The Secret Place

It's interesting that in Matthew 6, Jesus teaches that giving, fasting and prayer should be done in secret.

In reference to these three things, He says, do them in secret. "Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

There is a place of hiddenness, a secret place, where God builds character, in order that the man of His choosing might be able to carry the anointing. It is a place where away from the gaze of others, He builds a deep foundation in His children, in order that they may carry His giftings.

It was so with Elijah, whom God hid at the Brook Cherith and in the widow's house for 3 years, before he came forth in power to take on the prophets of Baal on a single day.

It was so for Moses, who was hidden in the desert for 40 years, before he was used as an instrument to liberate the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery.

It was so for Jesus, whose preparation took 30 years, for 3 years of public ministry.

I like this quote by Leonard Ravenhill on the prophet.

"He walks before men for days but has walked before God for years."

It is in the place of hiddenness, the secret place, in communion with the Lord that God prepares His children to do mighty exploits.

It is only they that know their God who do mighty exploits for Him (Daniel 11:32). Would it be that we are a people of the secret place.

Blessings (Laura Story)

Blessings

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?

What if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

And all the while You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?

And what if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears?
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the achings of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst
This world can’t satisfy?

And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?

At the foot of the Cross (Kathryn Scott)

As sinners, we are a people bound for eternal damnation. As a holy and righteous God, God cannot let sin go unpunished. According to the Bible, the wages of sin is death. But in His great love, God decides to spare the sinner. So He finds a substitute instead. Someone to take our place. Someone to bear the punishment in our stead. God the Father chooses to crush His son, Jesus, to reconcile ourselves to Him. Not only does He save us out of darkness into His marvellous light, when we give our lives to God, and accept His gift of life, He adopts us into His family. And calls us sons and daughters of God, with a full inheritance, and the resources of Heaven behind us. Imagine that! Truly, now we can trade our ashes in for beauty!

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)

He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5)

Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved (Acts 2:21)

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

We are saved into God's family!

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)

Intimacy with God

Oswald Chambers says:

"It is an incontrovertible fact that some Christians seem to experience a much closer intimacy with God than others. They appear to enjoy a reverent familiarity with Him that is foreign to us. Is it a matter of favoritism on the part of God? Or do such people qualify in some way for that desirable intimacy?

Both Scripture and experience teach that it is we, not God, who determines the degree of intimacy with Him that we enjoy. We are at this moment as close to God as we really choose to be. We are now, and we will be in the future, only as intimate with God as we really choose to be.”

When I think about the Lord

When I Think about the Lord
How He saved me, how He raised me
how He filled me, with the Holy Ghost
How He healed me, to the uttermost

When I Think about the Lord
how He picked me up and turned me around
how He placed my feet on solid ground

Chrous

It makes me wanna shout
Hallelujah
Thank you Jesus
LORD, you're worthy, of all the glory, and all the honor
and all the praise

God hear the prayers of the humble (Peter Horrobin)

Then (the angel) continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel.. Since the first day when you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.”
Daniel 10:12, NIV

Our first thoughts when someone mentions the name Daniel are usually about the story of what happened when he was thrown into the lion’s den as a punishment for not bowing down to an idol. Daniel was more concerned about his relationship with God than he was about his own personal safety. Daniel’s relationship with God was lived out at an unusual level of intimacy and fellowship. He wasn’t interested in protecting himself if it meant that he would be betraying the God he loved. What an example he is to us all.

Through his well-established pattern of living in relational obedience to the Lord, Daniel had grow into having an unusual level of awareness of the spiritual realms. He was able to hear and understand what God was saying through dreams and visions and at times he was able to see the angelic beings and hear what God was saying to him through them. And when Daniel prayed it was as if there was an open door into the heavenly realms - he had an exceptional level of earned authority with the Lord. When he prayed - things happened!

In our Scripture for today we discover the key to Daniel’s effectiveness as an intercessor - as a man who could not only speak to God in prayer, but who also heard God’s answers with amazing clarity - whether those answers came to him directly from God or through the intervention of God’s angelic messenger, as happened here in Daniel 10.

The key is one that is there for each and every one of us to use! The key of humility! Humility is the opposite of pride. Pride says, ‘I know best’. In pride people rise up in their own authority, oblivious to the fact that there is a higher authority than any human authority. Humility recognises that God is the source of all power and all authority and that as we come before Him, in holy fear of the Lord, then we are putting ourselves in the place where our ears can be open to hear His voice in response to our prayers and intercessions. Derek Prince used to say, ‘The way down is the way up.’ Daniel was a dynamic example of how when he humbled himself before the Lord, God raised him up!

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the example of Daniel and for his humble submission to your authority. Help me, Lord, to walk in a similar way in my own life, recognising that pride is a barrier to effective prayer and that humility opens the doors of the heavens to those who know and love the Lord. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Today's Writer : Peter Horrobin Peter Horrobin is the Founding and International Director of Ellel Ministries. He has now written and is currently developing Ellel 365 – a completely new online training school. This is specifically designed to help people understand and apply the practical truths of God’s Word into their lives. Already there have been many remarkable testimonies of what God is doing in people’s lives. The Ellel 365 website has now been completely updated. To take a look for yourself click on the Ellel 365 link on this page.

Show me your face, Lord (Paul Wilbur)

It says in Exodus 33, "The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend." Wow. Would I want to be known as God's friend.

What was Moses' secret? I believe that it is that above all things, He wanted to know God.

And Moses said to God, "If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you."

Would we yearn, above all things, for intimacy with God.

This song by Paul Wilbur just beautifully captures the prayer of my heart.



Moses stood on the mountain
Waiting for You to pass by
You placed Your hand over his face
In Your presence he wouldn't die
All Israel saw your glory
and it shines down through the Age
and you call us to boldly seek your face

Show me your face Lord
Show me your face
And then gird up my legs
that I might stand in this holy place
Show me your face Lord
Your power and your grace -
I will make it to the end
If I could just see your face.

David knew there was something more
than the Ark of Your presence
In a manger Messiah was born
amongst Kings and peasants
All Israel saw the glory
and it shines down through the Age
Now you've called us o boldly seek your face