“…when you pray, enter into your closet (room), and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” Matthew 6:6
Dear Ones:
What is that thing that means most to God? It is the love and respect of His child, or children. We need to remember that the Lord does not need for us to give Him worlds or stars, or gold or silver. He is the creator of them!!! He does not NEED these. But when it comes to the things of the heart, that is a different matter. Why? First of all, it is because of creation. Man was created, and specifically made in God’s image, for the supreme purpose of fellowship, or communion with God. It is out of this communion that the glory of God is most eloquently revealed. Secondly, this fellowship with God is a matter, not only of the desire of God, but also, of the deliberate response of man. It is true that Christ died to purchase us from the slave market of sin, with His own precious blood. But we do not become participants of such blessing, unless there is self-surrender. Self-surrender is that act and evidence of love for God. Thus, the price and worth that God as our Father puts on fellowship, is beyond calculation or comprehension by virtue of creation, redemption, and self-surrender.
When it comes to the practical out-working of such communion, it must be said that it begins in the quiet place alone with the Father. In the matter of prayer, an integral facet of fellowship with God, Jesus calls us to pray alone to the Father. In addressing the Father, we are called upon to look heavenward to where the Father dwells, and from where the Father comes to reveal Himself to the heart by the Spirit. “Our Father which art in heaven.” (Matt. 6:9) Please note that this “Father” is also that of Jesus. “Father of Jesus, love’s reward, what rapture will it be, prostrate before Thy throne to lie, and gaze and gaze upon Thee.” It is in that gaze heavenward that we begin to discover, not only the capacity of God to meet us individually where we are, but His willingness and earnestness to do so.
It is in that gaze heavenward that we begin to understand something else. The Lord Jesus points this out to us as a specific matter of prayer and expectation. “Your kingdom come; Your will be done…in earth as it is in heaven.” (v.10) Why is this so very important? As long as our feet are on this earth, we are praying from a context and atmosphere of a fallen world, where the reign of Christ has been, in great part, rejected. And yet, it is as Christ reigns in the heart of the individual, that the blessings of heaven are known. It is as the WILL of God is done, that the greatest GOOD shall be experienced by mankind.
Dear Father, You who know our frame and littleness, it is amazing to us that you would desire and will, that we come aside to be alone with Thee. And yet here, as we worship You in Spirit, according to the truth, we begin to taste and see increasingly that Thou art good, and the Giver of every good and perfect gift. Reign over us, strengthening us ever to do Thy will. We praise and thank Thee, our wonderful Father in heaven. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad