A Secret Place
God has a secret place and he is calling each Christian to meet Him there. It is a special place that can not be found by seeking. It can't be found in preaching, teaching, reading your Bible or mentally trying to figure out what "a secret place" means. It can not be faked. God chooses to create a secret place in the hearts of those who belong to Jesus, a secret place that is only discovered when we are willing to lay aside everything we are, everything we hope for and everything we desire, letting Him consume us with the fire of His presence.
How hard it is for us to do nothing! Sitting quietly and letting God take over always seems to throw us off balance. We are expected to "do something, say something" and we have heard that if we do nothing, the devil will take advantage of us. Now how can it be that the devil can take over when we are waiting on the Lord? If we are really yielding ourselves to God, He will not allow us to come up with something bad.
You parents – if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. Mt. 7:9-11 NLT
God has provided everything we need to be powerful, effective Christians. We have grace, mercy, forgiveness, the Bible in many translations and churches everywhere in the United States. There comes a time when we have to take stock of what results we are getting from what we are doing. If the fruit we produce is not what we want or expected, it is time to hit our knees and wait until God takes us into His secret place and makes some adjustments.
Under the old covenant, common people had no access to the Holy of Holies, the place of God's presence, but they were separated by the law, which was represented by a huge, heavy curtain. When Jesus died on the cross, God ripped the curtain from the top to the bottom and His presence departed from the Holy of Holies. This signified that He would no longer be confined to a building where only the High Priest could come once a year to make atonement for the people. By accepting the blood sacrifice Christ offered, God moved out of the place where He had been separated from His people and moved into the hearts of those who accept Christ as the atonement for their sin.
He is here right now, patiently waiting for us to recognize His presence in us. We don't have to wait for a special anointing or for a person to teach us how to do it. He is constantly with us, yearning for us to stop striving for His presence and simply ask Him to take us where He is.
Do you long for a mighty move of God in your life? We can change ourselves and our churches if we stop our own works and wait on the Lord. We have to do it the same way Jesus did. He gave Himself to God completely, not seeking his own will or his own ways. He humbled himself and became obedient. He waited for God to take him to secret place and once Jesus found that secret place he was able to return anytime He wanted to.
He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Ps.91"1 KJV
Many people want to be used by God, to speak His words and do the miracles Jesus said we could do but are we willing to separate ourselves as Jesus did? Are we willing to lay down our own lives and our own ways in order to walk in his presence? It is easy to say that is what we want when our hearts are stirred but doing it takes more than feelings. We want our ministries and lives to produce results and not be like a cloud hanging over someone's head but never letting down rain.
Healing is more than simply laying hands on someone and telling that person to believe God has healed them. If you have healing for that person, they will be healed. When you have said, "Thus saith the Lord" and it doesn't happen it is time to admit you were wrong, not make excuses and blame it on the person's faith. It is time to stop making a fruitless show out of ministry and start producing results. We do this by letting God take us to His secret place where we will receive the power and anointing to do His work on this earth. The world desperately needs to hear from and be touched by God. He will use us to do this as we submit ourselves to Him and wait until He tells us what to do. This is the example set for us by Jesus. He waited until He was in the presence of God, then talked with Him about what He wanted to do. How can we do less?
In Jeremiah's day there were many prophets but only one knew God's word. The others strutted around proclaiming lofty promises of deliverance to God's people. Jeremiah was not a man who would seek favor with man by agreeing with what everyone else was saying. He spent a lot of time talking to God and then spoke only what God told him to say
I would rather be right with God than seek to please people and win their favor. I want to be used by God but more than that, I want to be with Him in a secret place that only has room for two. It is just God and me because I am his favorite child. We each can feel that special relationship as we let him take us to His secret place.