What are the three acts of righteousness that Jesus gave much importance to? Why did He say that they should be done in secrecy?
Matthew 6:1-18 gives an informative teaching concerning three good habits of Kingdom life. Jesus talks about giving, praying, and fasting. He said that when you give to the poor, you should not blow a trumpet and call the poor so that you can make a show of your giving.
Rather Jesus said that if your charitable deeds are done in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. We are told not to be a hypocrite or play actor when it comes to giving.
Jewish tradition said that there was in the temple a "chamber of secrets" into which the devout people used to put their gifts in secret so that the poor could also receive support in secret. God certainly looks at the motive for our giving.
What kingdom principals and rules bring positive rewards? We have definite steps to effective prayer given by Jesus Christ in Matthew 6:6.
1. Go into your room
2. Shut the door
3. Pray to the Father in secret
The Lord wants us to shut the door on certain activity. He wants to spend some quiet times with us in private. He really would like our heart and full attention in times of prayer.
You are to get alone with God. He got alone with you in the very beginning of your existence. Psalm 139:13-15 states: "For you formed me and made me in my mother's womb. You saw me as I was being formed in secret (in utter seclusion) as I was woven together in the dark (in my mother's womb).
As you get alone with God in prayer and communion, He will birth many miracles for you. He is the Master designer and creator of life. Time spent alone with the Lord conceives and births mighty and miraculous things.
I want to encourage you to remember the Lord's goodness and to be extremely attracted to His mercy and complassion. I've been reading in Psalm 107 several times lately and I want to remind you of these thoughts and promises.
"Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broken their chains in pieces" (verses 13, 14).
In verse 13 the word "distresses" means to be in a place of narrowness - trouble - anguish or oppression. It's also a word that gives a picture of "something hemmed in or constrained." This is a powerful picture of God's saving and healing power.
When they cried out to the Lord (real effective prayer) then He saved them out of their distresses. The Psalmist concludes with a great declaration: "Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men" (verse 15).
I ask the Lord to reveal His heart to you in a new way and open the windows of heaven with many blessings. May the favor of the Lord rest upon you and His peace and provisions be released for you.
Are you activating the Word of God in your prayers? "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So shall my word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10,11).
The Word of God is so alive and powerful that it has the ability to return to the Father with fullness. This verse says that it will not return void (empty or ineffectual). How does the Word return to the Father in heaven?
We can send it back to the throne in our prayers and positive confessions. In our meditations and pondering over scripture, we're activating the presence of God over situations, places, and things.
Joshua 1:8, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."