Pray in Secret to be Rewarded Openly

David W Palmer

(Matthew 6:6 NKJV) “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

This is more of Jesus’s teaching on the vital topic of prayer. Here, he shows us a great insight into how God wants us to relate to him, and how he wants us to pray to get results—so that he can “reward you openly.”

Our amazing Lord Jesus—the only true expert on prayer to Father—said that we should pray in the “secret place.” This instruction is first about choosing a place for prayer that ensures we are not praying theatrically for an audience or to elicit acclaim from others. Prayer is not a spectator sport; it is a one-on-one relationship with a personal Father. Jesus gave his instruction about praying in secret to contrast with how he viewed those who prayed to be seen and heard by others:

(Matthew 6:5–6 DKJV) “And when you are praying, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. {6} But when you pray, enter your [private] store room, and shut your door; pray to your Father in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

The objective of prayer is to relate to and enjoy our Father and to receive answers from him. But, if we pray to impress an audience, while only pretending a relationship with Father, then the reward of supposed significance will be from their adulation, not Father’s answer.

When Jesus says “secret place” or “private store room,” he is talking about a place of no audience and no other distraction of any kind. This has to be a conversation with Father, with our attention focused solely on him.

When he says, “secret place,” our Lord also implies that this is about the secret place in our hearts and being locked into his secret place for us. This is crucial, as Psalm 91 reveals:

(Psalm 91:1, 3–4 NKJV) He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. ... {3} Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. {4} He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

This Psalm reveals some of of the outward “rewards” we receive from our one-on-one relationship and conversation with Father in our secret place: we will live with his protection—lodged under his covering, safety, angelic refuge, and we will have his living word as our invincible weapon, etc.

Another aspect of Jesus’s teaching on how to get results in prayer is to remind us that in a relationship with an intelligent, loving Father—who is eager to hear our requests and wanting to help us—is that we do not need to keep repeating ourselves, nagging God:

(Matthew 6:7–8 NKJV) “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. {8} Therefore do not be like them. …”

Jesus is clearly telling us not to imitate those who prayed to be noticed by other people, or who asked repetitively in a pointless attempt to get God’s attention. They may impress us with their Scripture knowledge, their awareness of current events, their amazing vocabulary, theological language, and verbose articulation; but that doesn’t mean that God is rewarding them openly:

(Matthew 6:8 NKJV) “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”

Repetition is simply redundant, when we realize that Father already knows what we need—before we ask him. Continually repeating our requests in one conversation could imply that we don’t believe he already knows what we need, or that he wants to lavish us with his loving supply and answers. After making un-repetitious requests, we can simply thank our loving Father and praise him for the answers—even if we cannot see him at work:

(John 11:41–42 NKJV) … Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. {42} And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”

Jesus knew that his Father always heard him. But here, he acknowledged it in front of witnesses for their sake. Plus, he said this in the hearing of those who would write it down for us—thus ensuring we could hear it so we could “believe.” When we approach the same loving Father in Jesus’s name, we can be assured that he hears us too:

(1 John 5:14–15 NKJV) Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. {15} And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Father’s absolute, written assurance that he hears and answers prayers asked in Jesus’s name is rock solid evidence for our faith. We can stand on this guaranteed promise as a foundation for approaching him with confidence.

To further encourage us in our prayers to Father in our secret place, let’s learn from Jesus’s example:

(Mark 1:35 NKJV) Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.

Jesus certainly sought a place that was away from the earshot and sight of others, and he prayed there as the priority of his day. And then, in the seclusion of Gethsemane, he suggested that this prayer could last one hour:

(Matthew 26:39–40 NKJV) He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, … {40} Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What? Could you not watch with Me one hour?”

Let’s find a suitable location physically for praying, so we can be secluded and alone with our Father. But let’s also come into a secluded place in the spirit—where our secret inner place of intimacy with Father, and his for us, merge. This is how we pray in secret.

Absorbing Jesus’s example, and hearing the Holy Spirit’s assurance that Father knows and will hear us, imparts faith to our hearts. By this faith, we deeply know that the open reward of answered prayer, provision, and protection are absolutely certain.

Enter your secret place with Father today, and ask!

(James 4:2 NKJV) … you do not have because you do not ask.