Mr O, may I ask you a question about your prayer life?
In his Sermon on the Mount, our Lord talks about private prayer as something secret. We are to shut the door on other people’s presence, eyes, and ears. No one else is to know exactly what goes on when we are alone with God. Each Christian’s prayer life is both unique and sacred. It is a personally tailored spiritual experience of which we are to say very little.
Yes, Mr O, but I need help! And doesn’t the apostle Paul tell the Ephesians and Philippians what he has been privately praying for them?
Yes; that’s because in private prayer we sometimes receive promptings. The Lord himself constrains us to say certain things to particular people. This is not because they have asked us to. It is because a divinely-given weight in our spirit compels us to open up in that way.
So I can’t ask my question then?
If it’s a general question about prayer, of course you can ask it! But you can’t ask me or anyone else to disclose what goes on in our secret walk with God.
