I have a secret place
I think everyone should have one. Whether it is physical place, a mental state or a spiritual place. Dennis Lee in his children’s poem “Secret Place” starts:
“There’s a place I go, inside myself,
Where nobody else can be,
And none of my friends can tell it’s there –
Nobody knows but me.”
That is exactly what it should be. A place only you can go to. Mine is a picture in my mind.
To get there, I enter through a white picket gate and follow a path over a river where water lilies grow and dragonflies hover. The path bends to the right and ends in a white pavilion covered in wisteria and glistening in the sun. Surrounded by flowers it beckons me in behind the purple curtain, and there, always waiting for me, is Jesus. He is always there. At times He stands at the entrance, at other times He quietly waits for me inside. But He waits for me expectantly always glad to see me when I enter in. It is there where I pray.
This is our place, no one else comes here and I can come whenever I want to, wherever I am.
“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matt 6:6)
My secret place is where my spirit communes with the Lord deep in my soul. It is where I go to speak to Him. Rick Renner author of ‘Sparkling Gems from the Greek’ gives some interesting insights into word ‘tameion’, translated as “room” in the NIV bible and “closet” in the King James.
During the New Testament times, that inner room or secret place, was the bedroom where husband and wife met to exchange intimacies that only they knew about. In earlier years it used to describe a place where you would hide your most valuable possessions, a secure place where a person would put money or treasure, a safe place for something valuable.
It describes a place of intimacy, where secrets are shared only between husband and wife, where no one else may enter. Each one, can bare their heart and share in a relationship so tender. I like that this describes my secret place where I meet Jesus: totally secure, totally safe. This is the secret place where I meet the Lover of my soul, to bare my heart before Him and listen to what His Spirit has to say to me. It is the place where I escape the world, to take part in the mingling of my human spirit with His divine Spirit.
In this secret place we do the daily exchange: my fear for His courage, my pain for His healing, my sorrow for His joy, my anxiety for His peace, my scars for His oil of healing, my ashes for His beauty, my exhaustion for His energy, my sense of being lost with His assurance that I am found, that I am His.
In this secret place I have heard His voice whispering in the silence and felt His arms in the solitude.
When I pray, this is where I enter in. I mentally pull back the curtain of wisteria and I am there in His presence. I don’t have limits to my time there, I can go there whenever I need to, day and night.
All of us have access to a secret place, a “tameion,” in which Jesus waits expectantly. I sometimes use the picture of the garden path to prepare my heart for prayer, as I “walk” in my mind to my “tameion” I think about Who it is I am going to meet there, how much He loves me and that He is waiting to commune with me there. The room is never empty because He promised to “never leave, nor forsake” me (Hebrews 13:5), so I walk, fully expecting to find Him there.
Dear friend, if you are hurting today, afraid, angry, scared, tired or lost, all you have to do is enter through the door of prayer, leave the world behind and go to your secret place and tell the Lover of your soul what is on your heart. He is standing there, waiting for you.
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
- God waits for you in your own ‘tameion’, secret place. He is always there and expecting you.
- The world is not part of this place, no one else can interrupt, there is no shame here, no punishment.
- Go in and do the exchange called prayer.
Thank you Lord that I can freely turn to you in prayer whenever I need to, to enter into our secret place and talk to you. I don’t have to make an appointment, travel a long distance, jump through a number of hoops. I can simply come to You in prayer and share with You everything about my life. Help me to come to you often. Help me not to delay coming. Help me to remember that You are always waiting expectantly.
Withdraw and Advance
Remember, and Go Find Him Yourself
Leave A Comment