When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father

Matthew 6:6
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly

God is in the secret place, so when we pray we have to come to Him in that secret place. This is not some place that can contain God, because God cannot be contained in any location, whether it is the Tabernacle, the Temple or our private praying place. Instead, this secret place is where we meet God in the private one to one correspondence with God, where nothing else in the world mattered. Do we know how to get into such a meeting place with God? There is no specific formula but it is generally a quite place with no disruptions so that we can focus on the Lord alone.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire

Matthew 3:11
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

John was fully aware of his mission. He followed God and called others to repentance, the exact message that God wanted His people to hear. However, he also realised that repentance is just the start. He knows he himself is a sinner who can only redeemed by grace because he cannot gain worthiness in any way. He then pointed to Messiah, the only One with the solution, and who is mightier than all before Him. Only Messiah  can baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Blessed are the poor in spirit

Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit

This verse can be easily misunderstood at first glance. Firstly it is not saying financially poor people are blessed. Secondly it is also not saying that people who are down and not cheerful are blessed. The poor in spirit means the realization of our own inadequacy to be with God and there is nothing we can do to help ourselves. Having that realization, and then coming to Yshua Lord to receive Him as our only Hope and only Way, are what is meant by poor in spirit. 

And I will give you rest

Matthew 11:28
.... and I will give you rest.

We may be faced with many things from time to time that causes unrest in our body, soul and spirit. If this is allowed to go on undealt with it could damage us physically as well as spiritually. Sometimes we simply can solve the particular problem or sometimes it is us who are stuck at the problem. Only the Lord can give us rest. He may comfort us through the Holy Spirit and / or take us above the problem so we can see things from His point of view instead of ours.

Come to Me

Matthew 11:28
Come to Me

Our Lord is beckoning for us to come to Him. He is ever-present and ever ready to be the supplier of our needs. Yet if we believe we are capable of handling something ourselves, we are likely to handle it alone. On the other hand we may think it is too good to be true to be able to come to the Lord for everything. However, our Lord Yshua do call us to come to Him and surrender our wills and confidence in ourselves. So when we are busy in the middle of something, it is worthwhile to pause and remember His offer.

But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich

Luke 18:23
But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich

 The rich young ruler understood what Jesus said. He also understood what he had to give up. He was totally surprised by what he heard. Clearly his expectations was that since he had fulfilled all of the requirements of the Law, he would be entitled to great rewards. Instead he found out that he had to abandon all his material possessions. Leaving our wealth and material possessions is not a prerequisite to the Kingdom of Heaven. However anything that hinders us, of has a higher priority in our lives than Jesus, those things will hinder us from the Kingdom.

Sell all that you have - and come, follow Me

Luke 18:22-23
So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.

The young man came to Yshua with full enthusiasm, wondering how he could serve the Lord, given his wealth and possibly his influence. The Lord's instructions to him was simple, yet it is something that cut through the man. He never had imagined that he had to abandon all his wealth. In general, to follow Yshua, it does not require all of us to sell everything. Various followers of Yshua from His time and later did keep their possessions and served Him well. However, this particular young rich man must have placed all his cares on his wealth and Yshua was trying to how him which is his highest priority. Other things besides wealth may also have a hold on us that will hinder our walk with God.