Establishing the Secret Place

The Lord has been revealing that from age 6-16 years old I hid in a shell, covering the inner pain and sadness as a way to protect myself.  When you have experienced a lot of damage to your soul, it is often hard to see an end to the pain and difficulty.  Since my father committed suicide he gave up hope and even believed God would disappoint him, this iniquity was passed onto me.  Where in a lot of ways it seemed easier to give up hope than put myself in a place to be disappointed and hurt again.  The Lord gave me the verses in Isaiah 45:2-3 as a promise for this year, I read these verse almost daily.  In these verse the Word says, "...I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places..."  The Lord spoke to my heart that He wanted to make the place in my heart where I had gone for these 10 years as a boy the "Secret Place" where I meet with Him, instead of the place of sadness, loneliness, rejection, and hopelessness.  As I had looked at thoses verses in Isaiah I realized that the shift from the Old Covenent to the New Covenant, meant that the external symbols were now fully fufilled by "...Christ in you the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).  So the secret place wasn't some building, a temple, or even a garden but a place that the Lord was establishing in my heart where I will have communion with Him.  Yet the Lord chose the place of greatest isolation, sadness, and pain to establish a place of deep intimacy.  This seems almost cruel, yet I believe He is giving me the treasures of darkness.  Remembering back to the years between 6-16 years old there is a lot of darkness, pain, sadness, and isolation.  The Lord is going into a place the Enemy has brought his lies and destruction to rescue my boyhood heart.  This is the Spirit of God's journey into the deep places of my heart, do I allow Him to touch these places of pain for redemption.  We live in such a culture that is always looking for the easy and painless way, yet my God invites me into the depths of pain for redemption.  I don't go alone because Jesus entered this place before me and as me so that He could rescue me into the safety of the Father's arms.  I am amazed at the more honest I get about my choices in life, the more I need Jesus redemption from the darkness.  I used to believe that I was basically a good person before Christ, but I know see that there was a part of me that is described well in the Bible "a child of wrath".  The Lord has also spoken to my heart about how He wants to establish the "Secret Place" through worship and soaking in His presence.  I realize that since I have chosen to heal through so much of the lies in my childhood, that I am used to working through things to find freedom.  The Lord is showing me that this is different, it is about His invitation to meet Him in the "Secret Place".  He is transforming me into a "worshipper", up til now I worship more as something that is part of church.  Transforming me into a "worshipper" means that I will have a song in my heart to Him and that praise will come forth out of my heart.  I look forward to the results of the transformation and I pray for the grace to enjoy the journey as well.  Where is He wanting to establish the "Secret Place" in your heart, where you meet with Him and enjoy times of communion.

In His Love,
Bret