First of all, I’d like to thank some of you who have reached out since I started writing this column. I’m extremely humbled by your loving words. I’m also incredibly grateful that you’re reading and that it’s making a positive impact on your lives. I’m a pretty common country girl, and I think the sweetest thing in the world is to speak simple, authentic truths because those are what connect us all as humans. At the end of the day, we can be vastly different and yet so amazingly the same—God’s work is beautiful, isn’t it!
In some of the comments and questions I’ve received, I’ve been asked about my references to my prayer closet. I’ve been a Christian nearly my entire existence and confessed Jesus as my savior when I was about 10 years old. In my church, that’s all you had to do to be saved—this verbal confession of Jesus’ sacrifice and asking Him to live in your heart and soul was the way to be blessed with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I know that many believe that water baptism is also necessary as a public pronouncement of one’s belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior. We did not practice this in my church, but I’ve found myself being led in this direction as well in the past couple of years. I don’t know that I subscribe to it as a necessity, but I do think it can be life-altering in its own right. I have no shame in my beliefs, and I’d actually love to be baptized when the time is right.
I share all this relatively unimportant background to say that I’ve only recently started spending real quality time with the Lord in my prayer closet. I’ve mentioned my Bible study group in the past, and that’s the very place I learned about the importance of a prayer closet. This Bible study was based on the movie War Room, where a woman in crisis learned about how to go to war through prayer to fight for her life. She was introduced to the idea of a prayer closet. She started in her bedroom closet that was full to the max, but she eventually cleared it all out and made it her “war room.” She posted notes of her prayers all over the walls, as well as lists of those she wanted to pray for, lists of what she wanted to pray about, and her handwritten prayers that included Bible verse references in order to use God’s word in her battles.
I felt like I was already doing some of this, but I was doing it in my living room. I’m alone quite a bit these days with one son in college and the other in high school. They are both gone and/or busy most of the time. Even though my youngest is still at home, he’s downstairs much of the time. So, I thought, “Well, it’s not secret, but I’m still alone in my house, so…same thing.” I continued with this line of thought throughout the whole Bible study. It wasn’t until September of this very year that I moved my prayer life into my own closet. The Holy Spirit kept directing me to the book of Matthew. I read the whole book. I thought that’s all He wanted me to do. I journaled and prayed about what I had learned and so forth. Well, He just kept telling me, “Matthew.” I was pretty baffled because I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do besides what I had already done.
Finally, one day it finally dawned on me that I should ask God why He kept saying Matthew. What was I missing? He said, “Be still.” I was more confused than I was before I asked. What in the world did being still have to do with answering my question? My living room was fairly busy during this time for once, so I decided to go into my room. I thought, well, I could sit in my closet (walkthrough closet that has pocket doors on each side…one door leads to my room, one door to my bathroom) and shut the doors. That would be a decent place to try to “Be still.” So, I just sat on the floor against the wall by one of the doors. I had a really hard time being still and quiet, which I hadn’t realized before. I’d heard that verse my whole life, but I hadn’t truly practiced it. When I did, the Holy Spirit guided me to Matthew 6. I read the whole chapter, and verses 5-8 stood out to me most on this day. However, verse 6 struck me most: “But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (CSB) Then, I looked it up in the Message for this article since I’m trying to help those that haven’t lived in my shoes see what I mean by this: “Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.” (The Message)
The Lord’s Prayer follows. This whole chapter is very informative about how to give, how to pray, the Lord’s Prayer, how to fast, possessions, and how to cure anxiety. It’s a great chapter, but this part was the part I was missing. Sometimes God wants us to be obedient just for obedience’s sake. Sometimes He wants us to listen to Him because he has a blessing for us that we’re missing because we aren’t quite doing something right. It seems so simple, but God has talked to me more in the past month and a half since making this time with Him in my secret place than He has in my whole life, or, at least, I’m finally able to hear Him.
I have no intentions of clearing out my closet because I have nowhere else to go with my clothes, but I do keep it clean. I keep my devotional and my notebook in there. I do my daily Bible reading, read my devotional, and pray. Then, I sit with my palms facing up and my head lifted to the ceiling and just listen. Sometimes I close my eyes, sometimes I just cry depending on what’s going on in my life. Every time I do this, I sleep better, have a better attitude for the day, and blessings just seem to keep raining down on me. That’s not to say that bad things don’t still happen, and challenges arise on nearly a daily basis, but I have found a faith in God I’d didn’t even know I could by one simple act. One added daily (mostly) practice. It’s brought me peace beyond compare and strengthened my relationship with my Savior.
If this piques your interest, please do so. I don’t believe that there is any specific rhyme or reason to how you should do it. Just talk to your best friend about it, and He’ll guide you in the way you should go. It’s so much more about your closeness and willingness than anything else. God is patient and will fill in the rest if you’re patient, open, and stilling your mind to hear Him. We are all in different places in our journeys, so this may not be for you quite yet or maybe even ever. I just wanted to share for those who were curious.
Who knew a closet could be such a powerful place to strategize for war! The one part of this that is true no matter your place in life’s journey is that we are most assuredly in a war. Anyone who doesn’t believe that does not yet have ears to hear or eyes to see. I pray for them—that the veil they have over their eyes can be lifted so they can be saved. For those of us who can hear and see it, we have an even greater responsibility to get prepared to fight. We’re the frontline, and we need to get ready. He will fight for us, but we have to put on the armor and meet Him in the war room.
