I’ve spent a lot of time in the closet recently. I WASN’T there for the sacred reason of earnest prayer done privately to ensure I didn’t receive the approval and praise of others, as Matthew 6:6 warns.
“But 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.”
No, I lingered in my Mother’s walk-in closet deciding what to keep and what to release.
I have several prayer “closets” in and around my home -- not actual closets but locations where I meet the Lord and hand to Him things I care about but don’t want to keep.
I love this vivid description of the best work done in our prayer closets:
“Pour out all your worries and stress upon him
and leave them there, for he always tenderly cares for you.”
I Peter 5:7
I have a friend who was struggling to move on from the grief of a loved one. She shared her broken heart stuck in despair with a counselor and received this insightful advice:
“Find a comfortable chair in your home and set a regular time to be there each day for 20 minutes. Pour out your grief by speaking to God, journaling or drawing. Give your tears a place to fall. Then stand up and do the next thing.”
“Leave them there,” is my hope and desire for you and me as we walk through this very difficult season in our nation and in our personal lives.
I encourage you to find a Prayer Closet plan that will work for you. Do you like an extended period of quiet to cast all your burdens on the Lord, as Matthew suggests?
I prefer choosing locations and topics scattered throughout my day connecting people to my daily activities…various places where I pray for my family, friends, the nation, and the hurting.
Rather than carry these burdens throughout my day, I usually save them for their designated place. With this practice I seek to live in peace making my heart more open to God’s Whispers throughout the day.
I pray you and I won’t lose heart that peace can be a reality for us.
JOHN 14:27
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
Eleven years ago my husband passed away suddenly in his sleep. That’s when my earnest search for what has been a somewhat elusive peace began. The Lord directed me to this powerful truth:
“Seek peace and work to maintain it.”
PSALM 34:14
Peace is the Lord’s promise to us. It is our work to maintain it. I have discovered scattered prayer closets lead me back to that peace throughout the day. I pray you’ll discover a path to prayer that works for you.
Sitting Still
I encourage you to both seek and work to maintain our promised peace by finding your own style of a Prayer Closet, a place to take --and leave – your burdens.