Breakthrough PrayerIhe Atụ

(Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture verses are taken from the New King James Version.)

The Secret Place of Prayer

Prayer is a place. A secret place in the Spirit. There, our relationship with God is established; and from there, everything we ask according to His will is given to us. When Jesus was on earth, He would often pray alone in the desert, but we can choose any place and dedicate it specifically for prayer.

In the natural, we all need a physical place to represent the spiritual place where we meet daily with God. However, in order to fully experience the presence of God, we must recognize that the atmosphere of that place is more important than the place itself. There is nowhere on earth (or in the universe) where the presence of God is absent, no matter how hidden it may be. Nevertheless, although the Lord is everywhere, He does not manifest His presence everywhere. His presence manifests only where He is worshipped “in spirit and truth” (John 4:23–24).

Communing with the Lord

Jesus taught that when we pray, we should go into our “room” (place of prayer), shut ourselves in with God, and speak to Him with faith and trust, as a little child speaks to their father. (See Matthew 6:6.) Our heavenly Father will always be waiting for us there. When we have learned to pray in the secret place, we will find that nothing and no one else is more important to us than God. In that place, we are alone with our Creator—the King of Kings, the Almighty, the One who knows everything, including the state of each person’s heart. (See, for example, 1 John 3:20; Acts 1:24.) There, we are submerged in such sweet communion with the Lord that we don’t want to leave that place; we are passionate about being alone with our heavenly Father, and that pleases Him. 

Being in the presence of God is so wonderful that we no longer worry about other people or about our problems, fears, and doubts; not even the thought of gaining riches or fame interests us. If, while we are praying, we are thinking about other things, we are not truly in God’s presence because there He becomes our complete reality.

Transformed in God’s Presence

The secret place of prayer is where man meets his Creator and is transformed. God expects us to daily enter His presence—the place where spiritual power and activity are released—to know His heart and to receive His authority. He longs for us to enter the place of submission, where the keys of the kingdom are found and where we receive His favor.

In coming devotionals, we will explore such topics as the features of the secret place of prayer, what it means to be a “house of prayer,” the priority of prayer, the “golden rule of prayer,” and praying according to God’s will.

If you recognize that your prayer life is not what it should be, if you know you have been praying in merely a “religious” way, without being conscious of the presence of God, without power or spiritual activity in your daily life, I invite you to say the following prayer:

“Beloved God, I thank You for bringing this revelation of the secret place of prayer to me. I ask for forgiveness if, due to ignorance or apathy, I have not known how to seek a relationship with You that leads me to be in Your presence. Today, I commit to walk in communion with You. I know that You are my greater Reality, my absolute Reality. I proclaim that I am fully conscious of Your presence, of Your fellowship, and of the power and authority our relationship releases. I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus, amen!”

Thought: Prayer begins when we recognize we are in the presence of God.