Joel 2:25-26

25’I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten-

the great locust and the young locust,

the other locusts and the locust swarm-

my great army that I sent among you.

26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,

and you will praise the name of the LORD your God,

who has worked wonders for you;

never again will my people be shamed.

NIV

Isa 61:1-2

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,

because the LORD has anointed me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives

and release from darkness for the prisoners,  

2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor

and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

NIV

THE SECRET STORM

MATTHEW 6:6 & 26:36- 47

Matt 6:6

⁶But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Matt 26:36- 47

³⁶Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

 ³⁷He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.

 ³⁸Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

   ³⁹Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

   ⁴⁰Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter.

 ⁴¹“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

   ⁴²He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

   ⁴³When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

   ⁴⁵Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

Sleeping folks / wakeup

Lukewarm folks / fired up

Disgruntled folks / cheer up

Estranged folks / make up

Dry bones / shake up

Gossipers / shut up

True soldiers / stand up

Real Church members / pray up, then we can have church up in here

1. TV program 1954-1974 on CBS 30 mins each day

2.)    We all have some “Secret Storms”

a) Financial, everything seems to be ok but there’s a storm out over what seems to be a calm sea.

b) Loneliness, (Smokey Robinsons “Tracks Of My Tears”

People say I’m the life of the party
Cause I tell a joke or two
Although I might be laughing loud and hearty
Deep inside I’m blue

c) Bad relationships, marriages projecting an image to everyone, but there’s really no real happiness.

d) Children, you’ve tried to raise them in the admonition of the lord, but the world seems to blind them with the things of this world.

e) Sickness, bodies that look good on the outside but inside some type of disease (cancer, diabetes etc…) is wreaking havoc.

f) Last but not least the Church, going through the motions but not getting anything out of it (understanding, lifestyle change, joy, love) 

We all have some secret storms going on in our lives it doesn’t matter whether you’re rich or poor. There is a rich man in the Bible named Solomon (the OG) who when you read the book of Ecclesiastes, we find this man despite his wealth had all kinds of problems (name some of the problems); Jesus would be considered a poor man by today’s standard, but to us who have confessed Him as savior, He is our ultimate role model, and even He had some secret storms going on in his life, that’s what I love about Jesus the Christ. There is no problem, which besets us that our Lord and savior have not already experienced. Not only has He experienced our storms, but he also has shown us a way to confront and overcome them 

• Jesus  gives us the solution to the Storms

Gethsemane...

   a. A garden outside the city, across the Kidron brook and on the

      Mount of Olives

   b. It's name means "olive press", and was possibly a remote walled

      garden

   c. A place where Jesus often went with His disciples - Jn 18:1-2

1. Go into your closet and pray. Now I don’t know where your closet is it may be that place where you can have that peace and quiet time with just you and God, it’s that place where you can be alone and listen to the voice without interruption from the Family, telephone, neighbors

Matt 6:6

6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. (Public prayer is not pronounced as  wrong (Jesus himself prayed publicly, Luke 10:21-22; John 11:41-42), but vain( empty ,useless) display is. Private praying is the finest training ground for public prayer.

Instead of praying in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, enter into thy closet, into some place of privacy and retirement. Isaac went into the field (Gen 24:63), Christ to a mountain, Peter to a housetop.

• Pray believing that you have been heard(Matt 9:27-31

27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

“Yes, Lord,” they replied.

29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; 30 and their sight was restored.

• Face the situation knowing that God will bring you through and openly make a show of the enemy MATT 26:36, COL 2:15

Matt 26:36

36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

KJV

Col 2:15

15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

KJV

Those who use this scripture to say we shouldn’t pray in public need to check out Mt. 11: 25; Jn. 11:41 (Jesus) , Acts 27: 35 (Paul)