Shut the Door!

  “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."  Matthew 6:5-8  

It's been a long time since I sat down at my laptop and found the time to write.  Tonight, I am having some respiratory issues and so I find myself with time to spare and the house is quiet.   This blog has been on my heart for some time.   I'm so glad I finally get to write it down!

I've found that sometimes it is just so hard to shut out the world and all its craziness.   But it is important to do so.   When we shut the door on outside distractions, God opens new doors we never dreamed possible.   Shut out the world?  Are we allowed to do that as Christians?   You bet we are!

Christ did it.   He called it prayer.   As a matter of fact, He modeled it for us.   And he thought it was so important, He gave us some very specific guidelines for prayer.   Recently, I was reading this passage and verse 6 really popped out to me.   "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen."   Why would he tell us to close the door?  Well, I think it is because He understood the power of distraction.  

When you close the door you, in essence, close off distractions.   When I want to have Mike's full attention, I wait until I can get him in our room, with the door shut.   A closed door indicates that something private or intimate is taking place behind the door.   So when I close the door behind me in prayer, it is an indication that something private or intimate is taking place between me and my Lord.

Now, let me say this and please don't take offense...it is not intended to be an offensive statement.   When I have something to say privately to Mike, I do not broadcast to all of Facebook that I am going into my bedroom to speak with my husband.   Why would I do that?   Wouldn't that be the opposite of what I'm trying to do?  

So why would I think it's a good idea for me to announce to everyone that I am going into my prayer closet?   Now granted, from time to time I do think it is ok to ask friends if they have needs you can pray with them about.   I'm not at all saying we shouldn't do that.   My thought is if Christ's instruction to us is to go in and close the door,  perhaps He wants to share something intimate and private with us.   Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to bring others in for that.   Maybe we should trust Him to open the doors he promises to open, if only we will shut the door behind us.  I know that many times I haven't trusted Him to open doors and so I have kicked them in only to come up short in the end.

So maybe the next time you feel God calling you away to your quiet place with him, don't be so quick to bring visitors with you.   It's ok to just be alone with Him.  After all, we are His bride.   Maybe it's time we learn to just SHUT THE DOOR!