INTIMACY AND PRIVACY (From Pastor Chuck Lynch) “But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then He who sees everything, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6, NLT). When Jesus taught his original disciples how to pray like He prayed, He told them to “Go away by yourself” (NIV says, “go into your room”). The Greek word used here for “room,” was first used to literally depict “a secret place where one would hide the most valuable treasures.” But, by New Testament times, its usage was applied to “a bedroom,” because that was usually the most secure, private, intimate place in the house. So, when Jesus used that Greek word, He was saying that you should enter into prayer with the goal of having an intimate time with God! He was saying that it will help you to pray like He did when you find a private, secure place, where you can share your heart and soul with God! He was teaching that prayer should be a time so precious that it should occur in a private place and time where no one can interrupt or distract your intimate conversation with your Heavenly Father! Jesus was teaching that God invites us into such places because of His great personal love for each of us as individuals – IF you are a child of God! But, too few people actually take God up on His invitation for this kind of privacy and intimacy. Some people are just uncomfortable with the idea of intimacy – they aren’t mature enough for any significant intimacy in any relationship. For them, prayer is mainly a matter of reciting their requests. For others, they’re convinced they are too busy to enjoy such intimacy – and that may very well be true. But the bigger truth is that we ALL will ALWAYS make time for whatever is important to us! Today, I want to encourage you to take God up on His invitation to connect with Him in intimacy and privacy. His voice will ALWAYS be more valuable than ANY other voice you will hear today. Ask God to forgive you for making time for everything else except Him. And discover the empowering experience of enjoying intimacy with God!!
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 21:55:43 +0000
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