Prayer Series 3.The Secret Place

Prayer Series

Pastor E. Keith Hassell

“The Secret Place”

Psalm 91:1 NKJV “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

“The prayer closet is not an asylum for the indolent and worthless Christian. It is not a nursery where none but babes belong. It is the battlefield of the church, its citadel, the scene of heroic and unearthly conflicts. The closet is the base of supplies for the Christian and the church. Cut off from it, there is nothing but retreat and disaster. The energy for work, the mastery over self, the deliverance from fear, and all spiritual results and graces, are much advanced by prayer.” –E.M. Bounds [E.M. Bounds, E.M. Bounds on Prayer (New Kensington: Whitaker House, 1997), p. 38]

I.              The Secret Nature of God

A.               Isaiah 45:15 NKJV  “Truly You are God, who hide Yourself.”

B.                Proverbs 25:2 NKJV “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.”

C.               Psalm 31: 20 NKJV  “You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence.”

II.           The Secret Place of God

A.               Psalm 91:1 NKJV “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

B.                The Shadow of the Almighty

1.          Winged Cherubim of the Tabernacle

2.          Wings speak of comfort (Matthew 23:37)

3.          Wings speak of favor and security

a               Psalm 17:8-9 NKJV  “Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me under the shadow of Your wings, from the wicked who oppress me, from my deadly enemies who surround me.”

C.               Psalm 27:4-5 NKJV “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. 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.”

D.               Psalm 31:20 NKJV “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.”

E.                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 hand on the street corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But 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.”

III.        The Secret Things of God

A.               Deuteronomy 29:29 NKJV “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

B.                Proverbs 25:14 NKJV “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him. And He will show them His covenant.”

C.               Proverbs 3:32 NKJV “For the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord, but His secret counsel is with the upright.”

D.               Daniel 2:22 NKJV “He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him.”

E.                Amos 3:7 NKJV “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”

F.                Matthew 13:34-35 NKJV  “All these things Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:  ‘I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.’“

G.               Mark 4:22-23 NKJV “For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, for has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.  If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

H.               1 Corinthians 2:7 NKJV  “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages to our glory.”

IV.       The Secret Dealings of God

A.               Psalm 139:13-17 NKJV “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.  I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.  My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.  And in Your book they were all written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there was none of them.  How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!  How great is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand.  When I awake, I am still with You.”

B.                Song of Solomon 2:14 NKJV “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, Let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”

C.               Matthew 6:6 NKJV  “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.”

D.               Matthew 6:3-4 NKJV “But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”

E.                Matthew 6:17-18 NKJV “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 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.”

F.                Isaiah 45:3 NKJV  “I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the Lord, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel.”

V.          The Secret Place of God’s Commissioning

A.               Matthew 10:27 NKJV  “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops.”

B.                Luke 11:33 NKJV  “No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lamp stand, that those who come in may see the light.”

VI.       The Blessings of the Secret Place (Psalm 91)

A.               Deliverance (verse 3)

1.          From the snare of the fowler

2.          From the perilous pestilence

B.                Protection (verse 4)

C.               Shield against deception (verse 4)

D.               Freedom from fear (verses 5-6)

1.          The terror by night

2.          The arrow that flies by day

3.          The pestilence that walks in darkness

4.          The destruction that lays waste at noonday

E.                Distinction from the wicked (verses 7-8)

F.                Hedge against evil (verses 9-10)

G.               Angelic Guardianship (verses 11-12)

H.               Power over enemies (verse 13)

I.                   Answer in times of trouble (verse 14)

J.                  Honor, long life, and God’s salvation (verses 15-16)