What Is a Prayer Closet? How to Have Quiet Time With God
Adapted from Chapter 5 of our book, Conversations.
A prayer closet is your secret place with God: a private time and space where you meet Him alone, away from noise and performance. The phrase comes from Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount. It does not have to be a literal closet. It can be a chair at dawn, a walk, a parked car or a quiet corner. What makes it a prayer closet is not the room. It is the closed door and the open heart.
But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Matthew 6:6, World English Bible
A Tree on a Hillside
In college I spent a semester in a wilderness program in New Zealand. Part of it was a three-day solo. I was dropped off under a tree on a hillside with a Bible, a sleeping bag, a tarp and a water bottle, with no clear sense of when I would be picked up.
At first I was restless. My mind raced and my body fidgeted. But as the hours stretched into days, the silence began to settle inside me. I became deeply aware of God's presence, not in a loud way, but in the stillness of the trees and the quiet of the stars. I felt held and seen. That moment marked me for life, and solitude has been part of how I meet God ever since.
Hazen loves to talk things through out loud, so this has been a fun tension in our marriage. I've learned the value of words, and he's learned the beauty of silence. You probably fall somewhere between us. Either way, God longs to talk with you.
The Secret Places of Scripture
The heroes of faith were shaped in private conversations with God.
Abraham stood alone under the night sky, questioning why the promise had not come. God told him to look up and count the stars (Genesis 15:5). He was called the friend of God.
Moses turned aside to a burning bush and said, "Here I am." Later, in the Tent of Meeting, "Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (Exodus 33:11).
David learned to worship in the pasture long before the palace. He wrote:
When you said, “Seek my face,” my heart said to you, “I will seek your face, Yahweh.”
Psalms 27:8, World English Bible
Mary of Bethany chose to sit at Jesus' feet while others were busy, and Jesus said she had chosen the good part (Luke 10:42).
And Jesus Himself made the secret place a rhythm of life.
But he withdrew himself into the desert, and prayed.
Luke 5:16, World English Bible
When the weight of the cross came in Gethsemane, His surrender did not come out of nowhere. It flowed from years of hidden friendship with the Father.
How to Have Quiet Time With God: Five Practices
1. Respond, don't just read. Open Scripture and let it start the conversation. When a verse comforts or confronts you, stop and say something back. "God, this confuses me." "Help me believe this."
2. Speak honestly. You don't need the right words. You need your real ones. In Gethsemane, Jesus brought His full anguish to the Father. If all you can say is "Help," say it.
3. Make room for silence. Elijah heard God not in the wind or the fire but in a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:12). After you speak, sit quietly for a minute or two. Breathe. Don't force anything.
4. Bring your whole life into it. Nothing is too small to talk about with God. Throughout the day, keep the line open: "What do You think? Thank You for that."
5. Let the conversation shape your next step. Before you close, ask: "From this time with You, what am I being invited to do, or stop doing?" Jesus prayed "not my will, but yours," and then got up and walked toward the cross. Prayer formed His next steps.
Proximity, Not Performance
Prayer isn't about performance. It's about proximity. You don't need a perfect script or a perfect setting. Sit still. Speak freely. Listen slowly. Return often. Picture your own tree on a hillside, wherever you find it, because the same God who met Abraham, Moses, David and Mary is waiting to meet you there too.
Go deeper. This post is adapted from Conversations by Hazen and Hannah Stevens, thirteen chapters on learning to pray as a real conversation with God. Get the book on Amazon, start the free Conversations Bible plan, watch the full Conversations series free, or pray with us online Monday through Thursday.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (public domain).
