Aug | 11 | The Secret Place

Key Word:- CONNECT

Title:- The Secret Place

Matthew 6:17,18 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.


My father’s death was prefixed by strokes. The last one left him comatose and unreachable. He knew the gospel but I am not sure if he understood it or knew Jesus as his Savior. Though he still inhabited this physical world, he was lost somewhere in that twilight zone of the unconscious, or the subconscious realms and as far as I was concerned, he was left undecided, unrepentant and unforgiven in this unreachable secret realm.

There are many physical and metaphysical secret realms or places, if you will. Some of them we long for when the dangers and demands of the conscious world beat on us like the unrelenting waves of the sea. Some of them we flee to and hide behind when we are hurt or embarrassed. The reflection of their portals may appear to others to be but a present smile on our face. However, the smile is not us, it’s a clone, even an abarition we project, whilst our true self has withdrawn to its own secret place. Our true self may be withdrawn in torment, or withdrawn and shaking stubborn in anger and hurt, swearing at you with secret rebellious fist shaking high on it’s battlement of disdain, flinging spiritual rocks and curses at the person who feels everything, somewhere deep inside, but beholds nothing but our fair smile. Some of our secret places have become prisons and dangerous places for us to go and friends, for some of you, these secret places of fantasy have become nothing more than deep dark dens of iniquity, a sickening playground for Satan. Selah. Selah.

This adjective, 'secret' is only found in this verse in the New Testament. Its meaning in this context is simple; 'a secret place is a place hidden from others.' In this case, Jesus is saying “When you fast, keep the fact, the inconvenience and even the pain of it hidden from others. Be secret about it.” This secret place Jesus talks of here is much more than a closed room, it is a metaphysical place. It is a place we can fully inhabit whilst also inhabiting the physical world. It usually differs substantially from all our other secret places in that we are in it by righteous design and invitation of the Father. Or rather, we inhabit the secret place where we are both being beheld by and beholding the Father. We know we are not alone in the secret place because the Father is communing with us. Indeed, our secret place has become His secret place to meet with us. It has become a secret place of hearing, of helping and of healing.

You will go to one of your secret places today. If it is to sin, know that nothing is hidden before the all- seeing gaze of God. If it is to hurl abuse at others or to simmer sins committed against you in some selfish and surly pot, know that God smells the stench. However, if it is to commune with the Father, to be with Him in righteousness and honour, then know that He is waiting there for you. Rejoice in this!
I spoke despairingly concerning the condition of my comatose dad to the old Salvation Army Brigadier lady that had prayed me into the Kingdom. Lovingly she replied “Robert, don't worry. There is no place where God is not; even where your father is now, God is there and God can speak to Him and he to God.”

Dear friend, fear not. Your Father awaits you in the secret place.

Listen:- Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the LORD; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD. Jeremiah 23:24

Pray:- Lord. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:7-10