In the Secret Place Part 1
Psalms 91:1-2 – NKJV – He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
A long, long time ago during a crazy decade called the 1970’s, I walked into a church on Long Island, NY that was in the midst of genuine spiritual revival and gave my life to Jesus Christ. Coming out of a lifestyle of Atheism, confusion and drug use, I had a born-again experience that dramatically changed my life and experienced a complete turnaround in my thinking and lifestyle, not that there weren’t some things that I had to allow the Lord to work out in my life (and still do); there certainly was. But my life changed drastically as is the case with anyone who has an encounter with God.
My Atheism was completely “thrown-out” and the power that the drugs had over me was “broken” as the reality of interacting with the “Living God” began to have an effect upon my life. But one thing that was emphasized to me from the very beginning from the men of God that mentored me was the importance of developing and maintaining a solid relationship with the Lord. This relationship, I was taught, would be the most important relationship in your life. Spending time with God in the “secret place” was the key to life. And I took it seriously.
While I can honestly say that there were times in my life where I battled indifference and lukewarmness in my relationship with Him, I have learned over the years how to remain consistent in dwelling in the secret place. But, you may ask, what exactly is the secret place?
The secret place is that place of prayer where it is just you and the Lord. It’s that place where you learn to spend quality time with the Lord and it is strictly interaction between you and Him. Scripture puts it like this:
Matthew 6:5-6 – NKJV – And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 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.
There has to be times when, as Jesus taught and explained, that you have to enter into your room (not necessarily a physical room, but a place of privacy) and go into what the Scripture calls the “secret place” and pray to your Heavenly Father. It is here that you will begin to develop the intimacy with the Lord that our hearts crave for and that God desires as well.
It pleases the heart of our Heavenly Father when His children desire to spend time with Him. Yet, so many Christians struggle in this area of spending quality time with Him. Prayer for many is a chore to be fulfilled or a task to be taken care of. Some have struggled their entire Christian life with this, never really learning how to dig deeper into their relationship with God. For many, prayer is just a very “ritualistic” episode, but not a vibrant encounter and exchange with a “Living God”. So how does the Christian who has been saved for a good while yet has never developed their relationship with the Lord get it to the level that they want it? How do you begin to develop your own intimate relationship with the Lord?
Like any relationship, you have to be intentional about taking the time to develop it. And it is the same way in our walk with God. Truth be told, if we really want to know Him, we are going to have to pay the price of making time for Him. It’s understandable that many of us have very busy schedules and I believe God understands this. But that does not change the fact that we still have to commit to prayer. Jesus didn’t say “If” you pray; He said “when” you pray” (Luke 11:1-2). So, I would encourage everyone to make time to spend with our Lord in prayer and in His Word. Make the time to spend with the One who loves you the most and make it a priority.
In the upcoming issues, we are going to take a look at ways of developing intimacy with the Lord. Until then, God Bless!
