How to be Rewarded Daily by the Creator of the Universe

Church family:  Every generation since Jesus Christ has been taught how to pray by Jesus through His model prayer.  That is such an amazing thought to me.  That means that if I could take a time capsule back to any period of time in the last two thousand years, in whatever time period I would end up, the believers would have the same model of prayer that we would together be engaging the Father in prayer.
 
Have you ever asked Jesus to teach you to pray?  If you ask Jesus to teach you to pray we know what His answer would be, The Lord’s Prayer.   The Lord’s prayer can be found in Mathew 6 or in Luke 11 where you will find the shorter version.  Whenever we learn something new in our lives, part of that teaching is learning what not to do.  For example, when bagging groceries we are told not to put bread or vegetables under the jar of pickles or under the gallon of milk, right?  Things don’t turn out so great when you get home if you do that.  When Jesus teaches His disciples, and us, to pray, He starts out, “When you pray do not be like the hypocrites!” (Matthew 6:5)
 
Jesus explains that hypocrites pray to be seen by others and they use long ritualistic prayers and phrases that they think gets them heard by God and others.  Jesus says, don’t pray like that!  Instead pray like this, from your heart!  Be intentional.  “Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.  And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”( Matthew 6:6)
 
Our true heart is revealed when and if we go into our secret place and shut the door and only spend time with our Father in Heaven.  When we intentionally go to spend time with the Father in secret, we are there only to enjoy the presence of our Heavenly Father and the fact that we have been given access to Him through Jesus Christ.  Our Father loves this intimate living interaction from us.  We are enjoying the privilege that we have to be with the Creator of this universe.  Our secret place with the Father may be a million different places but we are alone with Him in private prayer where it is just us and God.  This takes a joyful intentionality to be only with our Father.  This is where learning to pray begins.  Alone in a secret place with our Father rewards us in secret with His presence through prayer.  That is beginning lesson of learning to pray. When you go to your secret place, go with a great expectation of the rewards that you will receive with His presence, enjoying Him.
 
A quote that I read years ago by Robert Murray McCheyne has always been a great convicting encouragement for me to get alone with God.  McCheyne writes, “What a man is alone on his knees before God, that he is and no more.”
 
Go find your secret place and be rewarded by the Father, who will meet you there in secret with great rewards.  The Creator of this universe is giving out rewards there.  Enjoy!
 
Luke 11:1  “Lord, teach us to pray…
 
Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
 
This Sunday we will be starting a Summer series on The Summer School of Prayer in Luke 11.  We will be meeting in person at the church building, respecting NC Executive Order #138, if you would like to join us in person at 10am.  And for those who will be staying at home, we will  be live-streaming on our Grace Community Church Topsail YouTube Channel. Push the blue link.