Matthew 6.5-6 LSB: ⁵ “And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. ⁶ But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

Hey! You there! Struggling with praying, wondering if maybe after all, you’re just uselessly talking to the air, the ceiling, or the floor!

How would you describe yourself, what do you think of yourself, how do you evaluate yourself … when you are praying to God and desperately seeking an audience with Him?

• small?
• obscure?
• unknown?
• unnoticed?
• insignificant?
• no standing or stature?
• no influence?
• a nobody [maybe even to God]?

Do you fear that your praying is all in vain? Maybe because you have no prominent platform, no celebrity status, no ‘others-approved’ creds to offer your Father in Heaven to commend you to Him?

Jesus orders us off of our public platforms, to leave the ‘street corners’ and public marketplaces where we may be even trying to ‘be seen by men.’ If that’s what you’re seeking, then if and when you get the fickle approval of others, that’s all you’re going to get. But you didn’t pray to God.

“Go into your inner room” [‘closet’ (KJV)], and ‘when you have shut your door’ on yourself and God, then ‘pray to your Father who is in secret…’ Because in doing so, you are entering the Very Presence of the Very God. He is there with you, and you are there with Him. “And your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

Because Jesus Christ has made the way to God before you and calls us to follow Him there.

Hebrews 9.11-14: ¹¹ But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) ¹² He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Hebrews 10.19-22: Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, ²¹ and since we have a Great Priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Yes, you, struggling there alone with God your Heavenly Father – you have not only the invitation and command to ‘enter the Holy Place of the Presence of God by the blood of Jesus,’ but you have also the assurance of your standing and acceptance with God through the merits of Christ’s own righteousness and substitutionary offering of Himself for you.

Christ’s merits which we claim and plead by our personal faith and trust in Him give us an assured confidence, even boldness [Hebrews 4.16] to pray to our Father in our secret places.

And Jesus promises that when we plead His merits, we will have with His Heavenly Father and ours the assurances of:

• access
• authority
• acceptance
• audience
• and answers

“…and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” And, after all, our greatest reward which we seek and want more than any other is to be with Him.

And Jesus promises He will be there with you.