Theology of Secret Place - An Introduction

A theology of secret place is modeled by Jesus consistently throughout the gospels, my favorite in the gospel of Mark.

Mark 1:35 (NIV) "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."

22 years ago in 2004 my dad gave me my first Daily Life Journal from New Song Christian Fellowship, now New Song Nashville and while now in 2026 I follow a chronological reading plan and a simpler journal in a sketchbook with blank sheets, no lines, I am eternally grateful and thankful for the instruction and modeling of maintaining a consistent daily devotion to God in the secret place that my dad lived. For as long as I can remember dad was always up before the sun rose and faithfully every morning could be found in the upstairs homeschool room of our home in Murfreesboro, TN by lamplight studying the word of God, journaling, meditating and using concordances and commentary to understand scripture. If he wasn't at his desk he was sitting in complete darkness praying, worshipping and speaking in tongues. My father lived out what Jesus modeled first, and the difference I noticed was a marked peace in our home spiritually and specifically in my high school and college years less and less outbursts of anger in my dad. 

If the fruit of secret place time with the LORD is peace, understanding and increased hearing of the voice of the LORD along with tangible behavior change and character development, then there is great value to be had through investing time each morning entering and inviting the presence of the living God into your home or wherever you are at. The psalmist captures this desire and yearning for the goodness of God:

Psalm 84:1-2 (NIV) "How lovely is your dwelling place, LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God."

Devotion requires sacrifice. With no exceptions I have never regretted losing sleep to wake early before the sun rises to give the firstfruits of my time to the LORD in devotion to reading the word, listening, journaling and interceding in prayer. If worship is an expression of the attitude of our heart, thoughts of our mind, words of our mouth and deeds of our hands, then sacrificing sleep for the sake of pursuing deep relationship with our Maker is worth it every time. Plus, there's something spiritually invigorating about the word of God that is different than rising early to give my attention to anything else. To spiritually setup my day for success requires that I begin in humility on my knees surrendered and listening to the voice of the LORD - all I need is a word. God speaks in the secret place, quiet distractions by beginning each day in the secret place which is anything but quiet! The secret place is not "quiet time" my secret place is filled with praise, declarations of who God is what He has done and prayers of thanksgiving and petition. The theology of secret place is all about worship and relating rightly to God by seeking to know him better and more intimately through reading, studying and meditating on the word and prayer because God wants to reveal himself to us. 

"Of what use is existence to the creature if it cannot know its Maker? Knowledge of the Maker for men is the only really happy and blessed life." ~Athanasius, 'On The Incarnation'

If you desire to level-up your devotion to God through a structured secret place and don't know where to start I would highly recommend beginning a discipleship process and mentorship with a mature  disciple, in 2024 I did the CORE 4 books with my dad, we began in June and ended in August 2025. There's no timeline or "arrival" of becoming a disciple, it's an ongoing lifelong journey with continued mentorship much like Paul and Timothy's relationship. There is no shortcut or fast-track to building a deep relationship with God, you have to put in the time. There is no substitute to meeting daily and deeply with God. A resource I'd highly recommend is the Daily Life Journal which can be found on the Life Reach Resources site or on Amazon for sale, it has a 6 lesson Biblical introduction to the secret place, 2 year reading plan and journal pages. This is a gamechanger. The Daily Life Journal is faith enhancing and biblically sound tool to help you structure personal daily Bible study that is easy to grasp and there are even Daily Life Journal's for kids to develop and train them up in good habits that have eternal implications. This is about trusting and loving God: relationship with God begins in the secret place, it's for every man, woman and child in every nation, tribe and tongue. Join in with the people of God worldwide and seek the face of our Maker who is unfailing in love, unending in faithfulness and reveals himself to us personally. 


"Covenantal relationship with God is marked by closeness/drawing near/walking with God: direct, personal, total, unreserved commitment to God." ~Derek Prince

My purpose in this blog is to function as an extension of my journaling by summarizing the main points of what the LORD reveals to me in his word day-by-day, providing somewhat of a commentary but more synthesizing and documenting a daily devotional so that I can come back to this record and remember God's words to me. Additionally I hope that these daily entries can encourage other believers to think more deeply about scripture and to spark conversation about what God is revealing to his people as we all seek his face!

II Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV) "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Deuteronomy 1-2 (Psalm 69)

In these first few chapters of Deuteronomy after Israel's exodus from Egypt and 40 desert years Moses reviews their history of God's hand of power, provision, protection and purpose. Consistently the Israelites are faced with the decision of operating in faith and courage in the way God has for them though they continually with stubborn hearted rebellion walk in fear and discouragement. The theme of presumption continues to resurface in the story of the Israelites and I am greatly convicted of this even in my own life. Deuteronomy 1:42-43 (NKJV) "And the LORD said to me, 'Tell them, "Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; lest you be defeated before your enemies."' So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen, but rebelled against the command of the LORD, and presumptuously went up into the mountain." This presumption is referring to when the Israelites invaded the Amorites on a mountain after the 12 spies came back with a bad report from Can...
Read more

Genesis 16-18

 Today's reflection in Genesis 17 and 18 is on how God said he wants Abram to walk faithfully and blameless, similar to Job in his blameless and upright life, I align my life in a way that pleases and honors God by being faithful (consistent, demonstrative of unwavering trust in action). Additionally, I found the comparison of God's will for the destruction of Sodom and Nineveh (in Jonah) to be interesting. In Abraham's case he pled for God to be merciful and spare Sodom, while for the Ninevites God intended to display the liberality of his grace all while Jonah wanted God to destroy the people.  Psalm 86:15 "But you LORD are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness." As an image bearer of God, we must aim to be faithful like God is. The mighty God we serve is unendingly faithful and full of unfailing love - I want to be more loving and faithful the older I get! 
Read more

Exodus 22-24

 Exodus 23:2 (NIV) "Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong." I was watching NHL hockey with my wife the other night and the teams that were playing began getting frustrated and consequently began playing unfairly and fighting. When penalties are given it's not indicative of cheating per se, though you would be hard pressed to find a definition making the distinction between a cheating scandal and a game misconduct or penalty. Often penalties can be properly called by the official referees, though at times it seems the calls are made incorrectly - it's ultimately the best judgment of the ref on the ice at the time and sometimes after the time the rule infraction was witnessed, many times to the great dismay of those in attendance of the hockey game even when the hockey players admit guilt in some instances. Fighting is an entirely different scenario. In just the past 3 years I have noticed a marked increase of violence in the NHL though I'm told that "original...
Read more