Any serious angler has their own secret fishing hole. A place where they don't take their friends (or even family) when they go drop a line in the water. Maybe it's a private farm pond somewhere, or a hidden bend in a river covered by brush and overgrowth. A place where we just know "the big one" lurks right under the surface of the water - waiting for us to throw a lure or nightcrawler in front of it. 
My place was called Cottonwood Park, just outside of the Des Moines city limits. It was part of the spillway system for Saylorville Lake, but it was far enough away from the choppy water that the current in the channel actually slowed to a medium crawl. I don't fish much anymore, but as a younger man, this was my spot. I would leave in the morning and fish until early evening. I knew all the best holes. I knew exactly where to cast my line and I could just about count backwards from ten before I got a bite. As it happens, I also preferred to go there alone. It was almost a sublime, spiritual experience; the kind that wildlife poets often write about. I sometimes felt like Mark Twain when he described his intimate knowledge of the Mississippi River.
This concept of getting away from other people and seeking out the solace of nature transfers over quite well to the Bible. In fact, our lesson today is to talk about something Christians refer to as the prayer closet. It's a place we go to be alone with God. No distractions, no traffic sounds, and no television. Just us and the Creator.
Jesus tells us how to pray in Matthew 6:6: "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen." Jesus goes on to say that people who pray extravagantly in public often seek the wrong kind of attention, while those who carve out time away for just God will reap the reward. God wants this kind of alone time with us.
Jesus spent alone time with God also on more than one occasion. Mark 1:35 tells us, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." Furthermore, Luke 6:12 says, "One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God." By modern standards, I picture him sipping coffee next to a fireplace with no one else around.
I think the lesson here is simple: dedicate time for just you and God. Be intentional about it every day. I make time twice a day to send up a prayer (once in the morning and once before bed). In between, I am reciting small prayers here and there as needed. Prayers for people who require healing, prayers for those who need peace, etc. The power of corporate, group prayer during a church service is powerful also of course, but don't neglect the one-on-one relationship building with your Lord and Savior either.
We may think of this like a friendship. If both people work hard to keep the relationship going, then the reward is a close and abiding type of companionship that you cannot achieve any other way. But now consider the reverse … what if only one of you tried to keep in touch? Every time you called this person, you got voicemail. Every time you wrote an email or a letter, there was no response. After six months of this, how would your relationship be with this individual? Not very good I would say. It's the same thing with God; we should work to find the time to speak with Him regularly.
Find a certain area in your house to call your prayer closet and then set up shop. Or maybe it is your car on the way to work. Perhaps it is a ten minute devotional each day sitting at the kitchen table - the details don't really matter. What is important is that you are keeping the personal relationship going.
Some will take this in the wrong direction I suspect, and use my advice as an excuse to skip formal church. "I do my own type of church, in my own way. I don't need to be around other people in a building," they might say. Quite honestly, I believe we need both of these things to complete our Christian walk. We need a prayer closet, and we need other believers to help edify and challenge us when needed. Otherwise, there is a temptation to stay inside the 'bubble' of our own creation. While it can certainly seem safer this way, the fact is that iron sharpens iron - without other people we often stagnate in our faith walk. Although the current pandemic makes it difficult for everyone to attend church at the moment, the time will soon come where God calls His children back to corporate worship I think. The nightmare will be over … and our journey can resume.
When this time comes (and I think it has already begun in small ways), pray about what God might want from you. Does He want you to resist fellowship with other Christians, or might He be calling you to come and worship Him together. People must decide for themselves when this revival should happen.
I will conclude with a Scripture from Isaiah 65:1, "I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said 'Here am I, here am I.'" God is seeking us out, whether we listen to His voice or not. I strongly suggest we answer His call for our lives. We can do this more easily with a strong, personal relationship formed over many years in our proverbial prayer closet. It is always easier to get to know someone one-on-one.
Move closer to Him, and He will draw closer to you. That offer always stands by the way - rain or shine, happy times or sad times. We are always only a prayer away from God's immutable and unchanging love.
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