IT’S TIME TO CLOSE THE DOOR

“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” (Matthew 6:6).

God’s voice is heard by those who meet with Him in secret prayer. God is very careful to whom He speaks. It is only to those who value His voice so much that they shut out the whole world to get alone and wait for Him.

God says to us, “If you want to hear My voice, shut yourself up in the secret closet of prayer. Pray to Me in secret and I will reward you.” Busyness, lusts, covetousness, and the cares of life choke out the voice of God. Jesus gave us a warning against becoming too busy to stop and hear His voice. In the parable of the sower, “the word” is His voice: “These are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful" (Mark 4:18-19).

I fear that some reading this right now have been choking the voice of God. Choke here means “to crowd” or to drown out His voice. God once spoke clearly to you and it was such a joy. You still love Him, but you have less and less time for Him. Your busyness now calls you—your riches, your cares, your problems, and all the other things consuming your time! The voice of God now grows dim. He is calling you, wooing you, warning you: “Keep this up, and you will totally drown out My voice in you!”

You can become so busy, so bogged down with problems and cares, that it would do you no good to hear His voice because you would not listen. Jesus said it would be unfruitful (verse 19).

“[But] these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred” (Mark 4:20).