Smith Wigglesworth- the Secret Place Life and Afterglow
As I was praying, I felt led to open up in John chapter four, and the words that immediately stood out were, “Give me a drink.” How thirsty are we?
“Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
John 4: 13, 14
On this earth, we understand that everything ends, everything becomes depleted, and everything fades. Here we see how in the natural world everything temporarily satisfies and then fades. Further, on this earth, we know that to enjoy and experience satisfaction, we need increased or fresh stimulus because there is always an ending.
Smith Wigglesworth said:
“There is a great difference between a pump and a spring. The law of a pump, the baptism is a spring. The old pump gets out of order, the parts perish, and the well runs dry. The letter killeth.”
Let’s stop here momentarily because this is where the Secret Place makes all the difference. Many simply come for a drink and operate and function from the natural order. In the natural, everything ends, fades, and fails. But, the Secret Place dweller is brought into something greater.
“He who dwells in the Secret Place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the almighty.”
Psalm 91: 1
The Name, “Almighty” which is the translation of El Shaddai, infers the One who is self-sufficient. As humans, we don’t know to fully appreciate self-sufficiency, but rather we know dependency. The very fact that you thirst demonstrates this dependency. Smith said:
“But the spring is every bubbling up and there is a ceaseless flow direct from the Throne of God. There is life.”
In the Secret Place of His Presence, there is an abiding place where we come and know His sufficiency, and it changes everything. We no longer abide by a natural order of depletion but an order of the Spirit, which is ever-increasing. You take a drink, and that drink in the Secret Place by His touch multiplies in you and becomes a spring. As we abide in Him and in His Word in the Secret Place, there is a re-charging of the spring, enabling it to overflow.
“To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.”
Genesis 12: 1b, 2
If I put this in other words and align with the Secret Place, we see the Lord pointing us to the Secret Place where we are transformed and become like Him. Here He makes of us something greater, bigger and always increasing. Further, the purpose is that touch and impartation from Him is to impart to others. Taking the drink is to lift you so that you no longer live to survive but to live and bless Him.
Smith explained:
“It is written of Christ, ‘Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness.’ And in this new life in the Spirit, I this new covenant life, you love things that are right and pure and holy, and shudder at all things that are wrong. Jesus was able to say, ‘…the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.’ (John 14: 30). And the moment we are filled with the Spirit of God we are brought into like wonderful condition, and as we continue to be filled with the Spirit, the enemy cannot have an inch of territory in us.”
There must be such a radical transformation in the Secret Place that we are lifted, and we become like the one we behold, Jesus. This afterglow of simply being with Him is manifested as a change from the core of our being outwards.
“And this, I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ Jesus. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
Philippians 1: 9-11
Again, you will always find in His Presence there is increase, abundance, fullness, and overflow. You will never find a lack or shortage. He is abounding or has an overwhelming abundance of love, and if you spend time in the Secret Place, you will see His love in you increase as well. There is a change that occurs and an afterglow.
Smith explained:
“Do you believe that you can be so filled with the Spirit that a man who is not living right can be judged and convicted by your Presence.”
The anointing in you and on you will drive people to you and lift Him or cause them to run from you. The anointing first convicts of our insufficiency and need of Him. Then in Him that anointing confirms in Him that you have an overflow. There can be no allowing the enemy into your life because you know who you are and you hate all evil.
Smith explained:
If I glory in anything it is only in the Lord who has been so gracious to me. But I remember one time stepping out of a railroad carriage to wash my hands. I had a season of prayer, and the Lord just filled me to overflowing with His love. I was going to a convention in Ireland, and I could not get there fast enough. As I returned, I believe that the Spirit of the Lord was so heavily upon me that my face must have shone. There were two clerical men sitting together, and as I got into the carriage again, one of them cried out, ‘You convict me of sin.’ Within three minutes everyone in the carriage was crying to God for salvation. This thing has happened many times in my life. It is the ministration of the Spirit that Paul speaks of, this infilling of the Spirit, that will make your life effective, so hat even the people in the stores where you trade will want to leave your presence because they are under conviction.”
In the spiritual realm, you are a bright burning flame showing the way. The longer I linger in the Secret Place, the greater the impact and afterglow. Our eyes are continually opened to understand and see more and more of what He has for us and who we are in Him.
Smith explained:
That all this ministration of condemnation that has hindered your liberty in Christ is done away. The law is done away! As far as you are concerned, all that old order of things is forever done away, and the Spirit of God has brought in a new life of purity and love.”
No wonder Paul wrote:
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Romans 8: 1, 2
Have we jumped into the deep waters of His glory and experienced and received this, or do we barely put our toes in the water? There can be no “what if’s?” or fear holding us from full surrender.
For real relationships to grow, it demands vulnerability and surrender. There must be a leaving of the old order and cleaving of the new so that the two might become one.
Paul said:
“And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be My people. Therefore ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord, Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.’ I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
2 Corinthians 6: 16-18
There can be no more clinging and longing after the wrong things. This is why it is a Secret Place thing-
“And thus the secrets of the heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.”
1 Corinthians 14: 25
That which is real, and we hold true in our innermost being is exposed and given in worship to the Lord God. There is no hiding, covering, or running away from, but a joyous surrender! Here every road of the enemy into our lives is destroyed and we stand free in Him. Smith explained:
“Oh, if God had His way, we would be like torches, purifying the very atmosphere wherever we go, moving back the forces of wickedness.”
And as we abide we see that He is the Almighty God, the stronger strong man.
“There is a continued transformation in this life. Beholding the Lord and His glory, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord. Three is a continued unveiling, a constant revelation, a repeated clothing upon from, above. I want you to promise God never to look back, never to go back to that which the Spirit has said is, ‘done away.’ “
