The Closet, the Source

In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: (Daniel 9: 2, 3)

We have looked at the closet and its importance in our faith.

But what are the contents of the closet? What makes the closet powerful? What gives the closet life and delight? What makes it fulfilling?

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. (John 17:17)

The closet is the place where we transact with the King of kings.

Let me tell you why the word is essential to the closet. And I will use a king as an example.

Whose word has power when you meet with a king? Whose, between your word and the king’s carries the day? Whose word has the capacity and ability to move things?

Our talking in the presence of the king can only serve to make him speak, because a king’s word has power. Remember Haman coming to meet the king had to listen and do what the king wanted irrespective of what he was coming for.

Where the word of a king is, there is power: (Ecclesiastes 8:4a)

It is not any different when God is the King we are addressing; His word is the one with power and not ours. Our prayer is therefore as powerful as the King’s word we are receiving.

We do not boast about the quantity and quality of words we have spoken to God. We can only boast of the single word God spoke. There is no short cut

Is it not surprising that these days prayer experts are known for the amount of words they speak? That they teach people the right words to pray? And yet they do not teach them to spend adequate time in God’s word to know the releases from God.

I pronounce. I prophesy. I declare and decree. As if God ever delegated that prerogative to man!

Whatever happened to ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is being done in heaven’? Whatever happened to ‘Seek first His kingdom and righteousness’?

Just imagine approaching a king and declaring that he will knight you. How will it appear?

Yet that is what many of us do when approaching God in prayer. We approach God with declarations of what He must do for us. We forget that He is the one who declares and that no declaration of ours can accomplish anything if He has not decreed it.

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. (Ecclesiastes 5:1)

Our closets are dry because we approach the King with our words instead of waiting for His word. Our prayer lives are dry because we approach him with our bottled water instead of asking to drink from His eternal well. Like the Samaritan woman we gloat over what we have instead of cry for what He has. That can make the closet really difficult.

That explains why we love to make noise in prayer. We think God answers our prayers depending on our decibels. We even hide under tongues to justify our affinity to noise forgetting that God knows what we need long before we even realize the same.

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)

We do not therefore pray to inform Him about our needs. We pray to connect to His solutions for those needs. That is what makes the closet so powerful, and necessary.

Moses spent forty days on the mount just hearing from God. Not only did he not eat or drink anything the whole time but came out with a glowing face. For me that is the ultimate of the closet, spending time with God that everything else fades into insignificance. And anyone who has spent time in a closet will confirm this.

The greater purpose of the closet is to give us undivided time to spend with God, speaking with Him so that we can get His take on our situation. The reason He requires to speak is to enable us hear His responses clearly enough as they will be in line with our thought flow.

That is why we see God using questions and analogies to teach as we read the Bible. He wants us to hear His message and understand it clearly. Then we will be able to respond with obedience.

A closet devoid of the word is not a closet. Just like a fast without prayer is a hunger strike, a closet without God’s word is a self-imposed solitary confinement. This is because one will just be making a conversation with themselves. And they wonder that they are not seeing much result!

It has nothing to do with our feelings, however powerful they may be. Feeling the presence may just mean that it is another presence that is floating around.

God’s presence inspires holiness, because He is holy. But even more important is that His presence drives us to His word because that is His revelation. And it is that revelation that that drives us to His holiness.

I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. (Psalm 138:2)

If the closet does not lead me to not just appreciate God’s word but read and obey it, I doubt we understand what Christ meant when He advised it. But it is worse because we are using spiritual words without meaning, what Christ called babbling like the heathen.

In defense of our unproductive spirituality, we argue that God gives three answers when we pray. He can say Yes, granting our petition. He can say wait, meaning that the answer will take some time before coming. Or He may say No, meaning He has refused to grant us our request.

I, however, want us to go farther. Do you know the answer He has given for your prayer?

We try to use God to defend our dumbness to God’s voice. By ascribing God to three answers, we feel safe in our lack of clarity from Him. Yet nothing could be farther from the truth.

God speaks, and speaks very clearly if we are listening. He will tell us the answer if we want to know it.

Remember Him telling Moses that He did not want him repeating a prayer? Remember Him telling Joshua to stop making ‘prayerful’ noise and take action? Remember Him telling Jeremiah to stop praying for his people?

Why should He be vague with you when you pray, unless your prayer is amiss? Why should you guess the answer when He has promised to clearly guide you? Why must you grope in the dark concerning His will when He not only created the light, He is the light.

But we have a problem with the light because we are not ready to follow it to the end. We are scared that knowing His will topple all our apple carts and mess our lives big time. He could even lead us to the desert (as if He will leave us on our own). And we have enough examples of people whose lives He has ‘messed’ by ordering them to do the strangest of things, from leaving stable employment to closing profitable enterprises to moving to the most miserable places.

Noah was told to prepare for the flood when he had never seen a drop of rain. Abraham was asked to leave the security of his people. Isaiah was asked to walk naked for three years. Daniel had to contend with hungry lions. The list is endless.

That is what many are scared of. It is easier to guess God’s direction because then it would leave me enough options should I find an order uncomfortable. I would rather deal with three answers than deal with what I know God wants from me, because then I would have no excuse for choosing otherwise.

The consequences of hearing clearly are what makes the closet a no go zone for many believers. Yet that is what makes it most attractive once one has dealt with that resistance.

I love to hear, uncomfortable as it is. I prefer dealing with obedience, however difficult it may be. This is because it brings such joy and fulfillment that can never be found anywhere else. And it also opens me up for God to manifest in my stumbling obedience because my heart is settled on that obedience.

There are people who do not like to tell me about their struggles because I ask them what God is saying about those situations. Saying that I will pray for them is more important for them, whether I will pray for them or not, than asking them whether they know what God is saying about their situation. They would rather guess God’s will than get it clearly.

And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. (Isaiah 30:21)

Hearing is one thing. Choosing to walk in where the voice leads is another. And that is the crux of the matter. We want to pray but do not want to hear God’s voice. We would love to share God’s good news but do not want those news to transform us completely.

Will you choose the uncomfortable aspects of the closet to get maximum benefits from it?

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (John 15:7)

In closing, let me give us this verse, trusting that God will give me an opportunity to develop this further as there is so much in the closet.

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)

And this is where it was written

And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. (Deuteronomy 8:3)