The Secret Place

It's a great day because the Lord loves us with an everlasting love and His mercies are new every morning! What an honor to pray for you now. 

 

Jesus' prayer life in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John  is is our roadmap. He lived in a continual prayer relationship with the Father and also spent much time alone praying. In Mark 1:35 we see His morning habit. "Very early in the morning, a great while before the dawn, while it was till dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed." And in Luke 6:12 we see Him spending much time with the Father. "One of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God." In Luke 5:16 we see that, "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." Jesus knew the Father through much private prayer, and received what was needed for the day. How thrilling that we can follow Him in this. It is the essential. He will saturate us with His love and the Holy Spirit will teach us.

 

In Matthew 6:6 Jesus teaches His disciples, "When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, Who is in secret. Then your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly." What a precious time. Plan for it intentionally. Guard it  Be excited about it because what could be more awesome than meeting with our Father!!! He is in secret, and He will reveal Himself to all who will withdraw  from the glamour of this world and meet with Him. Keep your Bible open, for He reveals Himself through His Word.  If we will come, He will meet us,  and teach us, and transform us and fill us and lead us. Prayer is in secret,  but the fruit of our prayer life is seen openly!  Lord, teach us to pray.

The Secret Place

Good morning! You are the Lord's beloved one.  I'm praying for you and your family now. Thank you for reading LifeWords, continuing the series  "In the Secret Place". These daily devotions will be a fresh truth from the Word that will inspire, encourage, and  strengthen you for the  days ahead.

   "Father, we worship You.  thank you for Your love and presence in our lives.  Thank you for Your redeeming blood that forgives and washes us now.   Thank You for Your Word! Jesus we love You. Teach us to abide in You, know You, and recognize Your leading.   Open our understanding, live in us and through us to bring your love to those around us.  Holy Spirit we honor You and welcome You. In Jesus Name." 

     Prayer in the "Secret Place" is the key to our life in Christ.  Jesus said in Matthew 6:6,"When you pray, Go into your room (closet, private place) and close the door and pray to your Father Who is in secret.  And Your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."  Meditate on this, think about it, ask the Lord to reveal Truth that you will live out as you obey this Word!  Can you sense the Father drawing you to meet with Him in this secret place before your day begins, so that you can continue to abide in Him? Remember our Jesus departed to a solitary place daily to meet with the Father, often a great while before the dawn. 

     In the secret place of His presence is relationship with Him. Find a place to be alone, and be sure to have your Bible and a journal, because Prayer has two components.  It is listening to God by reading His Word with an open heart, being still in His presence, waiting upon Him, loving Him, receiving from Him, BEING with Him! The other side of prayer is our speaking. When we spend more time listening, yielding, and worshipping than we do speaking, the words that we pray will be powerfully led by the Holy Spirit.  In the "Secret Place" we will find Him. In the Secret Place we will know Him as our All in All. In the Secret Place, He will teach us how to pray. There is no limit to how closely you can know Him, abide in Him, and be completely free in His love. He invites, He beckons you to come....He is there, in secret, delighting to meet with you, His beloved one! 

The Secret Place

How amazing that the Lord, our  Creator, Redeemer and King,  invites us  to come to meet with Him continually.  We understand that He lives in us and desires that we practice a lifestyle of abiding in Him, filled with His presence, but He invites us and teaches us to meet with Him in the secret place. (Matthew 6:6)

 

The Lord invites us to come to the table of His grace and be seated there, not just for our own lives but because of the lives He wants to touch through us. We can be transformed there! Psalm 23 says that "He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies."  In the midst of all that is  happening in our lives, we can come be seated at that table and receive from Him our daily needs, hear His instructions and be transformed to His likeness.  If we are to look like Christ, we must spend time with Him. Come to Him daily, and make time to stay long enough to be changed.

 

Jesus invites us to Come! Remember in John 7:37 He says, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink". We should be the most refreshed people!

 

Jesus invites us to Come!  Remember in  Matthew 11:28 He says, "Come unto Me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest".

 

The Lord invites us to Come!  Remember Jeremiah 29:13,14. "Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.  And I will be found by you, declares the Lord." Although He was speaking prophetically through Jeremiah to the Israelites in exile in Babylon because of their disobedience,  I believe that the message of these words, the principle of these words, is for us today. He beckons us to come into the secret place of His presence, close the door on all the clamor of the world, and meet with Him, pray to Him, worship Him, wait on Him, receive from Him through His Word. His will is for us is Christlikeness. He is your All in All. Don't allow anything to keep you from accepting His invitation daily! 

 

The Secret Place

I'm praying for you this morning that Matthew 8:8 is becoming a reality in your daily life!  Our consistent time in the "Secret Place" with our Lord is the key to living in His presence and continuing steadfast in the faith.  

 

This is an unprecedented time of spiritual warfare, a time the Bible warns us that many will fall away, even the elect can be deceived, distracted or spiritually asleep. Oh, but the joy of meeting with our Father in secret...delighting in His Word, learning to pray His will into the Earth, receiving all we need from Him, fellowshipping with Him, waiting on Him, worshiping Him!  This will keep us from drifting.  God's Word  speaks of our potential to "drift" away. 

 

 Colossians 1:23 says, "if indeed you continue in the faith, firmly established and steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard..."  We are to continue! We are to stay firmly established! We are not to drift away from the Word we have heard!     

 

It is easy to drift, we must stay alert! Did you ever see a piece of DRIFT WOOD washed up on the shore.  It's called drift wood because it was detached from the tree and began to drift, little by little, from its original purpose and place of flourishing as a connected part of the life source of the tree.  Hebrews 2 says,"for this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we DRIFT AWAY from it."    

 

 

Let's not drift from His presence and His will for our lives!  The Word is our anchor to keep us from drifting.  As you spend time in the Secret Place, in His light you will see light. The Word will anchor you in Truth. You will call upon Him and He will show you great and mighty things that you do not know. He will fill you, He will teach you, He will guide you, He will love this world through you. Time in the secret place with the Lord is a sure anecdote to keep you from drifting! We have been brought near by the blood of Jesus, His forgiveness covers our failures that would try to disconnect us from Him. Stay connected and abiding daily.  Every day is a new day, His mercies are new every morning.