While obedience gives us the opportunity to remain in a right relationship with the Father, we need intimacy with Christ to stay in tune with Him. If we are only obedient without developing our intimacy, we become religious and dry in our relationship to the Lord.
Showy prayers are not intimacy
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Matthew 6:6-7
Jesus taught His disciples how to pray. Before He shared what we call the “the model prayer” with His disciples, He spoke about the manner and the attitude of prayer. He told His disciples that prayer is not a show to be advertised in public.
Just as our intimate times with our loved ones are not blasted to the world, our intimacy with the Lord is to stay hidden from the public eye. Furthermore, Jesus told His disciples not to pray mindlessly. Some use scripted prayers that they repeat without their spirit being engaged in it. It is not the repetition or the length of the prayer that makes it meaningful. We just need to talk naturally to the Lord and share from our heart.
Intimacy requires time and conversation
We see Jesus’ intimacy through his prayer time.
Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. Mark 1:35
Jesus made time for God regularly. Before the demands of the day, He got up early to spend time with the Lord. If anyone had the excuse not to spend this time with the Lord, it would have been Jesus. He came from the Father, and He knew the Father very well. However, Jesus was never presumptuous in his relationship to the Father. He stayed connected and humble. He chose to use His authority for the benefit of others not for His own benefit. He was so secure in His relationship to the Father that it kept Him full not needing man’s attention.
For a Christian, prayer should be a two-way communication with the Father. That means we pray with the intent of listening to the Father. God hears our prayers, but do we listen to hear what He has to say to us? If we are doing all the talking, how is He going to have opportunity to touch us, share His heart, or give us an insight?
I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.
