Guest Post-The Importance of the Secret Place

This week, our guest blogger is Hannah Holmes.  Hannah is a stay at home mom with a passion to write and share the love of Jesus wherever she goes.  Hannah has served on the Women's Vision Team in the past and is currently serving on the worship team, healing and prayer team and several other ministries.  She is a gifted musician and loves spending time with The Lord as He unlocks His deepest mysteries in her heart.  You can find Hannah at www.hannahboneholmes.com

The Importance of the Secret Place

There was once a time when I thought my “Quiet Time” with the Lord had to fit into a prescribed method.  In fact, when I heard about people who avidly set aside time in their “prayer closet,” I always wondered how they did things.  What was the magic structure that made the time right before God?
Was it, like…:

• 3 minutes – reading daily devotional
• 14 minutes – reading the Bible
• 8 minutes – praying, (using the ACTS method, of course!!)
• ADORATION (15 seconds)
• CONFESSION (30 seconds)
• THANKSGIVING (15 seconds)
• SUPPLICATION (6 minutes)

And, not only that, but I thought my quiet time was “supposed” to take place at a certain time of the day — namely before the crack of dawn — a time in which my body just simply doesn’t seem to want to function!!
As you can imagine, with all of this analysis of the “proper time” and “proper way” to have a quiet time, I didn’t leave much room for the idea that maybe God just wants to meet with me, on His terms, to accomplish His purposes in my heart.
In the past year, I have developed an increased hunger for the Lord, and it stems from the time that I spend alone with Him, in the secret place.  It is in that place that He downloads His secrets from heaven.

“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” Proverbs 25:2

My whole purpose in writing this post is to say that time alone with the Lord is absolutely crucial to the the renewing of your mind.  It is in that place that you begin to be transformed.  And, it doesn’t have to look the same, from one day to the next.  And, it doesn’t have to take place at the same time, from one day to the next.  For me, as a stay-at-home mom, who struggles to wake up before my kids in the morning, my alone time generally happens in one of two typical ways:
1) I sign my kids into childcare at the YMCA, where I work-out.  I am allowed to leave them for 2 hours.  I spend at least the first hour in my quiet time.  SOMETIMES, I even spend that time in a tiny curtained-off dressing room in the locker rooms.  I put in my ear buds, crank up Bethel Radio on my Pandora, and guess what?!?!  He MEETS me there.
2) On the days that my husband is off work, when he wakes up, I say, “I need to go spend some time alone with the Lord.”  Then, I go.  Yes, I go.  Maybe to a park.  Maybe to Starbucks.  But, the point is, that I go.  And, I don’t feel a bit guilty about it.  Because it’s not time to escape and just get away.  It is time to intentionally seek the Lord.  To pursue His heart.  To allow Him to reach my heart.  
Jeremy knows I need that time.  I need it worse than I need a good workout. (And, trust me, I need a good workout on a regular basis, or I can feel the irritation begin to set into my bones.  The same thing happens when I go more than a couple of days without that time alone in His presence.)
And, there is no prescription for my time.  It varies from one day to the next.  One day, I may read in my “Jesus Calling” devotional, and look up the scripture references, and the next day, I may spend the entire time reading the Word.  One day, I may spend a significant amount of time pouring out my complaints to the Lord, and asking Him to reveal the roots of my struggles, without even opening my Bible. Or, I may spend my time confessing forgiveness toward someone, and asking God to help me release the feelings and judgments I’ve stored up in my heart toward someone, surrendering them, instead, to Jesus.  Still, on another day, I may spend the entire time just listening and receiving from the Lord.
The important thing to realize is that God is real, and alive, and active, and desires to speak to your heart.  He will guide your time.  He may speak to you through impressions in your heart, or He may show you a vivid picture in your imagination.  That’s okay!  God has sanctified our imagination, through the blood of Jesus, so one of my very favorite things to do is to turn on my music, close my eyes, and say, “God, will you show me a picture?”  Then, when He does it, I ask Him, “What does that mean?”  Then, I ask Him to show me more.  I have received some of the most beautiful revelations, just by resting in that place, and allowing Him to navigate the roadways of my imagination.  This is called “soaking” — intentionally quieting your mind, focusing it entirely on the Lord, and receiving/hearing from the Lord.
It’s all about the relationship!!  It is utterly useless for me to get a picture in my imagination, if it doesn’t draw me into conversation with the Lord.  That’s His desire.  To be in relationship with us.  It’s why He made us!!
While there is no set structure or time for my quiet time or “alone time with God,” as I like to call it, there are many elements that I make a point to incorporate, regularly, when I meet with the Lord:

• Reading the Word
• Prayer
• Confession of sin
• Confession of agreement with His Word and His truths over my life
• Releasing Forgiveness/ Breaking judgments (Holy Spirit will show you who you need to forgive)
• Asking the Lord to reveal lies of the enemy that I have come into agreement with, also known as Ungodly Beliefs. Confessing those lies, renouncing them, and receiving the truth from God.
• Praising God for His goodness, even (and especially) in times when I am feeling the pressures of the world.
• **Soaking**

I, personally, devote a LOT of time to soaking.  It is in this time that I feel like the Holy Spirit penetrates my heart to break strongholds, to help me understand His heart for me, and to gain His perspective on the world.  It is in this time that God reveals his “heavenly secrets” to me.  It is in this time of intentional pressing in to the heart of God that I experience the most powerful, life changing encounters.  And, when I walk away from these encounters, I simply hunger for more!
And, that is what the secret place is about.  It is that time, with just you and the Lord.  The place where He moves in to renew your mind.  To transform your thoughts.  To tell you what He thinks of you.  To reveal more about Himself to you.  It is in this beautiful exchange that you fall in love with the One who IS Love.  It is in this place that your hunger is filled and your thirst is quenched, and yet you are left wanting more, because you have tasted and seen that the Lord is, indeed, so so GOOD!!