We have been focusing on dwelling in the secret place, based on Psalms 91:1-2 which says “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.”
The secret place is that place of devotion where you spend time alone with God. It is the place of private prayer where you can express your heart to the Lord and where along with His Word, you can be strengthened and refreshed.
Meeting the Lord in prayer should be a delight and for countless Christians, it is. Many come out of their personal time with Him encouraged, strengthened and having had some ‘weights’ lifted off of them, whether those weights were something that they were worried or concerned about, or just dealing with the everyday challenges that life brings to us. Meeting our Heavenly Father in prayer can help and empower us through life’s trials because our God is faithful (1 Corinthians 1:9) and He loves us (John 3:16). And oftentimes, we come away with the grace sufficient enough to meet our needs.
I know for me, when I feel like I need some emotional strength, He is the first place that I will go to in order to get the grace and strength needed for that kind of support. We are familiar with the Scripture in Hebrews 4:16 which says, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” God has plenty of “grace” to help us in our times of need, and yes, even emotional support. It’s not that we reject other believers for that kind of support when needed, but it would be a good habit to go to Him first before we begin to reach out for others to pray or speak into our lives. Jesus said this:
Matthew 11:28 – NKJV – Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Not only are we encouraged to come boldly before God’s throne to obtain help in our time of need, but Jesus also encouraged us to come to Him and He would give us rest. The Greek word for ‘rest’ is the word “anapauo” (pronounced “ana-pow-o”), which means to find rest, relief and refreshment from the burdens of life. This is an invitation from our Lord to come to Him for spiritual and emotional refreshment. As a Christian, you learn how to draw grace and strength when you connect with Him through your prayer time in the secret place. But this does not come without its challenges and is also an area that many Christians struggle with. There are many distractions that would like to keep us from coming into the secret place of prayer, primarily the world, our flesh (1 John 2:15-17) and we have our age old enemy, the devil who is always looking for ways to keep us separate from God (Ephesians 2:1-3;1 Peter 5:8;2 Corinthians 4:4). There are times when you have the “I-don’t-feel-like-it’s” or face multiple distractions, which can be endless, ranging from too much entertainment, too much TV, or too much social media with less-and-less private time in the secret place. (Could be too much work; some people are “workaholics” and they don’t know when to shut it down and rest). These are the times when you have to ask the Lord for His grace to help you “push through”, be intentional and yes, at times, be aggressive to maintain your time in the secret place. You see, your relationship with the Lord will always be the most important relationship that you will ever have in your life. And there’s no getting around that. The many unneeded distractions that we face are designed to keep us out of the secret place if we let them. And sometimes, you have to fight to preserve it. But don’t worry. You have the tools to overcome it. You have the Lord, who will always help you if you ask Him (Hebrews 4:16; Psalms 46:1); you have His Word to give direction and strengthen you (2 Timothy 3:16);you have His Holy Spirit that can empower you from within (Ephesians 3:16); you have other believers you can call upon to help encourage and pray with you (1 Thessalonians 5:11); and He has given us faith to win the battle (1 John 5:4-5). There is a time when we have to fight the good fight of faith as Scripture calls us to do (1 Timothy 6:12); we can’t be naive about this. But we can overcome it as we learn how to dwell in the secret place.
As you maintain a continual persistence with this, it will turn from a struggling discipline to a delight. There will come a time when you will desire to be in the secret place, fellowshipping with your Heavenly Father and this will become what many describe as their true “Happy Place”. My prayer is that we would all get to that place from discipline to delight as we learn how to enjoy just being in His presence. May that become our hearts desire!
God Bless!
