Mentoring Manna:  “Meet Me in the Secret Place”

© 2003 Pastor Keith Hassell

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“Meet Me in the Secret Place”:  Jesus said in Matthew 6:6, “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”  The work of God through our lives is born out of intimacy and intimacy is experienced in the “secret place.”  The secret place is a place of intimacy.  As a bride and a groom steal away to the secret place to know one another at the most intimate level in their relationship, so our Heavenly Father beckons us to steal away to the secret place of prayer.  There we experience the intimacy of His presence.  The secret place is a “place” we must go:  “go into your room.”  The secret place may be a routine place set aside for times of worship, meditation, and prayer or it can be a spontaneous place whispered in our ear by the Father.  We hear His voice say, “Meet Me in the secret place.”  Our hearts are quickened with a longing to be there because we know that we cannot live without Him.  Our hearts are captured with His love.  The secret place is a place free of distraction:  “and when you have shut your door.”  The secret place is a place where we can get alone with God and spend time with Him without distractions seeking to pull us away.  We have to find this place.  Jesus was on the move in His ministry.  And yet He found time to steal away to the secret place with His Father in the mountains or in the desert.  No matter how tired he was or how late or early it was, He always found time to meet His Father in the secret place.  The secret place is a place to meet with our Father:  “pray to your Father who is in the secret place.”  Our Father dwells in the secret place.  The secret place is the place of His presence (Psalm 31:20)  It is here that we can meet with Him, talk with Him, and worship Him.  The secret place is a place of impartation:  “and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”  It is in the secret place that we can receive from Him forgiveness, cleansing, healing, restoration, love, counsel, blessing, peace, joy, friendship, protection, provision, grace, and strength.  When we rise up from the secret place we enter the world transformed and empowered by our Father.  This is His reward to us that becomes openly manifested to those around us.  (also read Psalm 27:4-5 and Psalm 91 for more on “the secret place”)

Application:  Corporate prayer is taught in the Scripture, but the power of corporate prayer flows out of the individual time each person has spent alone with their Father in the secret place.  Our effectiveness in life flows out of what we receive in the secret place.  Sometimes we feel that we just do not have time to pray.  Actually we can’t afford NOT to pray.  Jesus was the Son of God Himself and yet He always made time to be with the Father.  Everything He said and did flowed out of what He received in the secret place.  When we begin to realize that our efforts apart from Him will always fail or fall short of His glory, then we realize we need to spend time in the secret place.  It would do us good to do less and pray more.  Out of that the Father’s reward will begin to be manifest in our lives, our families, and our ministries.  Don’t ignore the urge to be in the Father’s presence.  Listen and you will hear Him say, “Meet Me in the secret place!”  You can’t afford to miss this opportunity to be with your Father.  He awaits your arrival!  Take the time, make the time, even steal the time to meet Him in the secret place.

Prayer:  ‘Heavenly Father, thank You for the secret place of Your presence.  Help me never to forget that I need Your presence more than anything else in life.  Father, may the blessing of the secret place be manifested openly so that others will see and desire to be with You also.  I pray this in Jesus’ name.  Amen!”

We love you!

Pastors Keith & Sheila

Grace Fellowship

P.O. Box 260

Rusk, Texas 75785

(903) 683-6550