(the conclusion of a four part series taken from an audio teaching on 10/20/2009)
And those are times, those are questions, those are things where we have all been or asked. Places we’ve all been, is like, “Where is the joy in all this?” Well, you know what? I’m spending too much time trying to do it myself and leaving God out of the equation. We want fullness of joy; we want joy to be manifested in our hearts and lives. We go into the secret place, into the presence of God.
Psalm 91:1 “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”
That’s under the protective covering of the Almighty God. See? Good place to be. I mean, I’d love to have front row seats to the Chargers game, but this is even a better place to be, you know what I mean?
Under the wings, under the protective care of God Almighty. And when we get into that place where we’re communing, fellowshipping with God, spending time, hanging out, being together with Him, being quiet, we are aware that we have a connection with God. Otherwise, it’s just a long-distance call. We know God, we believe in God, we want the relationship, but our lives are just so full of other stuff, we basically don’t have time. So, we make a long distance call every now and then just to check in, make sure everything’s cool, and we move on, see? It’s interesting that the Word says that we are to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
That means everything within you, within me, all that we are, is to direct our efforts, our energy, our lives towards God. It’s got to be doable without it being bondage, I mean, because you’re thinking, “God, okay, geez, I got this, this, this, this. How am I supposed to do that, too?” It’s a choice, right? It’s a decision. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God. All these things will be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33) I mean, where are our priorities really at? You could fake me out or fake somebody else out, but in your heart you know. See?
Psalm 91:1, “He who dwells in the secret place of the most high, shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty whose power no foe can withstand.”
You know what? That’s the place to be. The secret place, the hiding place. Many other references and things that talk about God being our safety, God being our rock, God being our refuge, our strong tower, our high place, our… On and on and on it goes. Well, it’s great to know all those things, right? It’s much better to be there. “No, I can just quote this and quote that and talk about this, and I can talk all I want about God, but my relationship with God is out the window.” I’m knowledgeable of what it’s like to have a relationship with God. Thing is, I want the relationship with God, not just talk about what it’s like, see?
You see, as we spend time in the secret place of His presence, it changes you from what you are to what only He can make you to be. Because it’s God who’s transforming you. It’s not you who’s transforming you. So many times, we take the responsibility because, “I can’t change. I’m trying so hard to change.” Well, that’s the problem. You are trying too hard to change. The key thing is, is getting into the presence of God and allowing God to transform your life, allowing God to bring qualities to the surface that are really the desires of your heart to live out. It’s figuring out how to allow that to happen. It’s funny, we’ll condemn ourselves about all sorts of things that we can’t get accomplished, or we that we can’t quit, or we can’t do this and that, or failures or whatever.
You know what? It’s an attack from the enemy, just like she said, that he fights like crazy to do whatever it takes in your life to keep you away from God. It really doesn’t matter what the circumstance is, what the pressure is, what the reason is. The reality is, you’ve got to see it for what it is. And if there’s something in my life that’s endeavoring to keep me away from intimately fellowshipping with God in that secret place, then I’ve got to deal with it. I’ve got to take responsibility for it and figure out how to manage my life differently so I can bring those qualities of joy and heart to a point where they begin to transform me, but not in my own strength.
It’s a bizarre concept, really. But that’s the cool thing about really trusting God, believing in God, and seeing it for what it truly is. So that’s it, that’s our secret place.
Now I’m going to close this sharing reading some of the words of an old song written in 1903 called “Near to the Heart of God.”
It says, “There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God, a place where sin cannot molest near to the heart of God. There is a place of comfort sweet near to the heart of God, a place where we our Savior meet near to the heart of God. There is a place of full release near to the heart of God, a place where all is joy, all is peace, near to the heart of God.”
That’s the ultimate beautiful thing about being a believer, is that we have communion and fellowship with God.
Gracious, heavenly Father, thank you in the name of Jesus Christ for what you’ve done on our behalf, Father. You’re delivering power and how you’ve pulled us out of the darkness of this world. You’ve placed the light of Christ within us. And Father, we’re out there shining sometimes, whether we know it or not. But, man, what a more beneficial place to know it. And I thank you, Father, that we are committed in our hearts to crawl up into your arms, to have that time of quiet and rest, Father, that is so needful in our world today that we can just push aside all the distractions and all the noise and all the clamor and confusion and everything else that seems to be so distracting during these times. And Father really help us to learn to cultivate some silence and some peace and quiet on the inside.
Lord, thank you for forgiving us where we’ve fallen short. Father, where we maybe have allowed other things to cause us to have more anxiety and stress more than we really ever wanted, and that we become more aware of the peace that is ours because of what Jesus Christ accomplished on our behalf.
Thank you for the victory that is truly ours. Thank you that we can be transformed. Father, as we look to you and we take the pressure off ourselves, to have You to provide and do all these things that we’re not really that good at, anyway. So, I thank you, Father, for just the victory we have in Jesus Christ and that this week we can rest near to your heart. And I pray in the powerful, the wonderful, the victorious name of our resurrected Lord, Amen.
All right. God bless.
Chosen Gems 