What if I told you that the key to the secret place—our charismatic term for personal devotional and prayer time with God—was not a bible, or prayer, or even worship? In fact, what if I told you that it wasn’t even about how long or “secretive and alone” in the secret place, but why?
Why do we spend time with God? What are we looking for when we’re with God?
As with any truly important mentor, parent, or leader in our lives, we listen. The secret place is about listening.
I’ve been reading this book recently about connecting with the Lord as a father. The author emphasized that though they can get you closer to God, Scriptures and prayer are not God. In fact, the only way your heart truly is transformed through a relationship with God is by being able to feel His presence and hear His voice. In other words, to be with Him, in direct one-to-one communication.
Have you ever sat with a person and bared your soul? Laid out all of the emotions, thoughts, and fears boiling in your heart with a vulnerability you didn’t even know you had? Sometimes we call this trauma dumping, but a healthy person knows that some level of this sharing of one’s heart is necessary for the life-giving connections we need to get by on this earth.
Yet, what makes this connection essential is not necessarily the unburdening but the presence of an attuned, empathetic person—someone who leans forward as you talk, who reflects the emotions you are feeling in their expressions and responses, and who withholds their own thoughts for the sake of understanding yours.
I hope you have had this powerful experience, and if not, you at least have experienced the opposite: trying to share something important with a person who is not paying attention, who is distracted with texts, or cooking, or simply their own thoughts. Perhaps they even offer advice like, “Well, God is good, just trust in Him” or God forbid, “Don’t be anxious, that’s what the Bible says,” that dismisses, rather than validates your concerns.
Don’t get me wrong, when we say things like that, we often mean well. Really well. We want to encourage. We want to “fix” the negative emotion or suffering the person before us is experiencing. But oftentimes what we are attempting to fix is really our own discomfort. More than that, we are not the savior—He is.
Truly, one of the most healing things we have to offer a person is nonjudgmental, compassionate listening. And in return, we receive understanding.
This concept is just something I’ve learned about being a healing presence to other people in general, but the Christian author I read recently proposed that it is not just for people but for God.
That, in fact, when all is said and done, the secret place is about listening. He listens to us. Do we listen to Him?
In fact, some of the greatest revelations and redirections I’ve received for my life are from a conversation with God. The Bible has shaped what I know His voice to sound like and was every bit as necessary in testing what I “heard”, but without the occasional whisper or impression or mental image from the Holy Spirit in my ear, I would not be headed the direction I am today. And neither, likely, would you.
When all is said and done, the secret place is about listening. He listens to us. Do we listen to Him?
When was the last time you purposefully sat in silence—inner silence and outer silence—and just listened for His voice? Quieted your own thoughts, put down your journal or bible, turned off the instrumental worship pad, and just paid attention to the holy presence of God?
You might be surprised by how quickly and willingly He speaks. And if not, then by how healing the words, impressions, or images received after waiting are to your heart. He might share something He loves about you or a reframing of how you are seeing a situation. Maybe He provides some clarity about the next step to take. In fact, you might be surprised by how much faster you get to where you want to go by listening for His instructions. Maybe He simply shares something He is thinking about.
Dr. Randy Clark recounted a story once of a person who received a word of knowledge for no other reason than God chatting with her as a friend. She and her husband were driving to a friend’s house when she heard God tell her they were going to see a new fridge there. To her shock, when they arrived, they were ushered into the kitchen and shown, with great enthusiasm, a new refrigerator. The fridge wasn’t broken or special. She saw it there and didn’t need to say anything to the couple whose home they were visiting. Later, when she asked God what was with the fridge word, He revealed that He told her just because. He enjoyed talking with her as a friend, that was all.
If we want to come to know the Lord, we can’t be the only ones talking. A portion of our time must be spent listening.
You’ve probably heard God compared to a best friend before, but really, growing close to any friend requires both talking and listening. Sure we do fun activities and grow in faith together through shared life experiences… but the point of a friendship is coming to know each other.
If we want to come to know the Lord, we can’t be the only ones talking. A portion of our time must be spent listening.
There are ways to do this. You can hear His voice through a bible in the form of a rhema word. I hear Him most clearly on walks or at the shoreline. Maybe you lie in a dark room on the floor or take a flight and He speaks to you on the plane. Perhaps His voice surprises you when you’re not paying attention, like His audible calls to young Samuel upon his bed.
The point being, one of the fastest ways to grow in intimacy with God, to be transformed by Him and into His likeness, is to listen to His voice. Like good sheep, we learn the way and are known by Him by listening for His voice. In doing so, you’ve connected with the Father, and if that’s all you’ve said and done on any given day, it’s more than enough.