{"id":2612,"date":"2010-08-23T06:24:47","date_gmt":"2010-08-23T14:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wordpress\/?p=2612"},"modified":"2010-08-23T09:47:12","modified_gmt":"2010-08-23T17:47:12","slug":"prayer%e2%80%94-battle-in-the-secret-place-8-23-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=2612","title":{"rendered":"Prayer\u2014 Battle in “The Secret Place” 8-23-2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prayer\u2014 Battle in “The Secret Place”<\/h2>\n
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August 23, 2010<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly \u2014Matthew 6:6<\/a><\/div>\n
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Jesus did not say, \u201cDream about your Father who is in the secret place,\u201d but He said, \u201c. . . pray<\/em> to your Father who is in the secret place. . . .\u201d Prayer is an effort of the will. After we have entered our secret place and shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is to pray. We cannot seem to get our minds into good working order, and the first thing we have to fight is wandering thoughts. \"\"<\/a>The great battle in private prayer is overcoming this problem of our idle and wandering thinking. We have to learn to discipline our minds and concentrate on willful, deliberate prayer.<\/p>\n

We must have a specially selected place for prayer, but once we get there this plague of wandering thoughts begins, as we begin to think to ourselves, \u201cThis needs to be done, and I have to do that today.\u201d Jesus says to \u201cshut your door.\u201d Having a secret stillness before God means deliberately shutting the door on our emotions and remembering Him. God is in secret, and He sees us from \u201cthe secret place\u201d\u2014 He does not see us as other people do, or as we see ourselves. When we truly live in \u201cthe secret place,\u201d it becomes impossible for us to doubt God. We become more sure of Him than of anyone or anything else. Enter into \u201cthe secret place,\u201d and you will find that God was right in the middle of your everyday circumstances all the time. Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything.<\/p>\n

\"\"Unless you learn to open the door of your life completely and let God in from your first waking moment of each new day, you will be working on the wrong level throughout the day.But if you will swing the door of your life fully open and \u201cpray to your Father who is in the secret place,\u201d every public thing in your life will be marked with the lasting imprint of the presence of God.<\/p>\n

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August 23, 2010<\/p>\n

Journal Entry for Today-JDV<\/p>\n

I woke up and began to pray but then my mind started to wander, as I thought about the day, my responsibilities\u2026my list of things that must get done\u2026\u2026or what?<\/p>\n

And there I was again, off in my own worries and anxieties. How could I begin with such great intentions and then in the blink of an eye be off in my own directions?<\/p>\n

And God says\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Do not worry yourself about your wandering mind and thoughts when you come to pray….you are free to wander and to be shaped by me. Let Me shape and direct your heart and mind….be free in the\u00a0Spirit…you are not to control what is mine. Give your heart and mind to Me every morning.<\/em><\/p>\n

Even the Apostle Paul found himself in this dilemma. Remember, when you seek Me you will find Me, if you knock I will answer. Put away your thoughts of the future and of what you should or should not do and just seek Me. Nothing can separate you from My grace, mercy, love, or my presence. Seek Me and find My rest and peace. I did not set you free so you could bind yourself up. Be free and at peace in my grace.<\/em><\/p>\n

Remember the magnitude of My sacrifice and know it was and is for you. Relax, and rest knowing that My love, mercy and grace covers you regardless. You are mine.<\/em><\/p>\n

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DJR Journal 8-23-10<\/em><\/p>\n

Good Morning, Lord \u00a0 … \u00a0Today my brother & I are bringing you this issue of the wandering mind … anytime but especially when we go to prayer. \u00a0 \u00a0I started praying and in just a few minutes was wandering. <\/em><\/p>\n

Did you do the worship that you prayed about doing?<\/em><\/p>\n

Oops. \u00a0 I forgot that. \u00a0 Please help me remember………….. Wow the phone rang with an “emergency” and I was off on the roller coaster . \u00a0 \u00a0But I’m back. \u00a0 I’m finding that YouTube with the worship songs with the lyrics is a good resource for a wandering mind like mine. \u00a0 \u00a0From recent days and sensing right now, I am seeing more about forgiveness. \u00a0 The only way that I need continual forgiveness is if I am continually imperfect. \u00a0 \u00a0So that works good because I am continually that and you continually offer forgiveness. \u00a0 \u00a0So beating myself up for not being perfect seems to be counterproductive at the very least. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0But what about that “Be ye perfect?”<\/p>\n

You know that means complete. <\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, I knew that. \u00a0 So how does that relate to this?<\/p>\n

It is about the process. \u00a0 You talk about letting me lead and you like Carrie Underwood singing about taking the wheel, \u00a0 So just do that. \u00a0 Put some habits into your life that put me in the drivers seat like those YouTube songs and then just let me lead.. \u00a0 you will fail and I will forgive. \u00a0 That’s the way it is. \u00a0 You need forgiveness and I have it right here for you.<\/em><\/p>\n

OK Thanks for the reminder. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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Prayer\u2014 Battle in “The Secret Place” August 23, 2010 When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly \u2014Matthew 6:6 Jesus did not say, \u201cDream about your Father who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2612"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2642,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612\/revisions\/2642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}