“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will remain secure and rest in the shadow of the Almighty (whose power no enemy can withstand).”
Psalm 91: 1 AMP
The word used here for shelter is translated in the KJV as the “Secret Place.” As we read Psalm ninety-one, we see all the blessings provided to those who make the Secret Place there permanent dwelling place. In this dark and challenging hour, we need the provisions of Psalm ninety-one in our lives.
Smith Wigglesworth explained:
There are two kinds of shouts: a shout that is made, and a shout that makes you. There are men of God, but there are also men who are God’s men. There is a place where you take hold of God, but there is a better place where God takes hold of you.”
The believer is made in the Secret Place of His Presence and given a shout that penetrates and impacts. As believers we must be daily transformed by abiding in the Secret Place always carrying with us the afterglow to a dying and needy world.
Smith explained:
The crown of life is for the overcomer. It is not for those at ease in Zion. We must be in the place where God can depend upon us to keep going until we see victory, never giving in and knowing no defeat, always making our stand by a living faith and gaining the victory.
If we look at a marriage relationship we see the key to it growing and prospering is the depth of communication and fellowship. The two must come into their secret place and surrender all to the other that the two may become one. It is here they come to know their love for each other and believe in it. We too, must invest in our relationship with Him by coming into the Secret Place that we might truly know Him.
“Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoke in secret *Secret Place) from the beginning; from the time it was, I was there. And now the Lord God and His Spirit have sent Me.”
Isaiah 48: 16 (clarity added)
His Spirit is calling us to come into the Secret Place to meet with Him. Listen to this verse:
“O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the Secret Place of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”
Song of Solomon 2: 14
In the Secret Place we truly see Him and discover His glory and we begin to see who we are in Him. Every divine appointment in the Secret Place should be an encounter.
The radical life of a believer is unlike anything we can imagine and it comes from dwelling in the Secret Place. When we truly make the Secret Place our dwelling Place we come to know Him and His heart and a confidence and boldness arises in us. We also find that in the Secret Place there is a shout and that shout of victory fills the believer and until it becomes a part of them. In this book we will see how in the Secret Place, it is a safe place and a place of surrender. In the place of full surrender, we find God takes a hold of the person and they are transformed.
Wigglesworth added-
Do YOU know the presence of the Almighty? It is wonderful. It is a surety, with no wavering, no unbelief, no unrest there. It is perfect!
It is the Secret Place of His Presence. As Wigglesworth explained, in His Presence we come to a place of unwavering faith, rest and we are filled with His perfect peace and joy. As you stand in His Presence and begin to truly see Him and hear His Word, you can’t help but believe Him. For no one speaks like He speaks, for His Word has absolute authority and life.
Wigglesworth further added-
My great desire is to see men become strong in the Lord by dwelling in the secret place, which is known to all who fear Him.
The longer the time we give Him in the Secret Place, the more He is able to do in us and the through us. The Secret Place is the place of human weakness overcome by His divine strength.
“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the New Covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called ,ay receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
Hebrews 9: 14, 15
The New Covenant was ratified by His blood in the Holy of Holies or Secret Place of His Presence. Jesus came with His blood and sprinkled it for our redemption.
In the Secret Place we become strong in the Lord as we come to fully know Him. The Holy Spirit has come to reveal to us what Jesus fully did on the Cross, what it means to us, and who we are as a result. When we become strong in the Lord we are then able to become strong in the power of His might.
Wigglesworth began to explain a key to making the Secret Place your dwelling place. He said-
Now, there are two kinds of fear. One fear involves being afraid of God. I hope you are not there. Unbelievers are there. But the believer should desire, rather, to die than to grieve God by fearing Him in this way.
When we fully appreciate that the Secret Place is the Holiest Place and that we are standing in the Presence of the Holy One we must become filled with a holy fear. As we discover His love and become consumed in that love. Out of this love we begin to desire to do only that which is well pleasing to Him and fear doing anything that would grieve Him.
Wigglesworth added-
The secret place of the Lord is with those who fear Him in the second way: with respect and honor. Moses knew something about it. He feared God and said to Him, “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence” (Exodus 33:15).
The Presence of God hidden behind a veil in either the Tabernacle or Temple, elevated the Children of Israel, taking them from being the least to becoming the greatest of all nations. His Presence was so holy and so powerful that no one dared draw near.
In this hour we don’t hear much preached on the fear of the Lord and we are taught that God is love and that we can sin and not fear consequences. We have no revelation of our true state and that without Him we are naked and wretches.
“Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”
Revelation 3: 17
I think of the word “miserable,” which means being in a pitiable state of distress and unhappiness and I wonder how can you be in this state and not know? Yet as we look around, we see so many believers who put a smile on their faces, and yet inwardly, they are falling apart. We think we can fake it until we make it. It is so part of life these days that no one thinks anything of it. What is worse, the lack of really anointed preaching with power means most Christians are not experiencing the liberty from this that Christ provided. We see weak Christians with little spiritual strength or depth. Further, they don’t know victory in their lives.
Wigglesworth shared-
Fellowship with God, peace, and power—this is God’s will for us, so don’t fear that it isn’t. No price is too great to pay to have it. It is our inheritance. Christ purchased it for us. Through Him we have the covering of the presence of the Almighty. What a covering the unfolding of His will is!
In the Secret Place of His Presence, He calls us to know Him and discover who we now are in Him and our inheritance in Him. He desires that we know are inheritance in Christ. Peter wrote:
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the KNOWLEDGE of God and of Jesus our Lord.”
2 Peter 1: 2 (Emphasis Added)
As we read the wonderful promises and provisions Peter speaks of in his letter, we see the key to enjoying them is the holy intimate knowledge of Him. If the Presence abiding with the Children of Israel behind a veil exalted the nation, how much more will His Presence abide in us and with us?
Wigglesworth went on to say-
Oh, to dwell in the secret place, His presence! What will this presence do? It will dare us to believe all God says, assisting us to lay hold of the promises. We will have God so indwelling us that we will become a force, a power of God’s abiding, until the time death is swallowed up in victory!
Our lives as believers are to be radically changed in the Secret Place. His Presence must be everything to us and we should seek that every fiber of our being would be dissolved in it. Further, we must have such a holy desperation and hunger for Him that we must know Him. We refuse to be satisfied with simply surviving on a prayer life that goes no deeper than what we do in a Church service. No, we must know Him and when no one is looking we pursue Him with everything within us.
Our prayer life at home must go beyond a prayer list and a simple religious act we do before we go to bed or before we eat. Now all these things can be good, but they must never replace our personal pursuit and relationship with Him or dwelling in the Secret Place. If we dare to go into the great unknown of His Presence in the Secret Place, we will find a life swallowed up In Him. A new life where our weaknesses are consumed and replaced by His strengths.
Wigglesworth explained that if we are Secret Place dwellers then-
If you are in the experience of verse 1, here is an added substance of faith for you. (It is a fact. And you need to have facts, inward facts, instead of “fearings” or feelings, because you will be beyond anyone’s argument when you have them.)
Some Christians live from experience to experience and never come to the place of walking and living by faith. We may have powerful experiences with the Lord, but we can’t build our lives on experiences. Listen to what Wigglesworth was talking about and the life of a Secret Place dweller-
“I will say to the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust (with great confidence, and on whom I rely)!’ For He will save you from the trap of the fowler; and the deadly pestilence.”
Psalm 91: 2, 3
We come to a place of confidence in Him and His promises. Here in the Secret Place, we hear Him speak those precious promises from His heart to ours.
“Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and grace and find grace to help in the time of need.”
Hebrews 4: 16
Such confidence causes us to come expectant to receive. We know Him and His heart and, in this knowing, we stand fully persuaded. The Secret Place is a safe place, and as we stand fully secure in His love, there is no resistance. Smith explained
There is no “kick” in the secret place—no evil temper, no irritability. All is swept away while one is dwelling in the presence of the Almighty; in the covering of God.
No flesh can enter, and no flesh can boast in the Secret Place. It is the wonderful place where we enter in under the covering of His shadow. The place where we are kept by the Almighty God. Oh, in the midst of the raging storm to hear His voice that instantly clams the wind and the sea. When our lives are in turmoil, and all hope is gone, in His Presence we feel His touch that changes everything. The roar of the Lion of Judah stirs inside of us, and we now stand bold, strong and secure. Smith further explained:
This is a fact, not in human nature, but in God. It is the gift of God from heaven. We belong to the new creation, and we are in a wonderful place in life. It is a life free from the law of sin and death.
As you read this book, we will press into deeper waters to gain a deeper understanding of this. If we can fully understand and appreciate what happens in the Secret Place of His Presence we will never leave. We come to a confidence not in the flesh or based in any way on the flesh. But a confidence in Him. That which is of the flesh only produces death, but that which is of the Spirit brings forth life. We live in an hour when there is much boasting and confidence in the flesh. But as we watch Him shake all things, we find we can truly have no confidence in the flesh. But when we come into His Presence and know Him and our inheritance true confidence comes forth. We now walk by a new order not built upon any confidence in the flesh but by the Spirit.
The law of the Spirit of life was destroying all that must be destroyed. Dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, we then are above all in Him: He that is above all and through all and in you all.
Here in His Presence we learn to live and walk by the Spirit. It is such a higher order of living and it always causes us to triumph.
You see, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear…” (1 John 4:18). And where is God, who is Love? He is in the Word. He has embodied Himself in the Word. The Word spells destruction to all evil, because God is in the Word, and He is greater than all evil. Therefore, he that dwelleth in love is master of evil situations. He that dwelleth in GOD, in His presence and in His Word, is master of evil situations. We have no fear!
Dwelling in the Secret Place means abiding in His love and dwelling in His Word. It is a life of being found in the vine allowing His life to flow into and through us. It is the place where we come to the well but then find a river of living water flowing out of us.
Oh, in the Secret Place, we are established.
“How can I get established faith?” you ask. Abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Don’t change your position, but always have the presence of God, the glory of God. Pay any price to abide under that covering, for the secret of victory is to abide where the Victor abides.
As we read Psalm ninety-one, we must take note of all the “I wills” of the Almighty God for those who make His Presence their permanent dwelling Place.
“Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My Name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With a long life I will satisfy him and let him see My salvation.”
Psalm 91: 14, 15
The Secret Place of His Presence is the place where those who love Him and He is there All and All, seek Him and desire to know Him. It is our love that Secret Place dwellers come and walk consumed by and now moved by His love. It is the place where you come to know and believe His love and your life is now secure in His love.
It is the place where we lose ourselves and then find ourselves in Him. It is where everything ends and all things begin.
