| While the Scriptures teach that there is a place for united or public prayer, they also teach, both by precept and example, that every believer ought to be engaged often in private and personal prayer. There come needs and burdens in all our lives that we do not have freedom to discuss publicly, even for help in prayer. So “enter into thy closet, and … shut the door.” We read of our Lord that “when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, He was there alone.” How encouraging it is to us to know that “the prayer of the upright is His delight” and that “He heareth the prayer of the righteous.” So let us be pointed in our praying, telling Him our every need and burden, for He has told us to “pour out your heart before Him,” and “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” And let us do this persistently, for we “ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Therefore “pray without ceasing,” and “continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving,” knowing that “thy Father, which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” |
