Wednesday

Related Verses
Matt. 6:6, 18
6 But you, when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
18 So that you may not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

Matt. 17:1-9
1 And after six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and brought them up to a high mountain privately.
2 And He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as the light.
3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with Him.
4 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You are willing, I will make three tents here, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah.
5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight. Hear Him!
6 And when the disciples heard this, they fell on their face and were greatly frightened.
7 And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, Arise, and do not be afraid.
8 And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.
9 And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.

Related Reading
Those saints who know only to make a show of the self and a display of the flesh will not grow in life. The genuine growth in life is to cut off the self…We should pray much yet not let others know how much we pray. This is healthy. If you pray every day without telling others or letting them know about it, it means that you are healthy and that you are growing. However, suppose you always tell others how much you pray. If you do this, you will not only lose your reward, but you will not grow in life or be healthy. We all must admit that we have the subtle self, the subtle flesh, within us…When we pray alone in our room, we often wish that others could hear us. Likewise, we do our righteous deeds with the intention that others could see them. Such desires and intentions are not healthy; they indicate that we are not growing in life… If your righteous deeds are in secret, you may be assured that you are growing in life and are healthy. But any time you exhibit yourself in your righteous deeds, you are not healthy. Such an exhibition greatly frustrates your growth in life. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 244-245)

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The universe indicates that God is hidden, that God is secret…We may have seen the things done by God, but none of us has ever seen Him, for He is always hidden, always secret. God’s life is of such a secret and hidden nature. If we love others by our own life, this life will seek to make a display of itself before men. But if we love others by the love of God, this love will always remain hidden. Our human life loves to make a display, a public show, but God’s life is always hidden. A hypocrite is one who has an outward manifestation without having anything within. Everything he has is merely an outward show; there is no reality inwardly. This is absolutely contrary to God’s nature and to His hidden life. Although God has so much within Him, only a little is manifested. If we live by this divine life, we may pray much, but others will not know how much we have prayed. We may give a great deal to help others, but no one will know how much we give. We may fast often, but this also will not be known by others. We may have a great deal within us, but very little will be manifested. This is the nature of the kingdom people in the doing of their righteous deeds.

This is vastly different from the nature of the worldly people. When the worldly ones donate a hundred dollars, they advertise it, making it appear that they have given a much greater amount. But when we Christians give a hundred dollars, it is better that we only let others know that we have given a dime. We do more than what is visible to others. We can never practice this kind of giving in our natural life. It is possible only in the divine life, the life that does not enjoy making a show. This is the crucial point in this portion of the Word.

If we are serious about being the kingdom people, we must learn to live by the hidden life of our Father. We must not live by our natural life, which is always making a display of itself. If we live by our Father’s hidden life, we will do many things without making any public show of them. Rather, all that we do will be in secret, hidden from the eyes of others. The biographies of many saints reveal that they did certain things in secret, things that often were not made known until after they had died. This is the right way.

Our prayer should be in secret…The kingdom people must have some experience of prayer in their private room, contacting their heavenly Father in secret, experiencing some secret enjoyment of the Father, and receiving some secret answer from Him [Matt. 6:6]. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 245-246, 248)

 Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msg. 21