Have you ever wondered what it means to spend time in the secret place with God?
Maybe you’ve been going through the motions of Christianity and you’re thinking:
There’s got to be more!
Whether you’re a new believer or someone who has been walking with Jesus for years, knowing how to seek God in the secret place is what will satisfy the deepest parts of your heart and bring real transformation into your life.
If you’re looking to grow deeper in your relationship with God and learn how to practically spend time alone with Jesus, this Guide is for you.
In this post I cover:
- The Importance of The Secret Place
- What is The Secret Place?
- How To Enter Into The Presence of God
- The Practical Side of Seeking God (My favorite part)
- 3 Super Helpful Tips For Your Alone Time With God
Let’s dive in!
The Importance of The Secret Place With God
Growing up in a Christian home, I used to think of God as someone you come to if you need help with something or because it’s what good Christians do.
It was only when I encountered Jesus that my life was completely transformed and a hunger to know God arose in me.
I realized that seeking God is so much more than just asking for stuff or trying to do the right thing.
It’s about knowing Him personally, falling in love with who He is, and living every day with Him.
The bible says that in His presence is fullness of Joy and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).
Which means:
Everything you’ve been looking for and longing for is found in God himself.
What Are The Benefits of Dwelling in the Secret Place of God?
The benefit of dwelling in the secret place is that you get to know your identity in Christ, experience God’s Glory, and fall in love with who He is. You’ll find that all the things you thought you needed to be satisfied in life are nothing in comparison to His presence.
And you know what’s the best part?
God wants to encounter you and show you who He is more than you want to know Him. He is waiting for you to come to him and seek him.
And it all starts in the secret place…
What is The Secret Place of The Most High?
Sometimes when we read verses like Psalms 91:1 in the Bible, We like to think of the secret place as a specific room such as a bedroom or prayer closet where we can come to encounter God.
As important as it is to have a place to seek God alone in prayer, the secret place of the most high is not actually a physical room. The secret place is found within you because you are the Father’s temple and the place where His Spirit dwells. (1 Corinthians 6:19, Luke 17:21)
Jesus said to the woman at the well that the true worshippers won’t worship on a mountain or in jerusalem (a physical location), but will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. (John 4:21-24)
In Matthew 6:6 Jesus says:
“But as for you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
If you look at the background of how the Greek words are written in this verse, the translation is literally to go “into the inner room of you” and “lock the door of you”
In other words:
Go into the inner room of your heart where the Spirit is dwelling within you and pray to the Father in Spirit.
But how do we do that practically?
How To Enter The Secret Place of God
Entering the secret place of God can be as simple as entering a swimming pool. First, You turn your attention towards the pool. Then, You step in knowing that you will touch the water. The Spirit of God is the well (or pool) within you and His presence is available to you at all times. (John 4:14)
In order to enter into God’s presence, all you have to do is turn your attention to Him and believe with a child-like faith that you will encounter Him.
How do you turn your attention to Him?
The first step is to recognize that God’s presence is already with you and within you, even if you do not feel it in that moment.
Take a few seconds to think about how Jesus is alive inside of you right now in this very moment.
You may start encountering His presence just by doing that.
For me, it started off by simply fixing my attention upon who Jesus is and all the moments in my past where He would encounter me with His presence.
As I began to think about that, I would notice His presence surround me all over again.
Over time, He began to teach me to recognize the source or place of where He was coming to me from within me.
Eventually, I was able to turn to the place of my last encounter with Him and find Him there all over again… waiting for me.
For many new believers, this is the learning process that takes place when they first start seeking God.
Over time, you get to a place where you are able to access His presence within seconds anytime and any place you like just by looking at Him.
Just remember, Jesus paid the price with His own blood for you to be able to come boldy before His throne and spend all of eternity with Him.
There is never a moment where He doesn’t want you to see you.
The Practical Side of Seeking God
Often times, people look for a step-by-step instruction manual on how they should start seeking God.
The truth is, there are no exact steps to build a relationship with God.
Everyone’s time with God is different because everyone will have a unique relationship with Jesus.
However…
There is one thing that God requires from everyone who wants to know Him:
An Honest Heart
Did you know that you can pray every day and it won’t make a difference if your heart doesn’t really mean it?
Believe me, I’ve tried.
God is looking at your heart more than anything because that is where your true character, motives, thoughts, and feelings are hidden.
In other words… The real you.
To God, your heart speaks louder than words.
Jesus said:
“These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.” (Matthew 15:8)
And…
“For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)
There is nothing hidden from God. He already knows what you’re thinking and what’s on your heart before you even come to Him.
Open the door of your heart to Him and He will enter and dine with you (Revelation 3:20)
Your willingness to be open, transparent, and vulnerable before God is what will separate a real relationship with God from a religious routine.
Which brings us to our next point…
Following a set of rules, routines, and things to do is simply not enough to keep us going. There’s got to be a deeper meaning behind why you do what you do.
Something or someone that your heart burns for.
What can be more worthy than God Himself?
Think about this:
Jesus’ first commandment was to love God.
When you love someone, you don’t just spend time with them with the goal of getting something out of them.
You do it because you enjoy talking to them, you enjoy looking at them, and you enjoy simply being with them – even if you are both just sitting in silence.
(This is why God wants to spend time with you too because He loves you)
Your time praying in the secret place shouldn’t be about getting something from God, it should be to enjoy Him and love Him for who He is above all else.
It’s about coming to God for Him alone and setting everything else aside.
Everything else will flow out of that one desire because this is what connects you to the heart of God.
When you are connected to God’s heart, His desires become your desires.
When you have His desires, you will never have a problem with interceding for the lost or digging deep into his word.
It will be a natural thing to do.
Jesus wants to be your friend
Many times, I come to God as I would if I was coming to see my best friend.
I might start by telling him all about my day: What I liked about it and what I thought was interesting.
Then I might ask him a question about something that pertains to what I’m talking about and I wait for an answer. Other times I will just gaze upon his beauty and adore Him for who He is.
It’s always something different.
The point is this:
Jesus said: “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” – John 15:15
Just like a best friend, Jesus wants to tell you His secrets and share His heart with you.
God wants to be your friend. He would much rather spend time with the real you, than just some polished, robotic sounding version of you.
I know it may seem a little strange to come to God like this, but consider this:
Jesus said that the kingdom of God belongs to the children, and guess what?
That’s us.
Think about how a child comes to a good father:
He is always happy to see his dad, no matter what the situation is.
If he falls down, He comes running to the father. When He comes home from school, He’s excited to tell him all about his day.
His dad is his hero and his best friend.
How much more is God to us?
Just like a good Father, God is waiting for you with His arms open at all times. He is longing for you to come to Him and be with Him as you are.
The choice to seek Him is yours. What will you decide?
3 Super Helpful Tips For Your Secret Place
Find a quiet place to be with the Lord (If possible)
In the beginning, It can be difficult to give God your fullest attention when there are other things in the background that are constantly distracting you.
That’s why I would highly recommend that you find a quiet place to be with God alone.
If you are not able to find a quiet place, get some noise-canceling headphones and turn on some worship music.
Get rid of all other distractions
When you are preparing to spend time with the Lord, remove anything that distracts you.
I used to have a bunch of pictures on the wall in my room until I realized that sometimes I would get distracted when I noticed something different about them. (I took them off eventually)
Most of the time, however, it’s our phone that goes off every 10 seconds.
Either put in on airplane mode, do not disturb, or take it to another room.
Don’t let your phone take away your precious time with God.
Relationships take time
Just like it takes time to know a person, it is the same with God.
Don’t expect it all to happen right away.
Continue to seek God day by day and He will begin to open his heart to you. Over time you will develop a deep relationship with God that will become the most precious thing in your life.
Don’t give up if you don’t feel His presence on the first day (or even a week later).
Hebrews 11:6 says that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
If you continue on this journey of knowing Christ, He will show you his glory in such a way that nothing else will ever be able to satisfy you the same again.
Now I want to hear from you…
How has your time in the secret place with God transformed your life?
Let me know in the comments below!
Thank you so much for writing this! It made me cry, what you said really hit home for me. I’ve always gone to church, but I had no idea how far from God I really was. I didn’t know what it meant to have an intimate relationship with Him, or how much I need it, and now long for it. I’m realizing God has been showing me for several months, and I didn’t realize what was going on. He was teaching me about being in this secret place with Him, and I didn’t even know it. I didn’t have vocabulary for what was going on. Now I do! Thank you!! It feels so wonderful to understand more of what He’s doing in me, and to hear other people experience it too! This is so exciting! I can’t wait to intentionally seek this secret place all the time with Him. May God bless you!!
I have been a Christian for 20+ years but it is only recent that I heard about this secret place. Now I am trying to spend time with God but it is a real struggle quieting my mind. I have struggled with relationships all my life and also with sitting still. I am hoping to be able to use some of your tips. Thank you.
Just reading this in 2023 and I’m happy I did. I’m super excited about my journey and will continue until it’s rock solid
God bless you for this article, I have being in a state of confusion not knowing how to go about seeking God’s presence and accessing the secret place. Thank God I stumbled over this article today, it’s been a blessing. Thank you so much!
Thanks Gift, I’m glad you were able to receive from it!
I’m glad I read this, I have been trying to understand what I was meant to do during my secret place because for weeks I will sleep off when it was time and I always feel guilty and then when I manage to not sleep the silence makes me feel like God wasn’t ready to talk to me yet, like I was probably not ready or worthy but now I understand that its normal and its a process. This article just helped me in the way I needed
This is a great article I came across while looking up scriptures on the secret place. I often get sad when I hear people talk that they have encountered Jesus, because I love Him and have been touched by Him, and surrendered my life to Him, but have never had a face to face encounter…so I feel hindered when “gazing” in Him. I feel like I’m missing something so many others have experienced.
Debra, don’t get discouraged if you haven’t seen Jesus with your physical eyes – most of us haven’t. Yet, it does not mean that you’ve never encountered Him. When I talk about gazing upon His beauty, most of the time I am seeing His form in the Spirit and encountering His presence. I get glimpses of who He is and His heart toward me when I look upon Him in the Spirit. In the beginning, it may be difficult to step into His presence and look upon Him, but as you walk with Him He will teach you how to do it. “For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:8)
Thank you so much for this! This is a lifesaver. For me, secret place was one of those things that everyone else seems to have mastered, but I’m missing out on. This has saved my relationship with God, so thankful the the Lord sent me here. God bless you man!!
yesterday God revealed Psalm 91 in my dream and so I’ve been trying to understand more about being in the secret place of the Most High..and my oh my …if it isnt the Lord Himself who brought me to your article then i don’t know who it is…thank you so much and may God continue anointing you with His precious blood🙌🙌🙌
Praise the Lord! I’m glad he is speaking to you Sonia.
I have just started to try and get into the presence of God and sometimes I would sleep right in the middle of doing so 🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️ so I decided to see if I could find anything on the Internet that could so what help me. And reading what you wrote it’s like you knew I would read this article. I am really, really glad I came across this.
I’m definitely going to implement what you have said.. It’s like the light switch has come on and I will no longer be groping in the dark.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience.
Really appreciate this
Hey Julie, That’s the Lord speaking to you! I’m glad you received something from this 🙂
WOW!! I’m so blessed to have come across this! This contains everything I needed and much more! All I can say is God bless whoever wrote this article. I’m transformed already Glory to God!!! 🙌
Thank You! I’m glad you found it helpful.
Thank you Lord! this is what i have been looking for. God bless you sir, for this write up.
Thank you!
This is so easy to understand! Just what I’ve been looking
for and need!
Thank you Tanner!
Thank you very much for the message. I have been looking for this type of guide, I am happy to have seen this. Gone through it. Is going to be a great help for me. I pray for his grace to use it well and have an encounter with God. God bless you and please keep the good work going.
Thank you Williams! I’m glad you found it useful.
Hi Bro Valentin
To God be the glory great things he has Done
I have read different article before and I have never been blown away has I have with the secret place before
My brother what you have written about the Secret Place I can tell you have been there words cannot express to you what my heart felt all I can say is that I felt so overwhelmed I was just in tears the whole time because I was able to identify with all the words you have spoken
Truly God has hewn you out just like he did the Phrophet Jeremiah and called you for a mission only you can accomplished
Keep on going to the Secret Place in GOD🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼Hallelujah
Amen
Sis Shelley
Wow, Praise God that is amazing! God bless you!
I really enjoy reading this
Actually this my first time of visiting this site.
I pray may the Lord perfect is word in my life as I read more.
I pray for the blogger that may the Lord give u more insight of his word
Thank you for the prayers! God Bless 🙂
This was much needed… spot on to what I’ve been pondering about. Thanks brother!
Hello,
I started seeking this secret place a week ago and still haven’t heard “the voice of God” but my oh my has my hunger and thirst for His presence increased… I am researching so much about the secret place and quiet time and am expectant that one day I’ll encounter the Lord. Cant wait.
That’s amazing George!
What an amazing text! God bless you!
thank you!
This was amazing and very helpful! Keep doing what you’re doing in the Lord!??❤️??
Thank you so much!
I love this. It’s so helpful for people to know that God is always available for them and how simple it is for them to step into His presence xx
Thank you!
This is a wonderful resource for anyone who wants to have an intimate relationship with God. Anyone who either has no prayer life or wants to go deeper in prayer. Thank you much!
Thanks for the kind words Calvonia!