Your Inner Room

Daily Devotions with Pastor Chuck

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“Make me walk in the path of Thy commandments, for I delight in it” (Psalm 119:25 – NASB)

May we have such a mind, that in this very day we would “delight” in His “commandments, seeking always to “walk” in them.

Our Scripture text comes from the gospel of Matthew,

“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” (Matthew 6:6 – NASB)

“Beware” Jesus said “of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them” (Matthew 6:1 – NASB). This was a stiff rebuke of the Pharisees and scribes, who ordered their prayer life in such a way as to satisfy self. They wanted to be seen, they wanted to be “noticed by . . . men” so that might be held in high regard for their religious practice. One of the things they liked to do was pray that they might be noticed by the public, to be seen praying, to be heard praying. Self-gratification was at the very core of their religious practice.

Sadly, this has not changed down through the centuries. Men of religion have always desired and still desire to make their religious practice self-serving, seeking to be seen and heard, even in their prayer life.

Jesus gave the disciples, and us, instruction on our religious practice and how it should be ordered. It should not be to please ourselves or to gain recognition for ourselves, but to please “your Father.” Our text deals with the matter of prayer and talks of entering “into (our) inner room.” Our “inner room” . . . . how are we to understand this “inner room,” this place where we are to pray? D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes,

“The principle is that there are certain things which we have to shut out whether we are praying in public or whether we are praying in secret. You shut out and forget people . . . You shut our and forget yourself. You can enter that inner room when you are walking alone on a busy street, or going from one room to another in a house. You enter into that inner room when you are in communion with God and nobody knows what you are doing. There is no value in my entering into the secret chamber and locking the door if the whole time I am full of self and thinking about myself, and am priding myself on my prayer. I might as well be standing on the street corner.”

When you pray brethren, enter into your “inner room” and into “communion” with the “Father,” desiring to praise Him and give thanks to Him and recognize Him for who He is. Allow the Holy Spirit, in accordance with the Word of God, to bring to your mind the desires of Christ, the things He would have you pray for. Enter into your “inner room,” whether “on a busy street” or when “going from one room to another in a house.” Enter into your “inner room” when you are sitting at your desk or when you are driving along the road . . . just you and the “Father,” His will being your desire.

Have a good day brethren . . . and as you walk make frequent use of your inner room.