THE PRAYER CLOSET DREAM!
--By Dad\qr DO 2974 1/93

       1. I had a dream just before I woke up this morning. I was kneeling on a little plot of ground. It was in the midst of a great desert, but I was kneeling right in this one little square. It was only about as big as the bottom of a closet. And just behind me to my right there was a great river flowing, like the Tigris or one of the great rivers of the Middle East. Now I know what that meant! This great river flowing right behind me was the Word!
       2. I was kneeling down on this little tiny square of ground, and in the distance behind it was a vast expanse of desert, like the whole world. And it came to me that this was a place of quiet and prayer, where we could get away from it all and kneel down in the Lord's presence.
       3. Now I know why the river was there--the river of His Word was flowing by. (Maria: Because prayer and the Word go together.) Yes. And there was some kind of a light or a candle burning in front of me. It was very quiet. It was so impressive. And soon someone came and took my place. I got up and they knelt down there instead. (Maria: Like a vigil.) Yes! Exactly! Just like it was a place of prayer.
       4. While I was kneeling there, it was like I could hear the Word, and I woke up thinking about it all. I thought, "My goodness, Lord, we don't have any place that big and outdoors, with a river flowing by!" And I kept thinking about the little square that was in front of me. What does that mean? And it came to me that it signified that your place of prayer doesn't have to be very big. Wherever it is, the world is way out there beyond, and in prayer you can kneel down and reach the whole world. You have the whole world in view in the eyes of the Spirit, even though you're just kneeling in a little tiny square.
       5. I kept thinking, "What does the square mean?" And the scripture came to me: "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" (Mat. 6:6). A closet! A place of prayer doesn't have to be any bigger than a closet, where you can shut the door and be alone and pray in quiet.
       6. The river flowing by could be recorded Word playing! Maybe you could mix Word with music, or alternate Word with beautiful songs and hymns. A place of meditation and prayer. (Maria: I've even found that when I put my "Fear Not" tape on and listen to the beautiful songs, it's very conducive to prayer. Because you know the songs, you've heard them over and over and over, so you don't really have to concentrate on the songs. It's the Word in music, and it's really conducive to praying.) There you are! That's what we can play--the Word in music, flowing like a river! What could be more like the flowing of a river than the Word flowing in a river of music!
       7. (Maria: Even a bed can be your closet, your little spot.) Well, yes, but I was thinking how wonderful it would be to have a special little place in the Home devoted solely to prayer. I know they've had that in lots of churches. In Raymond Richey's church he used to have a "prayer tower" or "prayer room" that was just quiet and devoted to prayer. I told you before about the lady prayer warrior who went to be with the Lord in Raymond Richey's prayer tower when it was burning. The fire chief and many others saw someone in a long white robe, like an angel, hovering above and behind her with his arms outstretched, as she was praying, as though protecting her from the flames. (See ML #56:5, Vol.1.)
       8. We don't have much room in our Homes, we probably couldn't have a special chapel like convents and churches have, but perhaps we could at least have a closet where we could have a constant prayer vigil or prayer chain, people taking turns praying. In my dream, I got up and somebody else took my place--a prayer closet! (Maria: It's like the desert is the world, but the water is flowing, and it could water the desert if we pray.)
       9. Every Home probably has some kind of a small room or closet they could use for prayer, if they want to. (Maria: Well, most probably have little bedrooms that people might not be sleeping in during the day that they could use.) This seemed like a special room dedicated to that purpose. It could be set up with a tape recorder, and I was even thinking about having pictures on the walls, posters, like the poster of Jesus saying "Come!" (Homes that do not have walk-in closets or a special room available might want to consider adapting this idea by building a small enclosure within another room, like a bedroom, either of rattan or plywood, etc., and maybe try to soundproof it with egg cartons, styrofoam, etc.)
       10. It could be a little place decorated like a shrine. The Catholics have some beautiful little statues of Jesus. Remember that little tiny statue that Techi had in her room when she was little, that was lit up all night? I think it rotated, didn't it? We don't want to begin worshipping images, but it does sort of help to have some kind of scene to focus on when you have your eyes open.
       11. You could have a candle, or in some places they've got little electric candles with a little filament that sort of flickers inside the bulb like a flame. If you need ventilation, you could just leave the door open a tiny bit. When the Lord said to "shut the door," He didn't say you had to shut it tight! Each Home could adapt this idea to their own situation, however they want to do it.

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family