Secret Prayer Exemplified

So I was intending this evening to preach on the text, the harvest is past, the summer has ended, and you’re not saved.And with all intentions to bring that to you, when I went home this afternoon—I think even before I got home, probably on the way home—I was already beginning to think, I think there’s a part two to this morning’s message that I hadn’t thought about. And I was beginning to see gaps in the sermon. And I thought, well, maybe I can think about it this afternoon and pull something together.

So what you’re getting tonight is what I pulled together this afternoon, that I felt was missing from the message of this morning.

If you were not here this morning, we were addressing the subject of private or secret prayer—the importance, indeed, the desire of our God that we get alone with him; the encouragement our Lord Jesus gives in Matthew 6, verse 6, which I hope will be before you throughout the entire year. But I want to supplement that a little this evening. And we’ll see where we go with this, but I’ve titled this simply, The Practice of Secret Prayer Exemplified.

I wanted to look a little more at some of the examples that we have in Scripture. So these are just a few references that we will look at, and some observations that I’ve made this afternoon that I hope will be of encouragement to you.

So, we will read from verse 12 of Luke 5. Look at 5, verse 12. Let’s hear God’s Word.

It came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy, who, seeing Jesus, fell on his face and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. And he charged him to tell no man, but go and show thyself to the priest and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him. And great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed.

Amen, we’ll end the reading there—verse 16.

What you have heard is the word of the eternal God, which you are to receive, believe, and obey. And the people of God said, amen.

Let’s pray.

Lord, we ask for the necessary help to consider thy word together. Please draw near to us. Drive home the truth so that we receive it with profit. Give to us a sense of the supply of thy Spirit—not only to hear, but to do—so that we may go away, not despairing, but rather encouraged at what Thou art saying to us.

So help now as we meditate. Grant us the help of the Spirit to communicate with clarity Thy mind; and whatever is of man, whatever is chaff, let it fall to the ground. So glorify Christ, and extend Thy kingdom now, as Thou dost see fit. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

So, as I mentioned, the emphasis that we looked at for this morning—and we are hopefully going to remember through the rest of 2026—is the fact that the Lord Jesus gave a very pointed encouragement in his Sermon on the Mount: that when believers, genuine believers, pray, there is an aspect in which their prayer is expressed privately. Indeed, the most sincere expression of prayer is where no one else can see but God.

And musing on that, of course, we made mention of the fact that our Lord Jesus exemplified this. And I draw your attention to Mark—or Luke 5—where, in verse 16, we have this language: he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed. I think in the series many years ago now, when we looked at this, I made the point—I do believe I made the point, I’m not… my memory’s not failing me—that the word withdrew is in the imperfect. While the imperfect does not always indicate ongoing, it does in this instance show that really the sentiment here is: he kept on withdrawing himself for prayer.

But as the Lord Jesus ministered in this way, and you have this summary statement in verse 15—where you see this fame spreading, the multitudes coming, the great burden upon His life, the great interest of people to receive help from Him—that the Lord, in order to sustain this kind of ministry, kept on withdrawing Himself into the wilderness to pray. That’s the sentiment. That’s what Luke, in a summary form, is telling you: that all this energy exerted was not done by merely his own strength. It was not done in an absence, or a vacuum, of spiritual dependence upon the Father. He was looking to the Father. He was seeking the help of the Spirit continually to engage in this ministry.

Now, the application is clear for you and me as we engage in things: that in order to do what we are called to do, it is not—it is not—for us simply to say, “I can do it,” but to resort in this practice of getting alone with God in order to receive the help that we need.

And as I said this morning, there is, I think, a real need for this. I don’t think there’s ever been a time where, in the life of the church, there was such a broad practice of discipline, private prayer, that there was never a need for sermons on this. But I do think the age in which we are in is, as you’ve heard me say many times—and not only me, and as you can see for yourself—this is a very distracted age. Very.

It’s the way that we are even being raised—the screen time, the devices—it’s rewiring the brain, it’s changing the very ways in which our brains function. And with all of that come ramifications that actually militate against a deep and sincere spiritual life—a life in which we spend time with God.

The ministry of our Lord—right from the beginning in Mark 1—we are told, in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed. This is what He did. We’re not given every instance. Like I said, Luke 5 is one summary that tells us this was an ongoing thing.

I mentioned this morning that Judas’ awareness that Jesus would be, at a certain time, in the Garden of Gethsemane was because it was a certain time of the day and this was his practice. And so odds were, this is where to find him—showing a sense of habit, and an orderly performance of his giving himself to prayer.

So as we look at, then, this matter exemplified: most of the prayers—you do a study yourself—most of the praying that you find in Scripture is performed in a time of desperation, looking for deliverance. And you can understand why. The Bible cannot detail—it does not give to us—every event that happens in every person’s life. It tends to use the times of backs-against-the-wall to see God’s gracious, covenantal fulfillment of His Word, and delivering His people in times of greatest distress.

And so, trying to find occasions where it’s not just that kind of 911 praying, as sometimes we refer to it—there’s an emergency, let’s get before God and cry out for help—trying to find occasions where there’s just a… what appears to be a practice in the life of just going to seek God isn’t all that… there aren’t that many of them, as far as I can see.

We have our Lord, but we have a few others. And I have just three that I want to leave with you tonight before we close our service.

First of all, turn to Genesis 24, where I think we see at least some indication of it in the life of Isaac.

Now, Genesis 24 is a very long chapter in which Abraham’s burden is that he finds his son, Isaac, a wife. And parents have that concern: that their children find a spouse—and a good one at that. And he goes to great lengths in order to see that come to pass, and a most trusted servant is given to the task.

When you come near the end of the chapter—Genesis 24, verse 63—it says, and Isaac went out to meditate in the field at eventide. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, the camels were coming.

So there’s this event, of course, in relation to Rebekah coming. But: he went out to meditate in the field at eventide.

Now, what does this show us? Well, it’s not the strongest text, but the word meditate—part of the challenge here—is that it’s only found here in the entirety of the Old Testament Scriptures. The form of this word is only here. And so there’s debate—what exactly does it mean? But it is tied into, it’s related to, words that have the idea of musing, and expressions of prayer.

So if we can pull in those ideas of musing—thoughtful pondering, intelligent, deliberate thoughtfulness—and prayer, I think you get the idea on why the translators gave this word: He went out to meditate. That’s the sense. He was going out to muse in the evening—to think and to pray—as he went out there.

Now, if that’s the case, then there are a number of things that we can draw from really building on the sermon from this morning.

First of all, we see that his prayer was intentional. He went out. This was the purpose. He wasn’t going out to see Rebekah arrive. That wasn’t his sense or his purpose. He went out to meditate. There’s that intentionality.

“When thou prayest, shut the door… enter into the closet and shut the door.” Well, here you have what I said this morning: there isn’t always a closet. There isn’t always that specific environment. That’s not the point our Lord is driving home. As I said, I don’t know of any occasion in his life where he shut a door, went into a room to pray in this practice of giving himself to private prayer. And so here you have Isaac doing the same thing: finding a solitary place, going out into the field—intentionally going out to think upon things at the close of the day.

So this is not in any desperation. He is not… his back is not against the wall. There’s not some armies coming to threaten his existence. He’s just going out to think and to pray on his own. And that’s it. That’s one expression of this practice.

Getting out—away from the duties. We’re told it’s at eventide, so again there’s a sense of it being scheduled. He’s come to that certain point of the day. He can see it. He reads the time of day by the sun, or whatever, and he is saying, “It’s time for me to go out and to think”—to get away from the duties. This is him shutting the door to all the other distractions. This is him fulfilling what we said this morning: the need to get away from all the duties and responsibilities and the pressures and the diversions in order to just get our heads away from those things, and spend time thinking upon the Lord.

So we can see it’s intentional. We can see it’s private. We can see it’s scheduled. We can see it’s thoughtful. That’s the idea. He’s going out to think upon the Lord.

This is not him doing his devotions as he drives to work, right—where you’re mostly paying attention to the traffic, which in Greenville you really need to do. That’s not it. He’s getting away where there’s a sense of being able to spend this time thinking upon the Lord.

I want you to take that. Here’s Isaac, in the normal course of his life, doing that. That’s you. You may not live in a place where you can walk out and enter into a field. Some of you do—and this is perfect. You can just walk out and go into a solitary place in a field. Find a little spot. Seek the Lord there, in the midst of the beauty of the creation.

If, like others, you live in the suburbs, then you can go walking and hope that your neighbors don’t distract you, or whatever. You just go. You have to find time—some time alone. A place in the house. A place outside somewhere. This is it. Don’t overcomplicate it. Don’t hear the message this morning and say it’s beyond my reach. It’s not. It’s as simple as this: going out to meditate.

Taking a Scripture—if we take that kind of language and the emphasis of Joshua 1 and of Psalm 1, of meditating in the law of the Lord day and night—it shows that it’s not just reading the Scriptures; it’s thinking about it, allowing it to bed into the soul, allowing it to wrap around your life, allowing it time to intertwine with your circumstances so that you see how that text—how that Scripture—is giving you comfort and encouragement in the midst of what you’re going through at that moment.

But that doesn’t happen just by a haphazard exercise. You have to schedule it. You have to be isolated—solitude—away from everything. Give it time and space.

Young person, this is something you can do. It’s something you can do. Don’t feel like it’s beyond your reach. It’s not.

So you have Isaac.

You have also Daniel. Turn to Daniel 6. Daniel 6. And here we have a well-known portion in which there’s a great conspiracy against Daniel. He’s accused of breaching the statute, and so the will is that he be punished. But here’s how Daniel responds to laws that militated against him doing what he had always done—Daniel 6, verse 10:

And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house, and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime.

There’s the key. There’s what makes this even more concrete—Daniel’s practice of getting alone with the Lord.

Now he does this, and it’s so instructive across the board. I remember years ago when I was involved in open-air ministry, and I was seeing that as really… this is what I can do to help the church. This is part of my gifting, or whatever. And a pastor—I was speaking to him—and he said to me, “You keep up what you’re doing. Keep at it in the regular rhythm of going out.”

He was pessimistic about the future. He was saying, “I see down the line, in the future, a time in which there is going to be an effort to try and shut down all public preaching of the Word.”

Now, if you’ve been watching the news in relation to the United Kingdom, there have been instances already that have shown his words not to be far from the mark. And no doubt it’s going to get worse.

But his point was this: he said that when that pressure arises—when the state begins to apply that pressure—there will be those… those with the martyr complex… that will begin a ministry like that in order to be seen to suffer for Jesus Christ, when they never really gave themselves to public ministry before.

And so he said, “It’s really important.” It’s a powerful weapon against those who try to stop it. And when you can say, “I’ve been doing this for X number of years.”

Daniel had that testimony. Daniel’s not giving himself to prayer for a momentary part of his life because of this oppression. He is simply responding as he always did. And this again is very instructive for us.

Amidst this time of persecution, we can say, first of all, his prayer was courageous. “As he did aforetime.” He just stays the course with what he did. He doesn’t change it. He doesn’t do it in secrecy. He doesn’t say to himself, “I’m going to give myself to prayer in the middle of the night when no one can see me.” He says, “I’m just going to follow the same pattern. The chips fall where they may. God is in control.” And so he shows that courage.

Now again, I think we see in ourselves a tendency that when things go wrong, we can ramp up our effort in prayer. And that’s not Daniel. Daniel is in a rhythm here. This is his life.

So we can see that his prayer was courageous.

And maybe it is the most courageous thing that you do: that you go before God every day and seek his face in private.

It’s not only courageous; we can say his prayer was prioritized. Three times a day. Three times a day! What a thing that is. What a marvel. Three times a day.

I don’t know if this is what every godly man did in the past. I know if you read through Psalms, you can see that there are expressions of prayer being heard in the morning, and in the evening, and in the middle of the day. So maybe this has been a practice of the godly in the past—three times a day seeking God’s face.

Whatever the case, this is what Daniel did. He prioritized it. He’s a busy man. He’s not retired. He’s not got all the time in the world. But whatever other business he has to attend to, it moves around these three periods of the day. Everything else is shuffled around that. There’s a lesson there. I don’t need to drive it home too much.

If it matters—if it’s important—if it is, as we said this morning, the mark of the true and the sincere believer that they want to have a fellowship, or a communion, with their Father in heaven—then they’re going to say, “That meeting matters to me, and I’m going to make sure it happens, no matter what.”

Now, things happen. They do. I get it. And you realize that things occur and they prevent it, or whatever. But that should be the anomaly—not the norm.

The prayer was courageous. It was prioritized. It was also worshipful. I love this. In the midst of persecution, what’s he doing? He is giving thanks before his God. He is meeting with God. This isn’t just prayer to be seen of men. He is communing with God. He is going before his Father who sees in secret.

And it’s also thankful—he gave thanks. Again, in the context of persecution, where he can rehearse his problems and all the strife that is arising around him, the sense of conspiracy that’s militating against his testimony—in the midst of that, he gives thanks.

He doesn’t come with this militant, obnoxious anger—resentment—or questioning the wisdom of God, or whatever the case. He comes to thank the Lord.

In everything, give thanks. In every occasion, give thanks. If you are at a loss for words in prayer, you can be thankful. Learning how to say, “Thank you, Lord.” Oh, how much more healthy our minds are when they lean into gratitude as a fundamental priority of what we think about and how we express ourselves—being thankful.

And it’s also hopeful, because as he prays, he does so toward Jerusalem. Why is he doing that? Why is he praying toward Jerusalem? Because in praying toward Jerusalem, there are two things going on, at least.

There is, in his mind, a sense of the promises of God in the past—what God has said. Praying toward Jerusalem means that there’s a relevance there in what God has said concerning his people. So there’s promises.

But there’s also providence, because praying toward Jerusalem is the anticipation that God, who governs the affairs of this world, will bring to pass the day when His people will dwell again in Jerusalem.

So with all the problems, the persecution, the strife that’s swirling around him, he is praying with hope. “They’re pushing against me. They’re trying to destroy me. They’re endeavoring to… find me out, to put away my testimony. But I am going to pray toward Jerusalem that God will maintain His Word to His people and bring to pass the fulfillment of what He has promised. A remnant shall return.” He’s hopeful then. In the midst of persecution, he’s hopeful.

That comes through the fact that this man continued in this practice so frequently. It was just the rhythm of his life that allowed him to think upon and dwell upon these things. Again, later, it is his meditation upon Jeremiah that helps him see more clearly about what God intends to do.

So much occurs in the place of prayer—private, away from the distractions, away from everything that’s going on in life.

Then the third place is Peter. Turn to Acts 10.

You say, “Are there not loads more?” Well, not really. There really aren’t that many.

You might think of Hannah, but when Hannah was praying alone, there was a certain privacy to her prayer—but Eli was there. He could see her. And there are other occasions where they’re similar to that, in which there’s a sense of an individual praying before God, Solomon praying—the dedication of the temple is very much a man praying before God—but he’s doing this publicly.

There are other prayers of kings where you have the same thing. They’re praying these prayers, and they’re powerful and instructive, but they’re not alone. They’re not hidden away. They haven’t isolated themselves. They can be seen by those around them. It’s more of a prayer in the context of worship, or collective gathering, and looking to God together.

So when it comes down to moments in Scripture that record for us when someone just gets alone in the ordinary rhythm of their life, there aren’t that many. But Peter, I think, gives us evidence of another one.

This, of course, is the time where the gospel is about to be launched into the Gentile regions. And the pivotal moment of that surrounds Cornelius—this Gentile himself—who had a sincere devotion to seek God. Wasn’t converted, but he had a sincere devotion seeking God. You can see that from verse 2. He’s devout. He fears God. He gives much alms. He prays to God always, but he needs to be saved. That is clear later on in Acts 11. Peter is sent, in part, that Cornelius and his household might be saved.

But Peter, of course, is pivotal in this, and when you come to verse 9, we’re told: On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour.

So as these events unfold—and Peter is not aware of all that’s going on—at midday it’s time for him to go and pray. Now he is not in his own household, so he doesn’t have control over everything, and he doesn’t maybe have his own private space. But there were, of course, in those days… you could get to the housetop.

And he has no doubt made requests—spoken to the owner of the house—and said, “May I go to the housetop to pray at such-and-such a time?” And he has gained permission. So this is what he does. Midday, he goes then to pray.

So again, you see him being intentional. You see him shutting out the distractions of whatever his other responsibilities may be. And a couple of things happen as he prays, without getting into details.

Obviously, there’s the same rhythm of the intentionality and the solitude, but as you read this portion, a couple of things stand out.

First of all, his time of prayer changed his thinking. His time of prayer changed his thinking.

Here’s a man who will not allow anything that is prohibited in the Jewish law to cross his lips. He will not be defiled in any religious form that was instructed by Moses. And he is seeing these visions that are militating against his prejudices—prejudices that come from God’s Word.

And he’s being shaped to be open to the Gentiles having full involvement in the community—that they can receive Jesus Christ and have full participation and enjoy all the benefits of the gospel.

So in order for that to occur—to change this man’s thinking that is so rooted in what he had been taught all his life, and all he had ever seen—it is in prayer where God can get through to this man. It is in prayer where his heart is more pliable. It is in prayer where he can be instructed. It is in prayer where he is open to hearing from God. It is in prayer when God sees fit to reveal to him what he needs to understand as they move forward.

Prayer will change your mind. God will change your mind in the place of prayer—to be more precise.

And if you’re struggling with things, you’re battling with things—whatever it might be—I’m going to tell you, from personal experience and from Scripture and from any reasonable assessment, that so much instruction can occur in our lives in the place of prayer. So much light can come in the place of prayer.

When you don’t know what to do; when you don’t know how to respond; when you don’t know where an answer is going to come from—then in the place of solitude, just you and God—it’s right there, right then, in that moment, in that context, that you get what you cannot get anywhere else.

There are so many arguments for getting alone with God—even if we have just a sense of self-preservation and personal health—spiritual health—aside from the foundation that it glorifies God.

His time of prayer changed his thinking. His time of prayer advanced the kingdom.

It is in this moment where Peter becomes prepared to go and do something that will so advance the kingdom that you have benefited from it to this day. The gospel spreading. The gospel not being hindered in any fashion. The gospel being viewed as relevant to all to the same degree—that God is going to bring Jew and Gentile together, that God is going to unite them through Jesus Christ, that God is going to have this one olive tree, this united people.

You have to be Jewish living at that time to understand how cataclysmic this is.

And so it’s here—in the middle of the day, on a housetop, in solitude, seeking the face of his God—just as I think we can deduce this was his manner.

He went to the temple at the hour of prayer. In the morning, in the evening—he seemed to go use that as opportunities for evangelism. And here he is in the house, in the middle of the day, getting alone with God.

You bring all these lines together and you realize that it makes no sense for anyone to neglect this practice. No sense. There’s no sense in delaying it until I’m older, or I have more time. There’s no sense in hesitating for a moment to do everything, by God’s grace, that you can to ensure that there is a rhythm of being alone with God as part of your daily life.

I emphasize to the young today, because the older ones know this already. And you lament over it, and you say, “I should do better here,” and “I know that I need to be more intentional,” and “This is the wake-up call that I need.”

I think there’s a certain age of youth in which they say, “This is for later in life.” No, it’s not. No, it’s not. God speaks to the young.

1 Samuel 3—again, late, but in the quiet—God calls a young boy: “Samuel, Samuel.” And he wakes up. It must be Eli. He goes to Eli. “I didn’t call.” Three times this happens. And the third, of course, Eli: “It is the Lord. Go and lie down. He’ll call again.”

So off he goes. He lies down. And we’re told, Samuel did not yet know the Lord. He’s living in a time where the Word of God is precious. He’s living in a time when there’s no one that seems to be carrying the message of God to the people. It’s a spiritually dark hour. But God is not limited by days that are dark. And He will speak to the young.

He will speak to you, young person. He will speak to you. He will meet with you. Your times of prayer can be as profitable as anyone else can enjoy.

Learning to establish some kind of pattern early in life of just a little time alone with God—well, it may not be what it wants… what it eventually may turn out to be. There may come in your life a time where you’re able to spend hours—extended hours—with nothing but you and your Bible and the presence of God. But you begin in the rhythm of just carving out this moment in the day to pray.

And I encourage you with all my heart: figure out how to do that. And you will not regret it.

Of all the things you desire for yourself, of all your hopes and dreams for your life, I can tell you now: you will not—you will never regret the fact that you became… that you gave yourself to be a young person who would seek God for themselves, alone, where no one else can see.

It is the place of strength. It is the place of untold grace—of seeing the world as others cannot see, of perceiving the hand of God in ways that others misunderstand—and above all, knowing that here is where I fellowship with my God.

Don’t get to the end of your life and say, “I never learned to pray in private.” Start today. Be Isaac out in the field. Be Daniel in your room, looking hopefully for a better day. Be Peter wherever you are, asking, “May I get a little space to pray?” Be the Lord Jesus who kept on withdrawing from the crowd.

May God help us.

Let’s bow together in prayer.

We mentioned last Lord’s Day the need for new beginnings in the Christian life, and the wonderful truth that the Christian can begin over, and over, and over again.

So Jesus says to you, at the close of this First Lord’s Day of 2026—here’s what he says: “You, you, you whom I love, you for whom I shed my blood, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”

God help us. We pray that thou wilt enable us to begin, to continue, and to delight in meeting with thee. Whatever stage of the Christian life we are on—however early in the journey, or however long we’ve been on the pilgrimage—please help us to shut the door and pray to our Father.

Hear us now. We thank Thee for encouraging us today, and for this word that’s very tangible, very practical, and very necessary. May it please Thee to give it the wings it needs so that Thy people may enjoy the privilege of Thy presence.

Go with us now. Strengthen us for the week that lies ahead. Make us encouragers of others, and useful in extending Thy kingdom. Bless our time of fellowship, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be the portion of all Thy people now and evermore. Amen.