Guest Editorial December 8, 2014 Issue

Praying in ‘a quiet, secluded place’

Kevin Graunke

Where’s the best place to pray? Some might answer: in church; in a comfortable spot in a sunny room; beside a calm, clear lake. Well, how about the closet? Or, as one Bible paraphrase puts it, “a quiet, secluded place” (Matthew 6:6, Eugene Peterson, The Message).

A “quiet, secluded place” for prayer is more than just a physical location. As Christ Jesus referred to it in the Sermon on the Mount, it’s really an inspired, spiritually minded state of thought and devotion. It’s our God-given ability to tune out distraction and the clamor of materialism so that we can better understand God and feel His loving grace and healing touch.

In today’s world, gaining such a state of thought can seem elusive. Yet Jesus’ example shows us the timeless value of praying in a quiet, secluded place. His “closet time” in prayer on a mountaintop armed him for the demands of holy work, since the Bible says he “went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people” (Matthew 9:35).

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