“No man is greater than his own prayer life. A man who is weak in prayer is weak everywhere.” - Leonard Ravenhill

The road of the receptive spirit is one that is paved upon your knees.

- Everyone has their own secret place

- Your secret place can be beneficial or detrimental.

Psalm 91 was written by Moses. He enjoyed a relationship with the Lord that we should all be jealous for.

The Lord “spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex 33:11).

Moses gives us a page from his own prayer journal that offers an invitation into the secret place

Take a look:

A dwelling is your place of residence. It’s the permeant home you build.

Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me (rev 3:20).”

The moment you said, “Yes” to Christ you came into a covenant relationship with him. You are presently at work building a dwelling place with the Lord.

Moses made this dwelling “in the secret place” (Ps 91:1a).

This is a hidden and obscure place

It is the exact place Jesus taught his disciples to go and pray.

It is a great practice to have

1) A Set Place You Pray

2) A Set Time You Pray

This spiritual discipline can become a keystone habit in your life that gives you access to “the secrets of the kingdom of God” (Luke 8:10)

Moses wrote that the secret place belongs to “the Most High” (Ps 91:1a) That word in hebrew is “Elyon.” translates “The Most High God.”

At one time Moses thought himself to be someone great having been raised as a prince of Egypt. Now he counted all those things as nothing compared to the “all surpassing worth” of knowing the most high God. He had come to the inescapable conclusion that he was nothing, while God was everything. Moses was content to live his life hidden in that reality.

Notice “He who dwells in the secret place of the most high” (Ps 91:1a) is a similar to the second stanza, "shall abide beneath the shadow of the Almighty" (Ps 91:1b)

Hebrew poetry uses parallelism rather than rhyme.

You can see the parallel in the following:

“He who dwells” in “Shall abide”

“in the secret place” in “beneath the shadow”

“the most high” in “the almighty”

The parallel of “dwelling” and “abiding” is an interesting choice.

Your dwelling is the place where you have chosen to live your life. However abiding means “to stay the night”. One speaks of longevity over time, the other brevity of a night. They are similar, but not the same. The two words together communicates an intimacy available in the place of constant communion.

It's in this place… you learn to communicate

1) God Speaks Through Our Feelings

2) God Speaks Through Signs

3) God Speaks Through Others

4) God Speaks Through His Word

5) God Speaks Through His Still Small Voice

When there is harmony in these speaking Voices of God you find confidence that you are hearing from the Lord. When there is disunity in these voices, understand that “God is not the author of confusion” (1 Cor 14:33). If there is disunity, you need to “Be still and know that He is God” (Ps 46:10).

Moses writes that this abiding place of intimacy is found “in the shadow.” This means, “in the protection of.”

Protection of whom? "the Almighty."

This is the second name for God, Moses uses. It is “el Shaddai” in Hebrew and it means “the all sufficient, all powerful, almighty God”.

Scofield's Bible notes, “The etymological signification of Almighty God (El Shaddai) is both interesting and touching. God (El) signifies the "Strong One". The qualifying word Shaddai is formed from the Hebrew word "shad," the breast...Shaddai therefore means primarily "the breasted.”

The picture created is truly touching. A newborn knows what it is to find rest and nourishment in the shadow of his mother’s breast. The child needs nothing else except it’s mom, just as you and I need nothing or no one else but our Almighty, all sufficient God.

Ps 91 paints a picture of a strong mountain fortress. A secret place hewn out in the midst of the rock. There you find a place of rest and receive the life giving nourishment from the Lord. The Israelites knew the literal reality of this. Paul writes that Moses and the Israelites knew God in this way for they, “all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:3-4).

Our secret place is found in no other place than in Christ Jesus, our Lord. For in him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). We can open the door of our lives to him and allow him to come into to make our lives a dwelling for him. There in that place discover the mysteries of truly knowing him. He will hide us, shelter us and protect us all while providing everything we need. For in him we find “everything we need pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).

This is God’s desire for us and it always has been. He sent His son to die upon that cruel cross so that we would be reconciled to him and the door to this relationship would be opened up once again. Today that door stands wide open for whosoever would call on the name of Jesus. This is the invitation you see written in Moses’ own prayer journal.

Just as Moses pitched a tent outside the camp for anyone inquiring of the Lord to come, So also is there a secret place waiting for you to come and there discover what Jesus meant when he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God"

He's Speaking, Are you Listening?

Challenge: Set a reminder, schedule it on your calendar to take at least 15 minutes each day this week, in a secluded place to simply sit in silence and listen. Bring your Bible, A Journal, A Pen... and record what you hear.