The Privacy of Prayer 2

Jesus left us a pattern by teaching of intimate private prayer.

"And when you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat? Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.” Matt 6:5-6 [MSG]

The essence of privacy is that we may offer up truthful and sincere prayer to the One who judges intents, reads beyond lips, and listens to the heart. Prayers void of pretence, prayers void of pressure, prayers void of performance, prayers void of the people factor, and prayers void of role play. When praying publicly, the tendency to act increases exponentially. ‘Hi God (and folks)! Remember me? I’m sleek. I speak. I flow lyrics like the Amazon, I eat words like a piranha. My liturgy is better than all these other guys and I’ll pray a little louder so that they’ll hear. I don’t really pray much alone, but now that the entire church is watching, I’ll make a good show of it.’

It is not wrong to pray in public. Jesus taught us that the sin and danger is when we engage in it because it feeds our ego and sense of spirituality. Motive matters. In some evangelical and Pentecostal campus circles today public prayer sometimes earns a brother the label ‘hyper-brother’ or ‘prayer warrior.’ Watch it hyper bro! When we love to pray ‘to be seen of people’, the ego trip, not the answered prayer, is our reward. We must forget about answered prayers if we are in it for the ego trip.

Hypocrite. Greek hupokrites. One of the most offensive and politically incorrect words Jesus ever used for a group of people was hupokrites. In Bible days, actors wore masks, which included voice amplification mechanisms. The hupokrites is one reading a script, play-acting and concealing motives beneath a mask or cloak of make believe. Synagogues and broad street corners (so the Greek word signifies) were most frequented as places of public religious and public secular recourse (Matt 6:5). Jesus called men hypocrites who loved to pray there in order to impress people. The prayers may have sounded good, but the answers from God are what really matter; and God says hypocritical public prayer will not be answered.

Matt 6:6 "But when you are praying, enter into your private room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father, the [One] in secret, and your Father, the [One] seeing in secret, will reward you in the open. [Analytical Literal Translation]

Sincerity is much helped by privacy. No one to impress. No one watching to assess. No one to show off to. Just a sincere, flawed, imperfect you and an all-knowing, awesome and perfect God. Truth spoken in the audience of One.

Jesus’ detachment from men and approach unto God in Gethsemane represents a type of the tabernacle. The approach of the glory required increasing intimacy. Numbers were whittled down as men approached the inner sanctum of grace. Everyone was outside the tabernacle, resident in camps surrounding the place of the presence. The courts, closer to the glory was unapproachable for the Moabite and Ammonite to the 10th generation. The holy place could only be approached by the Levitical priesthood. The Holy of holies, the most holy place was exclusive reserve of the glory, and one called to approach- the high priest- once a year; the Yom Kippur. One man, one time, once. Private intercession releases the power of one.

The first pattern Jesus leaves for us in prayer is the closet principle. And when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who sees in secret…and he will reward you openly. If we pray more in public than we do in secret, then something is wrong.

If you have ever been to South Korea’s prayer mountain, you will see beautifully demonstrated the power of private intercession. Dotting the landscape almost like catacombs are little personal prayer grottoes. Each one can take only one man or woman standing or lying on a prayer mat. One...in the audience of One.

Prayer

Lord, teach me the grace of intimacy. Give me a supernatural desire to seek after you, your kingdom, your power, your glory. Teach me the power of the secret place. Strip away from me every desire to pretend or show off in and out of my closet. Let the allure of the world, the flurry of activity and the glamour of accomplishment fade away when I enter in with you. Help me to love you, to be alone with you, more than anyone else. Cause me to hear your words. Cause me to feel your breath. Cause me to know your mind. Cause me to be as you are in the place of deep intercession. Baptise me with a grace to know I am greatest when I am alone with you, in Jesus’ name.

Amen.