THE POWER OF THE PRAYER CLOSET
Mt. 6:5-6
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. Some things really changed between the former generations and the kids of the last generation.
2. At a grandma was keeping/ babysitting her grandson Dirk. Dirk followed her into the bedroom as she puts up things away in the closet.
3. "Grandma," he said, "what room is this?" "This is a closet, Dirk," she explained. "We don't have a room like this in our house," he said. "Of course you do," she said, "You have lots of closets in your home."
4. When he again denied having closets in his house, she tried another tack. "Where do you keep all your clothes?" she asked.
5. A true child of the times, he replied, "In the dryer."
6. Dirk isn't the only person who doesn't know much about closets. Many Christians don't act like they have one either.
B. TEXT
“5 And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.” Matt. 6:5-6.
C. TORNADOES SPARE THE PRAYER CLOSET
1. Fox News ran a story on 3/26/19 about an Alabama grandmother whose prayer closet was left standing after surviving two tornadoes.
2. It happened in Beauregard, Alabama, where 23 people lost their lives. The praying grandmother, known affectionately as "Momma Reese," sang and praised her way through the storm. “We just prayed together and held each other," her daughter said.
3. Chaplain Jason Smith wrote, “I just left a family who survived the tornado in this house and the only [thing] left standing is this closet.” He continued: “It's the grandmother's prayer closet, and the whole family survived.”
4. The picture of the closet that survived went viral and made national headlines. It emphasizes the power of prayer to avert disasters! Praise God!
D. WHAT’S A PRAYER CLOSET?
1. The word "closet" could be better translated "bedroom." What is a “Prayer Closet?”
2. It's the Habit of shutting yourself in with God, Seeking Him, calling on Him, and having Intimacy with God.
E. THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER
The Gospel of Luke has been called "The Gospel of Prayer." WHY? OTHER GOSPELS SAY... BUT LUKE SAYS....
1. Jesus in the Jordan when Spirit descended like a Dove.
Luke says…It was while He was praying that the Spirit descended.
2. The Gospels say, Jesus chose 12 apostles. Luke says it was after He spent a night in prayer that He chose them.
3. Other Gospels say that Jesus died on a cross. Luke says that while he was dying, Jesus was praying for his enemies.
4. Other Gospels say Jesus went on a Mt. and He was transfigured. Luke says it was while He was praying that He was transfigured.
I. NOTHING IS MORE TRANSFIGURING THAN PRAYER
Prayer doesn't always change God but it always does change us.
A. IT CHANGES OUR VIEW OF GOD
1. Isaiah in chapter 6 was praying when he saw a vision that altered his life.
2. Paul was praying when he was caught up to third heaven, and saw unspeakable things. His life was changed.
3. The Apostle John was praying on Patmos when he heard a great voice say “Come up here” and he received the Book of Revelation.
B. IT CHANGES OUR CIRCUMSTANCES
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. Rom. 8:18-19.
C. CHANGES OUR VIEW OF OURSELVES
When we see ourselves as God sees us, then we’re changed.
D. CHANGES OUR VIEW OF OTHERS
We begin to realize the people around us are saved or lost.
II. NOTHING’S AS REFRESHING AS PRAYER
A. BEGIN EVERY DAY WITH PRAYER
1. "Don't have your concert and tune your instruments afterward. Begin the day with prayer."
2. We begin each day by taking a bath or shower, don’t we? Likewise, we should also get prepared spiritually.
3. HUMOR.
a. There was a girl who asked her mom if she could start taking a bath each day before school, instead of at night.
b. Her Mom asked her, "Why?" “Because each day at school, for two months, the teacher has asked, ‘Would everyone whose taken a bath today, please raise your hand.”
c. "For 2 months I haven’t been able to raise my hand that I’ve taken a bath!”
B. PRAYER BRINGS US PEACE
1. As the song says, "Oh, what peace we often forfeit; Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer."
2. I feel that busyness is one major hindrance to righteous living. We have so many demands placed on us these days that we often take care of the expedient rather than the needful.
3. We juggle our schedules and arrange our pursuit of righteousness AROUND the other insistent pressures in life rather than the other way round.
C. THRU PRAYER OUR SOULS ARE WASHED
1. Through prayer our souls are washed, our languishing spiritual nature is satisfied, and our thirst quenched.
2. We receive manna from heaven to feed our starving souls.
3. HUMOR
a. When Robert Louis Stevenson was a boy he once remarked to his mother, "Momma, you can't be good without praying." "How do you know, Robert?" she asked. "Because I've tried!" he answered.
b. Another little fellow -- had been sent to his room because he had been bad. A short time later he came out and said to his mother, "I've been thinking about what I did and I said a prayer." She said, "If you ask God to make you good, He will help you." "Oh, I didn't ask Him to help me be good," replied the boy. "I asked Him to help you put up with me."
Our Daily Bread, June 15.
III. NOTHING ALTERS THE PRESENT & FUTURE LIKE PRAYER
A. BIBLE IS FILLED WITH EXAMPLES:
1. Peter set free from prison in answer to prayer.
2. Daniel’s prayers prevailed for the captive Jews.
3. Abraham prayed for Lot in Sodom.
4. Samuel prayed for the Israelites when invaded.
B. HISTORY IS FULL OF EXAMPLES
1. George Muller's orphanage at Ashley Downs in England. It was time for breakfast, and there was no food. Muller took a small girl’s hand and said, "Come and see what our Father will do." In the dining room, long tables were set with empty plates and empty mugs. Not only was there no food in the kitchen, but there was no money in the home's account. Muller prayed. Immediately, they heard a knock at the door. When they opened it, there stood the local baker. "I couldn't sleep last night. Somehow I felt you had no bread for breakfast, so I got up at 2 o'clock and baked fresh bread. Here it is." Muller thanked him and gave praise to God. Soon, a second knock was heard. It was the milkman. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. He said he would like to give the children the milk so he could empty the cart and repair it. [Source Unknown]
2. Medical Missionary told, “Some friends and I followed you into the jungle knowing you would camp overnight. We waited for you to go to sleep and planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. Just as we were about to move into your campsite, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.” [They must have been angels!]
3. When Hudson Taylor was sailing for China, the wind died down & the ship began drifting toward the shore of cannibal islands. The savages gathered on the shore, eagerly anticipating a feast. The captain asked Mr. Taylor to pray for to God for wind. “I will,” said Mr. Taylor, “provided you set your sails to catch the breeze.” [As soon as he prayed, the wind arose.]
C. WILL RESULT IN FUTURE REWARD
1. SAID HE WOULD “REWARD US OPENLY.”
a. “Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you
openly.” Matt. 6:5-6.
b. There WILL be a reward for all prayers prayed secretly to God. Let’s get in on the bonanza!
2. ORDER IN THE AFFAIRS OF LIFE. The Power of the Prayer Closet Is Power over Confusion and Disorder in Your Life, in your Family, your Job, and your Church.
3. INCLUDES DIVINE PROTECTION. "He That Dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High Shall Abide under the Shadow of the Almighty!" Psalm 91:1
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: Waiting for Our Souls to Catch Up
1. An archaeologist once hired some Inca tribesmen to lead him to an archaeological site deep in the mountains. After they had been moving for some time the tribesmen stopped and insisted they would go no further.
2. The archaeologist grew impatient and then angry. But no matter how much he cajoled the tribesmen would not go any further.
3. Then all of a sudden the tribesmen changed their attitude. They picked up the gear and set off once more.
4. When the bewildered archaeologist asked why they had stopped and refused to move for so long, the tribesmen answered, “We had been moving too fast and had to wait for our souls to catch up.” [Source: based on a story told in the movie Beyond the Clouds]
5. We Christians should take a lesson from the Inca Tribesmen. We get too busy and leave the presence of the Lord behind. It’s time we started waiting on God to refill us, to refresh us, and to endue us with power. All that will happen when we develop the habit of daily going into our prayer closets and seeking God.
B. SCRIPTURES ABOUT TRAVAILING
1. “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard” (KJV) because of His reverent submission”(NIV) Heb. 5:7.
2. When was the last time you offered up “strong crying and tears?” If your child was sick, you might!
3. Isaiah 53:11 said that the Father saw “the travail of His soul and was satisfied.” So much did Jesus care about lost souls!
4. Ps. 119:134; “Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.” May we care about other’s lost state like the Psalmist did!
C. THE CALL: 4 QUOTES
1. "The man (or woman) who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history" Andrew Murray.
2. "We must begin to believe that God, in the mystery of prayer, has entrusted us with a force that can move the Heavenly world, and can bring its power down to earth" Andrew Murray.
3. "Prayer is not learned in a classroom but in the closet" E. M. Bounds.
4. "Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work" Oswald Chambers.
5. Let’s pray for Strength to Do the Will of God in the Closet of Prayer.
