The Secret Place

'THESE PEOPLE DRAW NEAR TO ME WITH THEIR MOUTH, AND HONOR ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME. AND IN VAIN THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.' " Mat 15:8-9

We have a precious promise in scripture that if we draw near to God He will draw near to us. Jesus warned that the religious leaders in His day, drew near with their mouth and honoured with their lips but their hearts were far from Him. He went on to say that their worship was in vain. God calls us to worship Him and we certainly don't want to do it in vain, but we want to come and worship in the secret place.

It is the place where we come and meet with God. It is a secret place because it speaks of the intimacy between God and you. A place where no one else can come because it is a personal meeting place alone with God. A Yours-and-His time! Your heart entwines with His and His desires are transferred to you. It's the place where you surrender your will in His presence and sacrifice your "Isaac" before His throne. Everyone can have a secret place with God, that is, if you make the time to meet with Him.

Before Christ, only the High Priest could come into the Holy of Holies, where God's presence dwelt, to minister to the Lord. But since Christ's death, when the curtain blocking the approach to the Holy of Holies was torn, the way was opened for us to come to present ourselves to God, to worship, listen and speak to God about all the things we have in our heart.

It is a place where there is transparency and where those things that don't please God can come to the light in a safe environment where there is no condemnation. A place of illumination, where we see our sins in the light of His Glory and where we receive His full grace, mercy and forgiveness. A place where it feels as though we have touched heaven as we sense and feel the majesty of God as He draws near to us.

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. Mat 6:6

We find so many promises for those who enter and dwell in the secret place. Protection, promotion, answers to troubling questions but best of all, His presence and a taste of His Glory.

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. Psa 27:5

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. Psa 31:20

You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; Psa 81:7

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psa 91:1

Have you found the secret place with God? God is calling us to enter in and sit before His feet and respond to His Love. Let our heart song be the same as David when he wrote:-

One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple. Psa 27:4