our souls. Its the light that keeps on illuminating our blurred vision to see and access righteousness. Nothing of his vision makes sense or do we ever see unless the old vision is brushed off. Like David pleaded to the Lord to create in him a clean heart, so should our cry be, a heart that desires to know him; one that sees the wickedness that lies beneath hence seeks help. When we realise our weakness, then we are ready to let the Lord deal with us. In our weakness he is made strong. If we never let the dead man lie in his grave "flesh" daily, we are more like the hypocrites who stand in the public to be noticed; for there satisfaction lies in the flesh hence the Lord does not receive their sacrifice. Our call is to be of a pure, clean heart that dies to flesh daily and desires to seek the Lord in weakness to attain the prize prepared by the father.
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