The Secret Place

“One thing I have asked of the Lord, and that I will seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord in His presence all the days of my life,
To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and meditate in His temple. 
For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter;
In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;
He will lift me up on a rock.”
- Psalms 27:4-5

Prayer is the basis for relationship with God. It is the foundation that we use to both talk to God and to hear from Him. In the Old Testament, God spoke to the prophets on mountains and manifested his presence through burning bushes and pillars of fire, but now we have access to God’s presence all the time through the power of the Holy Spirit. Since we now have constant access to the Lord, we come to the secret place to meet with Him.
 
So what exactly is the secret place?

The secret place is simply the place of prayer that we feel most at home at with God.
 
It is in the secret place that we bring our worries, concerns and questions to God. It is where we come to be ministered to by our Heavenly Father; a place to sing praises and be renewed with peace. It is also the place we come to to wrestle with truth and replace lies. Most importantly though, the secret place is the place we come to encounter God and understand more of His character.
 
The Psalms are filled with references to the secret place. Psalms 32:7 calls the secret place a place of hiding and safety; Psalms 27 calls it a shelter. It is in these safe places of prayer that the Lord reveals truth to us through His word and speaks to us. In the secret place, we are totally secure because it is in the secret place that we meet with God. And where the Lord is, darkness and lies cannot exist. Psalms 91 says “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will remain secure and rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”
 
How can we use this sanctuary of prayer to go deeper in our relationship with Christ?

The secret place is where we develop greater intimacy with the Lord. We won’t know God if we don’t choose to come into His presence or to speak with Him to get to know His character, so we must convene with the Lord daily in our place of prayer. When we seek Him daily in the secret place, what we are really doing is building relationship. We learn to come to Him when we need a friend, or a father, or a wise counselor, and as we dive deeper into His character we build trust in Him. We learn that we always have someone fighting for us, working on our behalf and constantly showing His love and kindness to us. Most importantly, we learn to retreat to the secret place when circumstances tempt us to question God’s character.
 
Matthew 6:6 says “But when you pray, go into your most private room, close the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees you what is done in secret will reward you.” So whether it is your bedroom, the park, or just a place in your mind you like to visit, meet with the Lord in your secret place daily and let Him lead you into deeper relationship with your Father.

Author | Katie Pilson