Day 22 - Prayer Journal: Private Petitions

Scripture
"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." - Matthew 6:6


Every now and then I meet people who have been asked to pray and they say that they don't feel like they can pray like someone else or they tell me that they don't know how to pray. These people have been made to believe that prayer is hard or that there is a set way to pray. They are sometimes misguided in their prayers because their focus is on saying the "right" words rather than being intimate with God, who knows what is on their hearts anyway.

Other people have friends who share our journey as believers. These are the people who witness to us, who offer us a word of encouragement, and even pray with or for us. God sends them into our lives for a purpose and we feel close to them. We often share our challenges and successes in our walk with Christ. Sometimes these faithful friends become our prayer partners with whom we share our most intimate prayers and petitions.

But even with the closest of friends, there are things that we find difficult to share with even the people we often confide in. These are the times that we must go straight to the throne room. The scripture tells us that when we pray that we are to get into that private place just you and God. Prayer is an intimate experience between the prayer and God. When you shut the door, you close out the distractions of the world and you can tell your Heavenly Father your deepest secrets, desires, or concerns.

Focus

• Thank God that you can come to Him openly without shame or fear.
• Seek God for that intimate place where you can close the door to fear, doubt, unforgiveness, and anything that would hinder you from shutting the door in prayer.
• Ask God for those secret intimate desires that are in your heart.
• Pray seeking revelation of how to go deeper into that special place with God where the world no longer distracts your prayer time.
• Thank God for the outward manifestation of that prayer before you see it arrive.
• Pray for someone who struggles in prayer to be able to find their secret closet.

Remember

Prayer is the most intimate conversation between the lover (God) and His beloved (you). You must find that special place where it is just you and God. Sometimes such prayer manifests as crying, wailing, or even laughing. It is a place of freedom to let everything go!

Be Blessed!