Devotion in the Secret Place - Hilary Walker

There is a cry coming from Heaven, calling us to PASSION and INTIMACY with the Lord in worship, and we must begin to respond to Him. Psalm 27:4: “The one thing I ask of the LORD, the thing I seek most, is to live in the House of the LORD (in His Presence) all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty (sweet attractiveness and delightful loveliness) of the LORD, delighting in the LORD’s perfections and meditating in His Temple.” Jesus said: “I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who ABIDES in ME, and I in him, bears much fruit... As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; ABIDE in My LOVE” (John 15:5,9). JESUS deserves our undying DEVOTION (John 3:16). One way we LOVE the LORD is spending time with Him in His Presence (Psalm 73:28). GOD is the fulfilment of the deepest longings of the human heart (Psalm 73:25). When we have GOD, we have EVERYTHING! Experiencing God’s Love and Presence makes our life so worthwhile.The time we spend with the LORD in private changes us. He shapes the kind of people we become. Our individual personal worship brings the LORD great delight. When we are enjoying regular, intimate fellowship-time with the Lord, He becomes our Source of TOTAL FULFILMENT and we have an INWARD JOY, in spite of bad news, unfavourable circumstances, and personal disappointments. Deep, satisfying communion with the Lord gives us an unshakeable confidence in Him. If we have a regular devotional time with the Lord, we will no longer be dependent on what other people think of us, and whether they like us or not, for we will find our significance, security, and self-worth in God’s love for us. Your worth comes from knowing that God LOVES YOU. He chose you. He delights in you. He passionately pursues you – after all He paid such a great price to have you for Himself. God LOVES you. He delights in you. He passionately pursues you. Our word PASSION comes from the Greek and Latin words to SUFFER. So, God’s passionate love for us means that He is willing to suffer for us. He proved His love for you by paying such a great price to have you for Himself. That’s how much He values you. As you WORSHIP Him in your special private time with Him, as you TELL Him how much you LOVE Him, you will begin to SEE your true VALUE, through His eyes. You will begin to see that your true value as an individual does not rest in your personal achievements, popularity or even your spiritual maturity. It does not depend on people, and what they think of you. It depends on the Lord’s love for you. Your sense of self-worth rests entirely upon knowing deep inside you, that God DEEPLY LOVES you, and this will cause you to return His love and to be deeply in love with Him (1John 4:19). As God pursues you, will you respond to God’s call? He is calling you to Himself, saying: “Come closer to Me.” Let us respond to the Lord by saying: “I will love You LORD, with all my HEART, with all my SOUL, with all my MIND, and with all my STRENGTH.” God passionately wants you to know Him more intimately - more than you have ever imagined possible. When we WORSHIP God, we are blessing and enjoying Him. This is the greatest privilege of every believer. DEVOTIONAL WORSHIP is being in the SECRET PLACE with the LORD. This is available to all of God’s children. It is our private time with the Lord, when no one else is around or listening. We can WORSHIP as an act of FAITH. We enter into the Secret Place by purposefully pushing past all the barriers in our thoughts and emotions, by choosing to praise and thank God, for all He is and all He does for us. We do this by FAITH, and not by our fickle feelings. God is calling you to intimate fellowship with Him, which will satisfy the DEEPEST YEARNINGS of your HEART, and it is available to anyone who DESIRES it. You can ENTER into the SECRET PLACE whenever you want to. The Secret Place is the place of exclusive, personal, whole-hearted devotion to the Lord your God. The SECRET PLACE is your very own private HOLY of HOLIES in the heart of God, where You delight in God (your Maker, Redeemer and Lover of your soul), and He delights in you, and you revel in your love for one another. A special blessing of the SECRET PLACE is that whatever happens there is SECRET, confidential, personal, private, sacred and holy. It is as individual, as the relationship between each human being and God. The Greek word for worship is proskuneo, pros = towards, kuneo = to kiss (Luke 7:37-38).