Our Secret Place: Part III

“In fact, Satan would like nothing better for us than to get involved in all kinds of religious activities rather than spend time with God. There’s only one way I know to maintain the… she calls it the anointing of my life, and that is by spending time in the presence of God. Well, you may be wondering, “But what do I do when I spend time with God?” Good question. “What do I do when I spend time with God?” Well, you just dedicate a portion of time for that purpose. You try not to be legalistic about it but try to be as regular with it as you can. During that time, you read the Bible, any other Christian books possibly that minister to you, and you talk to God. Sometimes you may want to listen to Christian music and worship. Other times you may just want to sit there and enjoy the silence.” (from Eight Ways to Keep the Devil Under Your Feet, Joyce Meyers)

And I’ve got to tell you, this is a really interesting thing. On Sunday mornings before I teach, I normally get up early. I got up at 4:15 this morning. I go into my office because then it’s really quet there and all of a sudden, I hear something. We had a guy living with us, William. His girlfriend lives in China. They’re on a different time schedule. He’s talking to her on Skype at four o’clock in the morning! And of course, the only thing my mind can hear, is him talking to her, at four o’clock in the morning when I’m trying to get quiet.

How about that statement we read earlier? “The one thing the devil works overtime to do is to get you to stop spending time doing what you need to do. So sometimes you may want to listen to Christian music and worship. Other times you may just want to sit there and enjoy the silence. And if you will do that, you will begin to feel and sense the presence of the Lord. Because one of the things we need more than anything is a conscious awareness of God’s presence with us.” 

Really something, huh? Isaiah chapter 30. Isaiah 30:15, “For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: ‘In returning and rest shall ye be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength;’ and ye would not.”

But in quietness and in trusting confidence, that’s going to be your strength. You know what? Our lives are so busy and so noisy, we just don’t have enough quiet time in our lives. We don’t spend enough time being alone. A lot of us can’t… Well, I can’t speak on your behalf, but many people have a problem just being alone with themselves. They’ve got to have some sort of distraction. But see, we don’t even have enough silence. We don’t spend enough time just sitting somewhere with no noise, no distraction, just quiet. Because even here, now, you still hear these fans, huh? You hear the noise outside, hear the traffic going by. There are things going on.

For example, we always think we’ve got to have something on in the house: radio, TV, stereo, computer. Do you know what? That’s not true. One of the greatest ways, the best ways to experience the presence of God is to get it quiet enough in your house and in your space, so that you can actually hear birds chirping outside the window. And if you’re fortunate enough to be in that situation, then praise the Lord. And if you’re not and it’s something you have to continue to fight for, then that’s something we continue to fight for.

And one of the first ways to keep the devil under our feet is, you’ve got to be quiet on the inside. How the heck are you going to hear it from God otherwise? How do you recognize God’s voice with all the turbulence and all the noise going on? It’s just a voice amongst many other noises, right? Because He doesn’t come in an earthquake, right? It’s the still small voice of God. We’ve got to take the time to learn.”

And maybe when we are in that place, we can go to God and ask Him, “Teach me how to hear your voice. Teach me how to walk by the spirit. Teach me how to operate the manifestations of holy spirit. Teach me how You work with me individually so that when You are doing something for me, I have the awareness that it’s actually You that is doing it.”

Matthew chapter 14. What a great subject. Matthew 14:23. Great example of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 22 says, “And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before Him unto the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He…” He himself, personally, Jesus Christ, “… went up into a mountain by Himself, apart, to pray; and when the evening was come, He was there alone.” Talking to God. He was in that place, see? Communing with the Father. That verse I was talking about earlier; we’re going to look there. It’s in Psalm 16:11. It says, “For in Thy presence is fullness of joy.”

Joy is a very strengthening thing in our lives, because you remember in Nehemiah, there’s the verse says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Singing) Remember that song? Yeah, ha, ha, ha, but the joy of the Lord is our strength. When you have joy, you have strength. It just energizes you. It strengthens you when your heart is heavy, see? And when you have strength, His strength, then you know what? We can defeat the enemy. We can always keep him under our feet. Joy is not determined by how we feel, and it’s not determined by your circumstances.

So when you start to wonder where the joy has gone in your life, that’s a good time to get into the presence of God.

“There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God.” Brother Lawrence