The Secret Place
The Secret Place
Categories: WEEKLY DEVOTIONALS
Tim Clinton, Ed.D. and Max Davis
“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret…”
— Matthew 6:6 ESV
“Therefore, whether the desire for prayer is on you or not, get to your closet at the set time; shut yourself in with God; wait upon Him; seek His face; realize Him; pray.”
— R. F. Horton
Where do you live?
Where do you sleep?
Where do you eat?
When and where do you pray?
Most would respond, “Over food” — “with my kids” — “in church”. Common answers. Good answers.
But Jesus talked about a place of prayer that really mattered to Him — the “secret place”. A place of solitude where He would often withdraw into privacy and spiritual intimacy with His Father.
It is interesting that Jesus used the religious hypocrites of His day as a warning about prayer. They loved to pray in public. For show. With loud voices. Out of duty and pride. Jesus made it clear that being seen by others was their reward (Matthew 6:5 ESV).
With encouraging direction Jesus continues, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret”.
The “secret place”. Where God abides. Where He sees into our hearts and minds. The room in which God is in touch with the things we think go unnoticed, but that matter deeply to Him and us.
And by the way, Jesus added — “your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6 ESV) Sowing in the secret place of prayer, reaps God’s rewards.
You can tell those people who pray in secret. Their countenance shines with the very Glory of God. They have a humble boldness. A gentle strength. A quiet confidence. The mind of Christ.
But too often the pace of life has paralyzed the power of our prayers. We have relegated our “quiet time” to spiritual fast food, micro-waved on the fly. A quick “Bless me Lord” as we head off to bed or into a day of the unknown.
Finding time to pray, much less a “secret place” is hard to do with the press of the world, and the pressures of our much-too-busy lives.
Jesus understood this. When the “great crowds gathered to hear Him (Jesus) and to be healed of their infirmities” (Luke 5:15 ESV) there was the potential for His life to become frantic and a bit chaotic. Luke 5:16 says that it was at those times that Jesus “would withdraw to desolate places and pray.”
In the very next chapter, when the religious leaders were “filled with fury” and began to conspire as to how to kill Jesus, “he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.” (Luke 6:10-12 ESV).
The “secret place”. The back side of the mountain. The woods. Your favorite fishing spot, or your Man Cave. The space in life where it’s just you and God. It is private. Separate. Alone. No show and tell there. No flowery words meant to impress. Just raw, direct intimacy with our Creator.
In the secret place, it’s God and you.
Make a room for God in your life; A secret place where you “worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness” (Psalm 29:2 ESV).
This devotional is an excerpt from Ignite Your Faith by Dr. Tim Clinton & Max Davis, available here: https://www.aacc.net/product/ignite-your-faith/.