But when you pray, go into your [most] private room, and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open (Matthew 6:6- Amplified).
This most private room Jesus mentioned here is a bedroom. It’s a place of intimacy between husband and wife. It’s a place where no one else is invited. It’s a place that is secure from intrusion.
The Father wants to develop an intimate relationship with each one of His children. He wants each of us to find that private place of meeting with Him where we can bear our heart to Him and share our deepest secrets. He wants to develop a closeness with us that affects the whole of life.
Many believers find this private place with the Father intimidating. They’ve not been raised in an environment that allows them to really bear their heart. For them, most relationships are casual and surface.
It takes time to become comfortable enough with someone to be able to share the intimate secrets of your heart with them. The Father wants this kind of relationship with us. It’s a close, heart-bearing, honest, transparent, and loving relationship. It’s life-freeing and life-producing.
In order to get close in this way with someone you must first develop trust. You must know that they will accept you regardless of what you say. For me to develop this kind of trust in my Father God, I had to know that He would not reject me if I was totally honest with Him. I had to know that our relationship was so secure that He would listen and not become angry when I was honest, heartfelt, and vulnerable.
I found Ephesians 1:4-5-(NLT) to be a great help: Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. In Christ God sees us without fault. He forgives all of our past and sees the best in us and not the worst.
God even went a step further than forgiving us, He adopts us! He takes us out of our harsh environment of insecurity, abuse, neglect, misunderstanding, and fear, and places us in His family where there is an environment of love, acceptance, forgiveness, openness, peace, and transparency.
Another thing that has helped me open up to what I thought was an austere, Holy, unapproachable God, was the thought that He actually loves me because He wants to and not because it’s just His nature to do so. John 16:27 (Amplified) reads: For the Father Himself tenderly loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came out from the Father. The word for love in this verse in the Greek is the word for a friendship type of love.
Friendship is a results of two people liking certain qualities in each other. I began to open up to God as I thought about this verse and how God actually likes me because He wants to, and that He wants a close relationship with me and wants me to get to know Him.
Yes, it’s a challenge to open up to God if you are not accustomed to opening your heart to anyone, but I encourage you to give it a try!
To begin this open, heartfelt, private room experience with the Father, find a place free from intrusion where no one will interrupt you. Then read Psalm 139. Realize that the Father loves you as much as He loves Jesus! He knows every thought, purpose, motive, intent, desire, need, and want in your life. He sees everything about you. He is absolute love and wants the best for you. He is longing for you to open your heart to Him.
Talk to Him about the things that bother you. Tell Him everything; the good, the bad, and the ugly. He already knows. But He wants you to submit your needs to Him in simple faith. When you do this, it gives Him permission to help you, and it will free you from life’s intense pressures that build up inside. It’s this acknowledging Him in all your ways (Proverbs 3: 4-5) that allows Him to move on your behalf.
Intimacy with the Father makes us care free and worry free, and keeps stress from building up inside. Most of our mental, emotional, and physical problems are stress related. Personal intimacy with the Father is His answer to human stress.
The Father has a longing to be close to you today. Go find Him in the private room.
Psalms 139:1-16 – New Living Translation:
O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.BYou know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
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