Means of Our Spiritual Health: Secret Prayer

The point: Periodically pause and honestly consider the condition of your spiritual foundations.

An analogy of two builders and their houses on different foundations (from the Sermon on the Mount) is used to illustrate that spiritual life, like a physical structure, is only as stable as its foundation.

that no structure of any kind is more stable than is its foundation. Many of us remember how our Lord based an entire illustration upon that common observation. At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, He spoke of two builders who built their houses upon the foundation of the Holy Spirit. Two differing foundations.

0:40 - 1:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Commit to habitual engagement in secret prayer as a vital means for spiritual health.

The analogy of daily habits like sleeping, eating, hygiene, and commuting is used to explain what 'habitual' means in the context of prayer, contrasting it with occasional or crisis-driven prayer.

And what do I mean by that? Well just as you and I have habits that is fixed or normal and predictable patterns with respect to sleep to eating to bed to sleep to bed to bed to bed to bed to bed to bed to bed to bed to bed to bed to bed To personal hygiene to recreation to social activities so I want us to consider this means of secret prayer in the framework of an habitual engagement in secret prayer. And that is in direct contrast to the occasional secret prayer precipitated

10:20 - 11:04 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin defines 'habitual engagement in secret prayer,' explaining 'habitual' as purposeful and predictable, 'engagement' as having all faculties locked in with God, and 'secret'…

The psalmist's commitment to morning prayer is compared to a wife counting on her husband for breakfast or a boss counting on an employee's arrival, emphasizing the predictable nature of habitual prayer.

praying under the agitation of a bloodied conscience through some grievous fall into sin though there are such psalms here is the psalmist telling us that he is committed to habitual engagement in secret prayer and he says as it were God one thing you can count on tomorrow morning is you're going to hear my voice at prayer as surely as my wife can count on the fact that I'm going to show up at 7.15 for breakfast and my boss can count on the fact that I'm going to show up somewhere between 8.15 and 8.25 in my office and as surely as I can count on the fact that there's a lunch break at 12 to 12...

14:48 - 15:32 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin defines 'habitual engagement in secret prayer,' explaining 'habitual' as purposeful and predictable, 'engagement' as having all faculties locked in with God, and 'secret'…

Daniel is presented as the most well-known Old Testament example of a man committed to the habit of secret prayer, even when facing the threat of the lion's den.

tell me one Old Testament character that is the most clear the most well-known illustration of a man committed to the habit of secret prayer who do you think of immediately I'll give you a little hint whenever you think of him you often think of animals that are very frightening with big hairy manes and they growl and he had to face being thrown into a whole den of him now you all know what is my name it's Daniel isn't it and what do we read in Daniel chapter 6 in verse 10

18:25 - 19:10 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin defines 'habitual engagement in secret prayer,' explaining 'habitual' as purposeful and predictable, 'engagement' as having all faculties locked in with God, and 'secret'…

An anecdote about a writer pacing and mumbling 'synonyms, synonyms, synonyms' is used to convey the careful thought Martin put into choosing the word 'engagement' for prayer.

life of non prayer but then I've used another word I've said habitual engagement in secret prayer and I wish I'd charted how long how many minutes were spent laboring over this word I don't mean five ten fifteen some of you perhaps have heard me quote a famous writer who was known to have paced the floor more than once into the wee hours of the morning mumbling to himself synonyms synonyms synonyms there are no such things as synonyms there is the right word and there's the wrong word well I thought of him when I was laboring with this

21:23 - 22:08 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin defines 'habitual engagement in secret prayer,' explaining 'habitual' as purposeful and predictable, 'engagement' as having all faculties locked in with God, and 'secret'…

The military term 'engage the enemy' is used to illustrate 'engagement' in prayer as real combat and interaction, not just going through motions.

for example if in a moment of silence in a military conflict a captain were to send out a lieutenant and under him a platoon of soldiers to reconnoiter a given area where enemy forces were known to be holed up or to be operating when they would return the superior officer would say to the inferior officer did you engage the enemy in other words did you have any real combat were there real bullets being exchanged was there a real engagement of the enemy the other illustration and I can use this because she's not here

22:51 - 23:35 Read in full sermon

Driving home: God says you come into his presence take your heart and tip it over and make sure that whatever comes out in your prayers are the effusions the spilling out and the spilling over of the deepest thoughts and yearnings and…

A personal story about his daughter Heidi's difficulty making eye contact is used to illustrate the concept of being 'engaged' with one's mental faculties and heart, contrasting it with a distracted or unengaged mind in prayer.

I've tried to avoid using illustrations of my children or grandchildren when they're present and I'm speaking of my oldest daughter Heidi and when she was a little girl she had a very strange element in her personality that those big brown eyes when you'd speak to her would look just three degrees left or three degrees right or below or above or even if they looked at you they seemed to be looking at something that was focused about three feet behind your head and many a time when we were having to give her instructions to make sure she understood the will of her mummy or daddy or she were goi...

23:35 - 24:20 Read in full sermon

Driving home: God says you come into his presence take your heart and tip it over and make sure that whatever comes out in your prayers are the effusions the spilling out and the spilling over of the deepest thoughts and yearnings and…

The image of pouring water from a glass is used as a metaphor for 'pouring out your heart' in prayer, signifying the effusions of deepest thoughts and desires.

psalm sixty two and verse eight having defined what I mean and what I'm trying to convey by the word now the biblical basis of that psalm sixty two and verse eight the exhortation goes forth trust in him at all times you people pour out your heart before him what a beautiful image of what prayer is it doesn't say just pour out a cataract of words that you can say without any thought it doesn't say frame and mouth

26:31 - 27:16 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He further elaborates on 'secret prayer' using Matthew 6:5-6, contrasting it with hypocritical public prayer. Martin asserts that secret prayer is the foundation for all other…

A personal story about praying while driving to church and dealing with a slow driver illustrates 'ejaculatory prayers' or 'breathings out of the spirit of prayer' in the midst of daily activities, distinguishing them from specific secret prayer.

the kind of prayers that i hope all of us engaged in driving here today some of my precious times of prayer are driving here to church where i'm praying and making up songs and singing to the lord and the rest the kind of prayers that you can engage in in the midst of traffic when you're praying as i had to today trying to keep to the time schedule and get here on time and lo and behold the last part of my trip here some dude pulled in front of me driving no faster than 25 miles a day an hour even in the 40 mile an hour zone and 35 looking all over the i don't have a clue what he

31:54 - 32:37 Read in full sermon

Driving home: While fully possessing, not relinquishing, while fully possessing all of the dignity, all of the power, all of the rights, and all of the majesty of God the Creator, he voluntarily... He voluntarily took the posture, the…

The theological concept of God's aseity (utter independence) is contrasted with the creature's utter dependence, setting the stage for understanding Christ's voluntary dependence in prayer.

If anything marks the Creator, it is utter, total independence. The old theologians called it the aseity of God. If you come across an old writer and he speaks of the aseity of God, what he is saying is God don't need nothing from anybody. He is utterly, totally glorified.

42:12 - 42:33 Read in full sermon

Driving home: While fully possessing, not relinquishing, while fully possessing all of the dignity, all of the power, all of the rights, and all of the majesty of God the Creator, he voluntarily... He voluntarily took the posture, the…

The example of 'woolly-headed people writing songs' about God being lonely is used to illustrate a misunderstanding of God's aseity and self-sufficiency.

gloriously complete in himself. So when you hear woolly-headed people writing songs and twanging guitars, God was so lonely, had to make a man, you just rise up and say, shut your mouth with your blasphemy and smash your CDs. And if any of you listen to that kind of garbage, I hope you go home and throw it out.

42:33 - 42:56 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin presents Jesus Christ as the supreme demonstration of habitual engagement in secret prayer. He emphasizes the mystery of Christ's God-man nature, highlighting His voluntary…

The energy bound in atoms and the terror of unleashing it is used to illustrate that Christ's personal power, not abstract laws, keeps all things from blowing apart, emphasizing His immanent presence.

Colossians says in Christ, all things adhere, they hold together. And in the mystery of what we know, the little we know, of the energy bound up in the atoms that constitute our being, and something of the frightening terror when men learned how to unleash that power that was there. They didn't create it. They simply had controlled unleashing of that power.

44:14 - 44:39 Read in full sermon

The point: Honestly answer the question: Do you have habits of secret prayer?

The common habit of getting dressed for Sunday morning church is used to make the point that everyone has habits, and therefore, the question of having prayer habits is a legitimate and answerable one.

Okay, let me help you. I know you all have habits of getting dressed, at least for Sunday morning. There ain't a one of you here in your pajamas. Not a one of you here in your nightgown.

67:00 - 67:14 Read in full sermon

The point: Wage an all-out war on anything that keeps you from having habits of secret prayer, even canceling newspapers, pulling the plug on the radio/TV, or putting away the telephone.

Modern distractions like newspapers, radio, TV, and telephones are described as 'demonic distractions' that 'claw for precious time' needed for secret prayer, urging believers to wage 'all-out war' against them.

And to get you there in as good a shape possible to the glory of God. And dear people in an age that Owen and other men knew nothing about in terms of the demonic distractions that claw for precious time that needs to be husbanded for the secret place. We must determine that we're going to wage an all-out war on anything and everything that will keep us from having habits of secret prayer. And if it means canceling the newspaper, pulling the plug on the radio, if it means putting the TV away,

69:27 - 70:10 Read in full sermon

The point: Repent of your wicked, devil-like pride and independence that leads to not calling upon God, and go to Calvary for salvation.

The account of Ananias being comforted by God's statement, 'Behold, he is praying,' regarding Saul's conversion, is used to illustrate that prayer is a sure sign of true conversion.

When God wants to comfort Ananias, that this guy Saul who'd been beaten up on God's people had really been converted, what did he say of all the things he could have said? He said, Ananias, it's all right. Acts chapter 9 and verse 11. He says, Behold, he's praying.

72:28 - 72:46 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are not praying at all, repent and seek the Lord.

The image of a parent hearing their child praying in their room, rather than listening to 'jungle hell music,' is used to illustrate a tangible sign of a young person's conversion.

And off he went. You know what would be the indication that God had saved some of you this morning? Your mom and dad would go by your room and see the shut door and put their ear to the door and instead of hearing you or looking through the keyhole perhaps and seeing you put on your headphone and listen to your jungle hell music, they'd hear you on your knees saying, Oh, God, I've lived without you. I've lived without prayer.

72:57 - 73:24 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are a Christian and lack present habits of secret prayer, recognize that you are careless, backslidden, and weak, and that this will lead to open sin or blaming others.

Martin shares a personal anecdote about receiving contradictory criticism (too much duty vs. not enough duty) to illustrate how people often blame the ministry for their spiritual sickness, which is actually caused by a lack of secret prayer.

There's not enough duty. It's amazing how we can get blamed on both ends of the spectrum at one and the same time. In the course of a brief time, a short time ago in my ministry, I got laced out on the one hand for preaching nothing but duty and laced out on the other for not preaching enough duty. I said, Lord, what am I going to do?

74:25 - 74:49 Read in full sermon