Crucial Aspects of Matthew 5 Through 7
Message Five
The Kingdom People Having the Experience of Praying in Private to Contact Their Heavenly Father in Secret to Have Some Secret Enjoyment of Him
THE EXTRACT OF THE OUTLINES
Scripture reading:
Matt. 6:5-6 And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
I. “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you”—Matt. 6:5-6: (Monday)
A. To pray in secret results in the killing of the flesh and the self; we need some secret growth in life, some secret experiences of Christ—Matt. 6:6.
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B. If we are serious about being the people of the kingdom, we must learn to live by the hidden life of our Father—Matt. 6:5-6. (Tuesday)
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II. We need to learn from the Lord’s pattern to go up to the mountain privately to pray and thus live a hidden life—Matt. 14:23: (Wednesday)
A. The Lord constrained the disciples to leave so that He could have more time to pray to the Father alone in order to contact the Father alone—Matt. 14:22-23.
B. We must learn to leave the crowds and earthly things to be with the Father alone and in secret in order to have intimate communion with Him—Matt. 14:23.
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III. Psalm 42:7 says that deep calls to deep; the kingdom life is a life in the depths, a life that can take root downward and bear fruit upward—Psa. 42:7; Isa. 37:31: (Thursday, Friday)
A. On the one hand, we need to let Christ as the seed of life take deep root in the good soil of our heart; on the other hand, we, as living plants in Christ, need to be rooted deeply in the soil of the All-Inclusive Christ, who is the reality of the good land.
B. To have no root is to have no hidden treasure, no hidden life, and no hidden experience; we should ask God to work in us so that we may take root downward—Matt. 13:5-6.
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IV. To have a life in the depths, we must have a direct and intimate communion with the Lord; Song of Songs 4:12 says, “A garden locked is My sister, My bride”—S. S. 4:12: (Saturday)
A. The seeker becomes a locked garden; all that she has is for the pleasure of her Beloved, not for the pleasure of men—S. S. 4:12.
B. May the Lord allow the cross to do a deeper work in us so that we may be deeply rooted and live a hidden life in the depths to satisfy God’s requirements—Isa. 37:31.
