The Secret Place

Jesus has instructed us in Matthew 6:6  to pray,  and to have a time each day that we go into a private place to pray to Him in secret and He will reward us openly.  Oh the joy of meeting with our King in secret!  In that secret meeting place He will teach us how to worship, how to receive forgiveness for our failures, how to wait upon Him, how to pray. He will transform us by His Word, impart wisdom, love, joy, peace and all we have need of.  He will fill us with Himself. He will show us great and mighty things that we do not know. Today I want you to be greatly encouraged as you read one of the most powerful "secret place" passages, Psalm 34:4-10.

 

4 I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

5 Those who look to him are radiant, their faces shall never be ashamed.

6 In my desperation I prayed, the Lord heard me and saved me out of all my troubles.

7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and  delivers them.

8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.

9 Oh fear the Lord, you His saints, those who fear Him have no lack!

10 The young lions suffer want and hunger; those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

 

I pray this verse will greatly encourage you today!  As you make time daily to meet with the Lord in secret, it will change your life!   This verse declares that as you seek Him, look to Him, cry to Him, worship Him, take refuge in Him, revere Him in the secret place each day,  this will result:

He will ........Answer you; Deliver you from all your fears; You will be radiant; You will never be ashamed; He will hear you; He will save you from all your troubles; He will send angels to encamp about you; He will deliver you; He will bless you; You will have great joy; You will have no lack; You will lack no good thing.

 

And He does all this so that we can experience relationship with Him and bring His love Word and presence to this hurting world and set the captives free in His name. Thank You Lord! 

 

The Secret Place

I'm praying for you this morning that Mathew 6:6 is becoming a daily delight to you as you spend time in the secret place with your Father. 

 

I am also praying this powerful verse from Colossians 1:9-12 for you and your family, asking the Lord that "you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light." This is an incredible verse to pray! Did you know it's possible for you to be filled with the knowledge of His will in your life?  He is your inheritance!  He is your All in All.

 

 I love Colossians because it contains incredible insight to God's plan for how are to live in Him right now. I believe much of it relates to a lifestyle that the Lord desires and makes available to every believer, but that  only those who spend time in the "Secret Place" of prayer and the Word will experience.

 

In verse 1:23 Paul gives a strong admonition for us today... that we are to "CONTINUE in the faith, firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard..." Every day our circumstances, our own thoughts, the things of this world have the potential to move us away from the hope of the gospel and even cause us to waver or get off course.  But we don't have to!  We can stay firmly established,  strengthened by His presence, We continue in the faith to the degree we spend time with Him in prayer and in the Word!  Let's stay alert, steadfast, understanding the times we are in, desperate for His presence. Be greatly encouraged today!

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. 

The Secret Place

As you passionately and intentionally pursue spending time with the Lord in the "secret place" of prayer and in His Word, Jesus will teach you how to pray and you will begin to understand more clearly why you can pray with great faith and confidence and joy in believing. In that place of meeting with Him, we will discover that He is our All in All!  Because He lives in us and we live in Him, He is our sufficiency in all things and He is always more than enough. 

In this hour it is crucial we understand who He has made us to be in Him and that He has given us all things because He lives in us. Did you ever truly think about this verse?

 

"For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace" John 1:16

Oh if we could just understand the fullness of Christ that is already ours as believers!  We are not trying to obtain this, we already possess it.  I see so many believers striving to obtain what is already freely theirs in Christ. When you invited Jesus Christ to be your Savior and Lord, He not only forgave you but He made you a new creation in Christ. Then, He actually came to live in you. He lives in You.  Thank You Lord! Let us thank Him every moment for this miracle! This is the mystery that once was hidden but now revealed.....Christ in Us the Hope of Glory.  If you understand He lives in You, then you will surely understand He is your All in All and you are lacking nothing! It will change how you live life.  You will discover this in the "secret place" of His presence.  Love lives in you.  Victory lives in you. Truth lives in You.   The living God has chosen to abide in YOU and invites you to abide in Him. As an act of our will, daily, we yield to Him, we submit all to Him, we allow the daily infilling of His presence

 

One of the most important verses we must understand and walk in is in Galatians 2:20.  It is the most accurate picture of being filled with His fullness. "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now life in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." 

 

When we receive Christ and He comes to live in us, we don't receive part of Him.  He lives in us and becomes our life. He lives in us in His fullness. He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. He has made us a new creation and now lives in us.  We are lacking nothing!  Now, to the degree we yield to Him and to His Word and renew our minds to the Truth of His living Word, and obey His Word is the degree this fullness will be manifested in our life.  It is in the secret place of prayer and the Word that we understand that He is our All in All and because of what is already ours in Him, we can begin to pray with much faith!  Our lives become a conduit of His love, life, truth and victory to this world.   Of His fullness we have received, grace upon grace. Lord, help us to live in the reality of this Truth!