Soul-Enriching

He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the LORD.
— 2 Kings 4:33

And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
— Isaiah 65:24

On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:
— Acts 10:9

And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,
— Acts 10:30

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
— Isaiah 26:20

Soul-Enriching Private Prayer, Our Sins and Needs and Christ Delighting in Secret Prayers, by Thomas Brooks. The following contains an excerpt from his work, “The Private Key to Heaven,” or “Twenty Arguments for Closet Prayer.”

My dove that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret
places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let
me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice, and
thy countenance is lovely.
Song of Solomon 2:14

9. Soul-Enriching Nature of Private Prayer

Ninthly, consider that secret duties are the most soul-enriching duties. Look, as secret meals make fat bodies, so secret duties make fat souls; and as secret trade brings in great earthly riches, so secret prayers make many rich in spiritual blessings and in heavenly riches. Private prayer is that privy key of heaven that unlocks all the treasures of glory to the soul. God usually gives the best riches and the sweetest mercies to His people when they are in their closets upon their knees. Look, as the warmth the chicks find by close sitting under the hen’s wings cherisheth them, so are the graces of the saints enlivened and cherished and strengthened by the sweet secret influences which their souls fall under when they are in their closet communion with God. Private prayer conscientiously performed is the privy key of heaven that hath unlocked such treasures and such secrets as hath passed the skill of the cunningest devil to find out. Private prayer midwifes the choicest mercies and the chiefest riches in upon us.

Certainly, there are none so rich in gracious experiences as those that are most exercised in closet duties. “This poor man cried,” saith David, “and the LORD…saved him out of all his troubles” (Psa 34:6). David, pointing to himself, tells us that he “cried,” that is, silently and secretly, as Moses did at the Red Sea, and as Nehemiah did in the presence of the king of Persia. “And the LORD…saved him out of all his troubles” (v. 6; Exo 14:15; Neh 1:11; 2:4). And, oh, what additions were these deliverances to his experiences! O my friends, look, as the tender dew that falls in the silent night makes the grass and herbs and flowers to flourish and grow more abundantly than great showers of rain that fall in the day, so secret prayer will more abundantly cause the sweet herbs of grace and holiness to grow and flourish in the soul than all those more open, public, and visible duties of religion, which too, too often are mingled and mixed with the sun and wind of pride and hypocrisy.

Beloved! You know that many times a favorite at court gets more by one secret motion, by one private request to his prince, than a tradesman or a merchant gets in twenty years’ labor and pains. So, a Christian many times gets more by one secret motion, by one private request to the King of kings, than many others do by trading long in the more public duties of religion. O sirs! Remember that in private prayer we have a far greater advantage as to the exercise of our own gifts and graces and parts than we have in public; for in public, we only hear others exercise their parts and gifts. In public duties, we are more passive; but in private duties, we are more active. Now, the more our gifts and parts and graces are exercised, the more they are strengthened and increased. All acts strengthen habits. The more sin is acted, the more it is strengthened. And so it is with our gifts and graces: the more they are acted, the more they are strengthened.

10. The Christian’s Many Sins and Needs

Tenthly, take many things together. All Christians have their secret sins. “Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults” (Psa 19:12). Secret not only to other men, but (to) himself; even such secret sins as grew from errors which he understood not. It is incident to every man to err, and then to be ignorant of his errors. Many sins I see in myself, saith he, and more there are which I cannot espy, which I cannot find out; nay, I think, saith he, that every man’s sins do arise beyond his accounts. There is not the best, the wisest, nor the holiest man in the world, that can give a full and entire list of his sins. “Who can understand his errors?” This interrogation hath the force of an affirmation: “Who can?” “No man!” No, not the most perfect and innocent man in the world. Friends! Who can reckon up the secret sinful imaginations, the secret sinful inclinations, or the secret pride, the secret blasphemies, the secret hypocrisies, the secret atheistic risings, the secret murmurings, the secret repinings, the secret discontents, the secret insolences, the secret filthinesses, the secret unbelief that God might every day charge upon his soul? Should the best and holiest man on earth have but his secret sins every day written in his forehead, it would not only put him to a crimson blush, but it would make him pull his hat over his eyes, or cover his face with a double scarf. “What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart” (1Ki 8:38). Sin is the greatest plague in the world, but never more dangerous than when it reaches the heart. Now, secret sins commonly lie nearest the heart, the fountain from whence they take a quick, immediate, and continual supply. Secret sins are as near to original sin as the first droppings are to the spring head. And as every secret sin lies nearest the heart, so every secret sin is the plague of the heart. Now, as secret diseases are not to be laid open to everyone, but only to the prudent physician, so our secret sins, which are the secret plagues, the secret diseases of our souls, are not to be laid open to everyone, but only to the Physician of souls, Who is only able both to cure them and pardon them. And as all Christians have their secret sins, so all Christians have their secret temptations (2Co 12:8-9). And as they have their secret temptations, so they have their secret wants; yea, many times they have such particular and personal wants that there is not one in the congregation, nor one in the family, that hath the like. And as they have their secret wants, so they have their secret fears, and secret snares, and secret straits, and secret troubles, and secret doubts, and secret jealousies. And how do all these things call aloud to every Christian to be frequent and constant in secret prayer!

11. Christ’s Delight in Secret Prayer

Eleventhly, consider, Christ is very much affected and delighted in the secret prayers of His people. “O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely” (Song 2:14). Christ observes His spouse when she is in the clefts of the rock. When she is gotten into a corner a-praying, He looks upon her with singular delight and with special intimations of His love. Nothing is more sweet, delightful, and welcome to Christ than the secret services of His people. Their secret breathings are like lovely songs to Him (Mal 3:4); their secret prayers in the clefts of the rock, or under the stairs, are as sweet incense to Jesus. The spouse retires to the secret places of the stairs not only for security, but also for secrecy, that so she might the more freely, without suspicion of hypocrisy, pour out her soul into the bosom of her beloved. The great delight that parents take in the secret lispings and whisperings of their children is no delight to that which Christ takes in the secret prayers of His people. And therefore, as you would be friends and furtherers of Christ’s delight, be much in secret prayer.

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