The Secret Place, Part 12

By Amy Stoehr
As we make time to meet with the Lord in prayer and in His Word each day, in response to Matthew 6:6, He promises to instruct us in His will, guide us on His path and direct our steps according to His purposes. Wow! The precious Holy Spirit will meet with us there in that secret place with the Father and Jesus! In Psalm 16, David speaks of setting the Lord continually before him, taking refuge in the Lord. I love the truth of verse 11, “You will make known to me the path of life. In Your presence is fullness of Joy.”

In verse 12, the Holy Spirit reminds us that as we worship the Lord, He will instruct us in the way we should choose. ”The secret of the Lord is for those who worship Him and He will make then know His covenant.” In Psalm 32, David speaks of the Lord being His hiding place, and He is our Hiding Place today. The Word promises in verse 8 that ”He will instruct us and teach us in the way we should go. He will counsel us with His eye upon us.”

Jesus spent much time alone with the Father, receiving from the Father all that which was necessary for the day at hand. When He told the disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” He was telling them that each day would require a fresh supply from the Father, of grace, wisdom, strength and direction. He will instruct us in His path for our life each day! I am praying Colossians 1:9-14 for you right now with much faith and excitement.

“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will 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.”

We can be filled with the knowledge of God’s will for us and have spiritual wisdom and understanding from Him, we can know how to please Him and increase in our knowledge of God as we spend time meeting with Him. He will strengthen us and give us all we need for the day. He is our All in All. He is the Light of the world and in Him is no darkness! Thank You Lord!

The Secret Place, Part 11

By Amy Stoehr
I’m praying for you this day that as you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength in the secret place of prayer and His Word, that you will begin to experience His manifested presence in an unprecedented way. As you Pray in secret, He promises to reward you openly. God’s rewards are good! Here are some rewards that I am praying in agreement with you for your life. Receive these promises regarding His will for you. I pray that in the secret place today you would be:

• Strengthened in your inner man (Eph. 3:16)
• Rooted deep in love and founded securely in love (Eph. 3:17)
• Able to grasp God’s love - the breadth and length and height and depth of it. (Eph 3:18)
• That you would be filled through all your being with the fullness of God.(Eph 3:19)
• That you may “know” Him and the power of His resurrection. (Phil 3:10)
• That He would might grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation. (Eph. 1:17)
• That the eyes of your heart be flooded with light. (Eph 1:18)
• That you might know the greatness of His power in you. (Eph 1:19)
• That you may learn to sense what is vital and of real value.(Eph 1:10)
• That you may be filled with the fruits of righteousness. (Phil 1:11)
• That He will protect you from the evil one. (Jn 17:12) (Jesus’ prayer)
• That you may know God’s will. (Col. 1:9) and walk in His light ( John 8:12)
• That His joy would be in you (John 15:11)
• That you may be strengthened with all power, [to exercise] every kind of endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks. (Col 1:11-12)
• That you would receive His wisdom (James 1:5), being transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you might know the will of God, (Romans 12:2)
• That HE would instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. (Ps. 32:8)
• That you would be on the alert, standing firm in your faith, acting like a man or woman of God, strong in Him and that all you do would be done in love. (1 Cor 16:13)
• That you would be ignited with His love and power to do what He has commissioned you to do......pray, share His love, speak His Word, minister to the hurting, preach the gospel, set the captives free, make disciples, do the works of Jesus, destroy the works of the enemy, (Matt. 28:19, Mark 16:15-18), 1 Jn 3:8) and live for His glory.
• In Jesus’ Name!

The Secret Place, Part 10

By Amy Stoehr
Mark 1:35 “And in the early morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there.”

Our Savior, perfect, sinless and magnificent as He was, knew that His time meeting alone with the Father was the most important. He knew that the demands of the day that He would encounter would require the strength and power that even His sinless humanity could not provide. He is our example, and He shows us how essential our alone time with the Father is! For there in secret, the Father would speak to Him of the day. Jesus knew the truth of where His strength came from. He heard the instructions of the Father. He only spoke what He heard the Father speak. He did the works the Father showed Him. He demonstrated to us the life of the branch connected to the Vine that He speaks about in John 15. From this daily practice, He instructs the disciples to do the same in Matthew 6:6, “But you, when you pray, go into your room and close the door, and pray to Your Father in secret. And the Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you openly.”

As we have this daily practice in common with our Jesus, I believe we will begin to look like Him and do what He did. There we can meet with the Father. There, the Holy Spirit will reveal Truth to us and fill us afresh with His presence. There, in the secret place are infusions of grace, love, courage, wisdom. There, we become familiar with His voice. We will decrease, He will increase. Like the recharging of a battery, we receive what we need for the day. Each day needs grace of its own. Today let us delight in following our Lord into that secret place of prayer with the Father, where we will know Him, receive of His fullness, and go forth to do His will and works. All for His glory!

The Secret Place, Part 9

By Amy Stoehr
Good morning!
In today’s “lifewords" I would like to share with you a powerful quote from Charles Trumball. In the secret place of prayer, Christ will become our life, and it will be no longer we that live, but Christ living in us. Colossians 3:3 says “For you died,and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

“Jesus Christ does not want to be only our Helper, He wants to be our LIFE. He does not want us to work for Him. He wants to let Him do His work through us. When our life is not only Christ's but Christ, our life will be a winning life, for He cannot fail. And a winning life is a fruit bearing life, a serving life. We must bear fruit in character and in service. If Christ is our life, surrender absolutely and unconditionally to Christ as Master of all that we are and all that we have, telling God that we are now ready to have His whole will done in our entire life at every point, no matter what it cost. We may have Christ, yielding to Him in such completeness and surrender of self that it is no longer we that live, but Christ that lives in us.”

The Secret Place, Part 8

By Amy Stoehr
I want to keep encouraging you in Matthew 6:6. Jesus charged His disciples, "But you, when you pray, go into your room (or closet, or secret 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." David said in Psalm 17:8. "When You said, 'Seek My face, my heart said to You, Your face Lord I will seek." Do you sense the Lord is beckoning you to meet with Him often in secret?

Jeremiah 29 contains God's declaration to Israel, inspired by the Holy Spirit through Jeremiah. This was a very devastating time as they had been taken into captivity and sent into exile to Babylon. The passage contains a promise of hope that, after a season of time, although the Israelites had disobeyed God, He would be faithful to fulfill His covenant promises to them. Jeremiah 29:11 is a very familiar verse that God knows the thoughts He has for us, to give us a future and a hope, to do us good and not evil. Although these words in context were given specifically to Israel at a specific time. I believe that through them the Lord reveals His character and His commitment to His Word to His people today. His unchanging redemptive nature, steadfast love and His promise to respond to His people who will seek Him are expressed in Jer. 29:12:

"Then you will call I 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 of your heart. And I will be found by you, declares the Lord."

I believe the Holy Spirit wants to ignite these Words in our hearts now, Jesus taught, Ask and you will receive, SEEK AND YOU WILL FIND, Knock and the door will be opened. With steadfast love He invites us urgently:

Dear one, Call upon Me in prayer, come to Me! Seek for Me now, Search for Me in My Word WITH ALL YOUR HEART! Seek for Me in your worship! Seek for Me in the stillness! Seek for me as you obey my Word. Search for me with all your heart and I will be found you.

When we truly begin to find Him in His Word and prayer, and live in Him and in the reality of His presence, He will not only reveal Himself to us but He will reveal Himself to the world through us. In our secret time with Him, He will consume us with His love, transform us by His Word and strengthen us in our journey. He reveals His secrets to those who choose to seek after Him and who are close enough to be familiar with His voice.

You are His beloved one and I am praying for YOU, Amy

The Secret Place, Part 7

By Amy Stoehr
Giving Thanks in the Secret Place.

Good morning! This is the day the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it. For the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever! Today I would like to share about a daily practice that has transformed my prayer life and my journey.....

Thanksgiving! As prayer time in the “secret place” is the priority, let’s understand both the necessity and power of thanksgiving.....having a thankful heart and expressing our thanks to the Lord, especially as we come to our prayer time with Him. In Psalm 100:4, the Holy Spirit through David instructs us in how to approach the Lord in prayer. We are to “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and come into His courts with praise.” This was the instruction to the Israelites as they came into the Tabernacle area and this is our instruction today as we come into our “secret place”.

I love to thank the Lord for His overwhelming faithfulness, goodness and love. Just think about it.....His amazing creation, His plan for our redemption, His great love for mankind and for us personally, the power of His blood, the power of His resurrection.

Lord thank you for Your forgiveness! Thank you we are Your children! You will never leave us or forsake us.

I’m so thankful for God’s Word and I tell Him often. I’m so thankful for the precious Holy Spirit who lives in us moment by moment and guides us into all truth. I’m thankful for His great love and mercy and grace. I’m thankful for another breath to breathe today and for His amazing provision. I’m thankful for my precious family and the blessing of being in the family of God. I’m thankful to live in a free land and for my freedom in Christ. I’m thankful the sun came up again today and He is Lord over all. As we come into the secret place of prayer we should come like David expressed in Psalm 95:2:

“Oh come let us sing for joy to the Lord; Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with THANKSGIVING.”

Remember the Holy Spirit’s instructions through Paul in Philippians 4:6:

“DON’T BE ANXIOUS about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, WITH THANKSGIVING, let your requests be made known to God.”

Thanksgiving is such a key to answered prayer and to living in God’s presence and favor. Thankful people are joyful people, the presence of God surrounds their life and they cause others to been encouraged and look to the Lord!

Having a continual expression of thanksgiving is a very good thing! Psalm 42:1:

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your Name Oh Most High, to declare your lovingkindness in the morning and your faithfulness by night.”

Thanksgiving should saturate our prayer time and our lives moment by moment. Thanksgiving squelches selfishness and apathy. It is a remedy for depression and fear. It pleases God and get’s our eyes on His greatness. Regarding prayer, thank Him for answers before you see the manifestation .Let’s come into our prayer closet thanking Him, then continue to saturate our praying with thanksgiving and leave our prayer closet thanking Him, determined to continue in expressing our thanks to God. Remember, moment by moment, His great love for you and be thankful! Express your heart of thanks out loud, that is what thanksgiving is! Thanksgiving will keep your faith airborne, cause heaviness to flee, and will change the way you live your days! Thank you Lord!

The Secret Place, Part 6

By Amy Stoehr
“In the day I called, You answered, and strengthened me with strength in my soul.” Psalm 138:8. In the secret place of prayer are springs of refreshing, strength and victory.

One of the first things the Lord taught His disciples about the Kingdom is that God is not only our King but He is our Father. We know that we are to learn to live in continual abiding prayer relationship with the Lord, and how wonderful that is! But Jesus emphasizes that we must have a secret place, a special time of meeting with the Father if we are to live the life of the branch abiding in the vine. In that private place, shut out from people, shut out from the clamor and business of our life, shut in with the Father, Jesus will teach us how to pray. That spot may be anywhere; it may change from day to day, but find a consistent place for quiet time in the Master’s presence.

Remember Jesus’ Words. “But you, when you pray, go into your room and close the door, and pray to your Father Who is in secret. And the Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly.” Matthew 6:6.

He mentions the Father four times in these few verses regarding prayer:

1. Pray to the Father in secret
2. Your Father sees in secret
3. Your Father will reward you openly
4. Your Father knows what you need.

In the secret place is where we begin to know our Father intimately. Our amazing Father of love, who is in secret, wants to meet with us! He sees us, He will reward us openly. He will teach us to TRUST HIM with childlike faith and expectation. The secret place is our school of prayer and Jesus is our Teacher. He that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”Ask, and you shall receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

I’m praying for YOU now!