Psalm 91:1–2 says, " He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
Many of us may be familiar with the term secret place as Christians, but we may not be fully maximizing our secret place experience.
So, this is to bring us back to a consciousness of the source of our impact as children of God, disciples, and people who should shine as light in the world. We will be seeing how important our secret place is in fulfilling our purpose and impact on the earth. There is a secret place experience and a strength we must continually draw from our secret place if we will fulfill the purpose of God for our lives and do the things the Lord would require of us. Generally, we will be seeing that your secret place experience gives the essence and extent of your impact and true purpose on the earth. Maximizing your secret place is personal
What does it mean to maximize? Maximizing means using to utmost, using well, make the best use of. Our secret place when well-utilized has the ability to produce an intended result. A secret place can connote a covered-up place, a shielded place, a place that is not at the moment exposed or free for anyone to just come in. In fact, when we say secret, it is not known.
In scriptures, we often see a call to a secret place, a covering, a shielded place. And in fact, we see God being referred to as our covering, where we can hide, where we are shielded. We see in the bible, “secret place of your presence.”
Psalm 91: 1
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 27:5
For in the time of trouble, He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle. He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.
Psalm 31:20
20 You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence From the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion From the strife of tongues.
So, the secret place is something that is also familiar with God Himself. And in the secret place, He is able to do certain things for us and with us. The bible says, the secret place of Your presence. So, God shields us, hides us and dwells in the secret place.
Based on our consideration today, your secret place is a place where you meet with God, and we will get to understand that better as we go on.
What happens in the secret place? What does God do for us and with us in the secret place so we know why we should maximize it?
I want us to see an interesting verse
Psalm 139:13-16
For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
I don’t want us to only see it from the point of view of a baby being formed in the womb. I want us to see it as God’s strategy of making, or forming, or skillfully designing a person. The bible says when I was made in secret. So, there is something about a secret place that even God knows of. Asides the shielding, hiding under the shadow of his wings, there is a secret place for making.
Many of us in the body of Christ might refer to it as a wilderness experience, where you are probably shut off from the world, communicating with God and all that. Many people have gone through this process like Moses, John the Baptist and God worked and is working through them mightily but I don’t want us to fixate on that.
The secret place experience we are considering could be with you in the wilderness or with you daily even as you are in the midst of a busy world and busy schedule. To the end that, we become and do all that the Lord will have us do. But note, the secret place is a place where God strategically makes.
There is a call to come to the secret place, to come to a shielded place, a place where God makes people.
Matt. 6:18
16 “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
I am not sure he was talking about not interacting with people, or going anywhere. But there must be that secret place experience. Where it is me and you, and I know we are connecting. Let it be more of a connection between me and you. A secret place experience. It’s easy for us not to tell outsiders that we are fasting right, it’s probably not their business to know but perhaps your spouse, people you are living in the same house with, you might need to tell them. Does that mean you have spoilt your fast because someone else knows? No! I don’t think so. The bible says the Father who sees in secret, who knows the connection that you have there, who knows how you are tarrying, waiting in that place will reward you openly.
God dwells in the secret place and He wants us to meet him there.
Matthew 6: 6
6 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.
Once again, we see “the Father who dwells in the secret place,” telling us that if it’s a secret place, then it’s not everyone that has knowledge of the place or who enters the place even though it could be accessible to all. Also, does this mean that if you are in a situation where you do not have spare room or place where you can withdraw and shut the door to pray, you can’t pray or can’t be with God, or maximize this secret place experience? No!
He is not telling us, necessarily, about a physical location to pray, but a secret place in our lives set aside for one-on-one time with God—a place of solitude.
Taking an example from the life of Jesus,
Mark 1:35
35 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.
Luke 4:42
42 Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them;
Mark 6:46
46 And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.
Jesus showed us an important principle where we will need to withdraw ourselves from the noise, hustles and bustles of life but He showed us that it’s not about the location, but the experience. Because withdrawing to a location without getting the experience is as good as being where you were before. Jesus went back daily for the experience. He was sourcing strength, impact, purpose from his secret place. And that’s why the bible said he withdrew to a place at different times. His location was changing as they moved on and travelled, and the experience was moving with the locations. He prayed at different places and took the experience to all the places.
I know many of us are knowledgeable about the secret place, I need to spend time with God, I do my quiet time, I need to fellowship with God. But being familiar with a place does not mean we will benefit from the place if we do not maximize it, if we do not understand the revelation behind the place and utilize it.
Hebrews 9:11-12 says,
11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
There is a secret place in the Presence of God and not everyone gets there even though it is accessible by all through the blood of Jesus. The secret place is a place beyond the outer court. It is a place where we can abide, draw strength from, a place where there is shielding, a place of deeper fellowship and worship to God, a place of reward and a place of making, where God skillfully works on you. The secret place for us, is where our soul is in union with God, consecrated and sold out, in communion and alignment with God, in fellowship and worship
And it’s a place where we must daily come. Some people come sometimes but to get the full blessings, we must come continually. God wants us to dwell and abide in His presence. There is a lingering, there is a staying, and there is constant life and protection in the presence of God.
Why is it that people rarely stay in the secret place?
- some people are still stuck on the Old Testament way of doing things where they believe they are not good enough to access God themselves and they need someone with higher mantle or authority should do it for them
- some people are still trying to work out their own salvation
- some people are still afraid of the presence of God. They think God is a fearful God ready to condemn and judge them so he is unapproachable
- distractions,
- We are too busy so we get really tired “genuinely”
- We think we have gotten to a level of experience and well, we are on a good place so far so good
- We desire it but we do not yearn for it badly, like it’s not a matter of this experience, I must have it. It’s like an option
But if we do not come every day, we do not have the complete package. God desires that we dwell in that secret place even in the midst of the busyness in the world.
Why do we need to maximize our secret place?
- Because it is a place of God’s presence, where God himself dwells and it’s a place of skillful making by God,
When we spend time alone with God, we learn more about Him and it is also a way He transforms us to become more like Him. Spending time in our "secret place" with God is one way of choosing the Spirit over the flesh (Romans 8:5-8).
Romans 8:5-8
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the] carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
James 4:8
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
- We renew strength. He teaches us and encourages us to remain. Our continual choice to surrender fully to Him results in His continued strength to do so. If our lives are to bear lasting fruit, the power to bear that fruit comes from time spent with Him in the secret place
12 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those who are planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing,
15 To declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
God is yearning for a place we must meet with Him. So, we must meet with Him in the secret places of the heart in order to commune with Him. We need to quiet our hearts before Him.
Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Benedicta Apeh!
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