16 Bible Verses about Secret Prayer

but you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut the door, pray to your father who is with you in your retirement, and your father who observeth the actions of your retirement shall reward you.

One day Jesus had been praying in a certain place, and as soon as he had done, one of his disciples said to him, instruct us about prayer, as John the baptist instructed his disciples. he said therefore to them, when ye pray, say, "our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. thy kingdom come. thy will be done, on earth, as in heaven. give us every day our portion of bread.read more.
and forgive us our sins: since we forgive every one that has offended us. and leave us not under temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." Then he said to them, suppose any of you should go to his friend at midnight; and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves: for a friend of mine, a traveller, is come to my house, and I have nothing to entertain him with. and he within should give this answer, don't trouble me now: the door is made fast, and my family are all in bed: I can't get up to supply you. I tell you, tho' he will not rise, to supply him, out of friendship: yet out of regard to his importunity, he will rise, and lend him whatever he has occasion for. I tell you likewise, ask, and it shall be given: seek, and ye shall find: knock, and the door shall be opened. for every one that asketh, receives: he that seeketh, finds: and he that knocks has admittance. what father among you would give his son a stone, when he asketh for bread? or if for a fish, instead of a fish would he give him a serpent? or instead of an egg will he offer him a scorpion? if ye then, wicked as ye are, know how to give what is proper to your children: how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask him?

Jesus propos'd likewise this parable to them, to show that they should persevere in prayer, and not be discouraged. saying, in a certain city there was a judge, who neither feared God, nor regarded man. a widow was likewise there, who frequently came to him, saying, do me justice against my adversary.read more.
for some time he refus'd to do it: but at length he said in himself; tho' I neither fear God, nor regard man; yet, because this widow importunes me, I will do her justice, that she may'nt be continually coming to teaze me. observe, said Jesus, that language of this unrighteous judge. and will not God avenge his own elect, who cry to him night and day? will he delay their cause? I tell you, he will speedily avenge them. however, when the son of man comes, how few of the faithful will he find in the land?

Jesus having said this, lift up his eyes to heaven, and said, "father, the hour is come; glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. for thou hast given him power over all men, that he might give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. and this is life eternal, to acknowledge thee to be the only true God, and Jesus to be the Messiah whom thou hast sent.read more.
I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. and now, O father, glorify me in heaven, with the glory which I had before the creation of the world. I have displayed thy name among those whom you have chosen out of the world for me: thine they were, and you gave them me; and they have kept thy word. now they believe that the instructions you gave me came from thee. for I have given to them the instructions which you gave me; and they have received them; and have sincerely believ'd that I came from thee, and are persuaded that thou didst send me. "It is for them I pray: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, because they are thine. for every thing that is mine is thine, and what is thine is mine, and I am glorified by them. and now I shall be no more in the world, but they will be in the world, when I am come to thee. holy father keep them by that authority, with which thou hast invested me, that they may be one, as we are. by your authority I have kept them, during my being with them in the world: those that you gave me I have kept, and not one of them is lost, except the son of perdition: according as the scripture foretold. now that I am coming to thee, while I am here, I make these requests for them, that their joy in me may be compleat. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not pray you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the malignity of it. they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. sanctify them by the truth: thy word is truth. as thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. and for their sakes I consecrate myself, that they also might be consecrated by the truth. neither pray I for these alone, but for those also who shall believe on me through their preaching. that they all may be one, as thou, father, art in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. and the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them: that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may have a perfect union, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. father, I desire that they also whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am going; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me: for thou didst love me before the foundation of the world; yet, O righteous father, the world hath not known thee; but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. to them I have declared thy name, and will declare it: that thou mayst love them as thou hast loved me, and I have loved them."

On the morrow as they were on their journey, and drew nigh the city, Peter went upon the leads to pray, about the sixth hour.

then Cornelius said, it is now four days ago that I was fasting, and while I was at prayers in my house, about the ninth hour, a man in bright attire presented himself before me,

On the morrow rising up, while it was yet dark, he went out, and retired into a solitary place, where he prayed.

and when they had taken their leave, he retired to a mountain to pray.

It was now late in the evening, and the bark in full sea, when Jesus, who was ashore all alone,

in the mean time his fame spread so much the more, and a vast multitude flock'd to hear him, and to be cured of their diseases,

so that he retired into places of solitude, for the convenience of prayer.

About that time, Jesus retired to a mountain to pray, and spent the whole night in an oratory.

One day having retired alone to prayer, he came to his disciples, and ask'd them, saying, whom do the people judge me to be?

At length he withdrew from them about a stone's cast, where falling upon his knees,

he pray'd in these words, father, "O that you would divert this cup from me! nevertheless not my will, but thine be done."