C. S. Lewis & JoySample

The Secret Place

The kingdom of God is often counterintuitive: the more time we spend in the cramped secret place, the greater spaciousness and peace we feel in our spirits.

God has an ultimate goal in mind for your time in the secret place: to make Heaven and all its treasures more substantial to you than the world and its fool’s gold. When the reality of Heaven weighs truly on our hearts, we live differently.

The psalms tell us that God hides us in His great pavilion far from the strife of this world when we are with Him in the secret place. This world and all its troubles begin to bring cabin fever ─ cramped and claustrophobic ─ but when in the secret place, we step into the spacious ground of Heaven which brings rest.

How to Act on This

When you spend time with God, make a diligent effort to not make your time with God all about petition and intercession. Make room for simple fellowship with Him. Ask Him to reveal to you new facets about Him and Heaven ─ not because you need a problem in your life solved, but because you want to step out of this world for a while and rest in the awesome glory of His presence and His kingdom.

C. S. Lewis Quote of the Day, from The Great Divorce:

"I got out…I had the sense of being in a larger space, perhaps even a larger sort of space, than I had ever known before…which made the Solar System itself seem an indoor affair."

Shadowlands and Songs of Light Quote of the Day:

"As [I spent time in the secret place], the fabric of our world’s reality—the fading space-time blanket that enwraps us—grew as thin as a sheet of wax paper. The physical world felt less like ultimate reality. I had the strange sensation of living inside a cardboard box that had been painted to look like a castle—the kind a child would build with great relish—while, all the time, my little cardboard box was sitting inside the great hall of a real castle. There was a distinct sense of something larger and permanent peeking through chinks in the physical world."