Matthew 6:6
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

We must cultivate our “secret” relationship with God much more than the one that is visible to others around us. When it comes right down to it, most of our relationship with God is very private and personal. We share things with Him that we share with no one else. We do things for Him without anyone else ever knowing. We give to Him in ways that others never see. We relate to Him as our constant companion in the kind of relationship that we really can’t have with anyone else.

As amazing as it is, God has deep and meaningful one-on-one relationships with many, many people, and yet He wants to be our one and only. Our prayer closet is one way we can show Him how valuable He is to us and how valuable our time with Him is to us. Because when we have a special time and place to meet with the Lord, we show Him that He has priority over other things. And when we choose to shut the outside world out and close ourselves in, we can focus on God and God alone. A quiet place free of distractions will allow us to hear from Him more clearly and to refine our thoughts as we make our requests.

One of the most important attributes of our prayer closet is that it is unseen. We are not to make a show of what we pray or how we pray or how much we pray or for how long. It is about our relationship to God, not to other people. It’s about knowing Him better and worshiping Him, not making ourselves look good to others. It’s about seeking Him, not praise for ourselves. It’s a place where our hearts can be unburdened as we lay everything down at His feet. It’s a place where His Spirit can work in ways we never thought possible. And it’s a place where we build a trust and reliance on Him.

And when we’ve spent time with God in our prayer closet, we are better equipped to face everything outside of that closet. Because Satan will attack and the world will seek to drag us down, and we’ll need everything we’ve found inside that closet to survive. Let’s commit in our lives to dedicate a time and a place to our Lord each day in personal, private prayer. Let’s shut out the world for a time and get alone with God and listen for what He will speak to us there. Let’s share with Him our every need and lift up others before His throne, finding the strength we need and the wisdom we seek.