All tagged secret
Do you pray in secret? If you do pray secretly, and God answers your prayer, do you still keep it a secret? This is an especially hard thing to do for a couple of reasons; first you want to tell the world what God has done, but secondly, and rather destructively, you want the world to know that God has heard, and answered, YOU!
You believe in God the Father, and have accepted His Son Jesus Christ as your Redeemer, and Savior, but have you come to the realization that there is another who now dwells within you? Deep inside, you have become the abode of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps you haven’t acknowledged His presence... but He is there and even though He often helps you secretly, He wants to know you in an amazing way.
Do we wake up in the morning with a song of faith on our mind and a melody on our lips? Is it a lyric and song that only the Holy Spirit could have written with us, and right away we know that it is a continuation of the ballad of our life and that it reveals God’s plan for us in another verse of who we are meant to be in Christ?
Are you searching for a secret to successful prayer? Do you think that there must be some hidden formula that would allow you to pray powerfully? Well, I think Jesus removed the secrecy and hidden truths when He taught His disciples to pray the Lord’s Prayer, but if you want additional instruction then look to Mark 11 and you will find two prayer “hacks” that will increase your understanding of praying.
Do you ever wonder if you are effectively serving the Lord? Can you look at your life and see the fruit of your faith, and smell the sweetness of it as it ripens? It is wonderful when this happens and we can see our impact on the kingdom, but more often than not we serve Him in secret and without leaving a ripple on the surface of life to show for it.
As we move towards a godly state of righteousness we shed one sin after another until at last we are down to our pet sins... those that give us personal pleasure or reduce the pain of living in some way. When we reach this point, and we refuse to let these sins go, then our relationship with God stalls, and we feel a growing separation from Jesus. This can happen early on in our walk of faith, but usually it occurs once all the low hanging sinful fruit has been plucked from us. These deeply rooted personal sins require a specialized spiritual surgery to extract them.
Have you ever received manna from heaven? Maybe you haven’t been the recipient of this heavenly food specifically, but perhaps some form of spiritual or supernatural rescue or provision has been provided for you? How about a call from God telling you to be the answer to someone else’s need or prayer? When God uses us in this way we suddenly realize the immensity of the blessing that comes from giving, and our being in His service.
Do you have questions about faith, or revelations about yourself that you need to communicate to God? Are there things so personal that you blush with embarrassment and shame at the mere thought of them? These are the most pressing things that you need to reveal to God, and they require a secret place where you can be absolutely open and honest with Him.
Do you have a secret garden? You know, a secret place that you retreat to when you need to do some serious thinking? How about a quiet place where you can go to be alone with God? Is it a place that you can get to quickly and often? Is it away from all the hustle bustle and the noise of the world around you? Do you begin all your days there? Perhaps it is a closet, a quiet room you go to in the wee hours of morning, or maybe a secret garden that smells of fresh-turned earth and the scent of morning glories. Where is your refuge from the world where you can sit with God?
This morning, I am contemplating a rather convicting subject. I am asking myself a couple of questions regarding my ability to serve the Lord in obscurity. Can I do the work of my calling without a grand moment of inspiration from God? And, is my spiritual work dependent on His making a showing or announcement of my service?
Are we willing to serve God unnoticed and in the darkness of obscurity? How many times do you give to the kingdom without a receiving a receipt? These are questions that I invite you to consider this morning. It is in our human nature to want appreciation and acknowledgement for what we do. We all want to hear the words "Great Job!", "Well Done!", “or “You have blessed me.”, but what if God asks us to put our pride aside and obey His will or give of ourselves with no other eyes on our obedient goodness except His? Can we step into the shadows and give Him all the glory without desiring some of it for ourselves?
This morning let’s discuss experiencing private prayer during times of public worship. I have attended many churches during my life and have felt varying degrees of private prayer being welcomed during a service. On the one extreme I have prayed loudly and demonstratively beside Pentecostal brethren, prayed private prayers in a more subdued manner in my current church, and attended "high church" in Churches where very little private prayer is evident or encouraged. However, in each case private prayer does occur… it simply erupts from embattled souls across the sanctuary as believers adorn themselves in the armor of God and enter into personal states of worship, thankfulness, and distress.
Do you have a secret garden? You know, a secret place that you retreat to when you need to do some serious thinking? How about a quiet place where you go to be alone with God? Is it a place you can get to quickly and often? Is it away from all distractions? Do you begin your day there?
Have we truly abandoned ourselves to Jesus? Is He the source of our life's energies, or do we simply vocalize His name so that we can feel good about our faith, and appear righteous before others?
This morning I am contemplating a rather convicting subject. I am asking myself a couple of questions regarding my ability to serve the Lord in obscurity. Can I do the work of my calling without a grand moment of inspiration from God? And, is my work dependent on His making a show of my service?