I started a series of messages 3 weeks ago called: The Secret place!
If you didn’t listen it , please go to our website www.shalomfortheworld.com and you can listen the audio, you can read it or you can find it on our YouTube Channel: “Shalom Ireland”
Let’s remind some points :
The first message was: Treasures from the secret place
How are you building your spiritual life?
Without intimacy with Jesus everything is wood, hay and straw and one day it will become ashes!
Building with gold, silver and precious stone means building your secret place!
The second message: Building your life in intimacy with The Holy Spirit (03/05/20)
You are saved to write your own story together with the Holy Spirit. Salvation is not only getting a ticket to heaven when you die, Salvation is when the Holy Spirit grants me a new birth which qualifies me for a supernatural life.
You were saved to live like Jesus lived, you and I were saved to be a copy of Jesus on earth!
We are saved and we received the Holy Spirit not only to be a church members and go to heaven
The Holy Spirit empowered you to heal and deliver all who are under the power of the devil!
Your calling is to manifest the life of Christ wherever you go and to be a light in the darkness!
The third message: The purpose of intimacy
The Bible shows us that it is very dangerous for a Christian to be in Church but not be in intimacy with God.
The door was shut for the same virgins that were waiting for the Bridegroom and they did not enter into the Kingdom of God according Matthew 25
Many people know the bible, know the principles of God, but they don’t have a personal relationship with The Holy Spirit!
Intimacy means – here is my heart , here is my soul, my spirit, my desires, my dreams, everything that I am and surrender!
If I trust Him – I will obey Him!
If I obey Him it’s because I love Him!
Intimacy means that you are thirsty, you are hungry for more of Him.
A relationship with the Holy Spirit cannot be developed just for the purpose of blessings, for miracles or for the work of the ministry.
God created us to have an intimate relationship with Him and this relationship is through the person of The Holy Spirit.
Today’s message : God is waiting for you in the secret place
We are finishing today this series of messages “The Secret Place”
I want to start asking you: How is your relationship with the Holy Spirit?
Could you say you have an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit ?
What has changed in your spiritual life since you heard the first message?
How is your quiet time with God? Has it improved?
What is God speaking to you ? Has your love for God has grown in the past weeks?
“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”
James 1:22 NLT
I can guarantee you, my life has been changed over these 3 weeks by the Word that I’m sharing to you. Because we’ve been practicing it!
How is your relationship with the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of Trinity. He is a Person. We can know Him.
He is on earth now to bring us closer to God and to fill us with the life of Christ.
We need to get to know Him more!
Remember that: Relationship with the Holy Spirit comes with salvation, but intimacy with the Holy Spirit comes by surrender!
I’m here to challenge you, go to the secret place.
Set time to read his word and meditate on it. Set time time to talk to him. Time to listen to Him.
The more you listen – the more you going to hear
The more you hear – the more excited you going to be
The more excited you are going to be – the more time you will want to give to Him
When we develop intimacy with the Holy Spirit we learn how to listen to His voice.
I want to share with you just practically – How to hear the voice of God.
We have to understand, Jesus said:
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
John 10:27 NIV
“My sheep recognise my voice, I know them, and they follow me”
John 10:27 (version Message)
Jesus didn’t say: my sheep they only know my Words ! My sheep know my voice.
Nowadays there are a lot of Christians who cannot discern betweenGod’s voice, the devil’s voice and society’s voice.
Are you able to discern between your mum’s voice and your spouse’s voice?
Why? Because you know her, because you are close to her.
In order to hear the voice of God you have to be filled with the Spirit of God and you have to develop this intimacy with the Holy Spirit.
How does that happen?
When you constantly fill yourself with the Holy Scripture
When you fast constantly, pray constantly, constantly fill yourself with memorising the Bible, constantly take part in a Small Group, constantly come to Church Services and meetings and are an active member of the Body of Christ.
But it all starts when you go to the secret place. Why is prayer so important?
Prayer is very important because it strengthens our relationship with the Holy Spirit.
I have learned a very important secret to prayer. It’s so simple. It’s unbelievably simple.
To have a great prayer life you have to have a holy life. If you sin during the day, you are not praying in the morning.
And if you pray in the morning you will not sin during the day. They are correlated.
We cannot pray well if we have a bad life and we cannot have a bad life if you pray well!
Prayer is not to make me a religious person, fasting is not to make me very spiritual, but to push me to one thing; So I can be brought to Jesus like a donkey, and the Holy Spirit can sit on me and the city we go into can be changed for the Glory of God.
My beloved brothers and sisters, our flesh is always flesh, your flesh is always fighting against the spirit and if you don’t invest time in the relationship with the Holy Spirit you are going to have a defeated spiritual life!
In any relationship with people we need our work into it and take action in order for our relationship to grow. If you don’t invest time, money and love into it, your relationship will die.
I have been married for 30 years and I realised one thing about our relationship.
In order for my relationship with my wife to live we both need to die!
This is the only way our relationship can stay alive.
If we both refuse to die and hold on to our own ways instead, guess who dies? The relationship!
That’s why many marriages die and end up in divorce because they refuse to die!
The only way relationships can live is when both people in it die!
Jesus already died and now it’s your turn. Jesus’ death alone is not enough to keep your relationship with Him alive!
That’s why we need to pray, we need to fast, we need to spend time with Him, because we are investing in this relationship!
Another thing that helps us to grow in our relationship with the Holy Spirit is: What we feed ourselves and who we walk with.
We have to understand something about spiritual hunger:
Natural hunger only comes when you don’t eat.
Spiritual hunger comes when you do eat.
When you eat you become hungry spiritually.
When you don’t eat you don’t get hungry spiritually.
People get closer to The Holy Spirit because of what they read, what they listen to, what they watch and who they hang out with.
We have to be people who will allow other people bring us closer to the Holy Spirit.
What are you reading? Pinterest? Facebook, Twitter, Instagram?
What are you listening to? What kind of music or podcast are you listening to?
What are you watching on TV, YouTube, Internet, Netflix?
Who do you hang out with?
I’m always listening to people, I’m listening and following people that bring me near to God. You need to follow men and women of God that bring you closer to Jesus.
If you want to have a victorious Christian life and to fulfil God’s purpose for your life you need to go to the secret place!
Many Christians are fighting and struggling with sins and addictions and the only way to overcome sins and addictions and to live a life that pleases God is in an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit.
You either have a secret place or secret sins!
If you don’t have a secret place with God you will have secrets sin
Secret place brings you to a victorious Christian life
Secret sins will destroy your spiritual life, your marriage, your future and will lead you to scandals.
“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
Matthew 6:6
Close the door of distraction if you want God to open the window of Heaven.
One of the ways we bring distractions to our prayer not closing the doors is praying with their phone.
Your phone is there , all the notifications and all your apps come in the moment you get into the secret place.
Somebody liked my photo, somebody commented , somebody sent you a text message , you get a call and guess what happens ? You are constantly distracted!
Some people complain that I don’t answer the phone . I don’t answer the phone when I am praying, reading , my time with God , when I’m disciplining, Counselling people , preaching our teaching .
Why does God want us to close the door?
Because Intimacy always happens behind closed doors ! God wants intimacy!
Every married person knows you have to close the doors. Mainly for women nothing can happen until that door is locked.
Sometimes God is saying: could you leave the phone behind that door ?
How can I leave my phone behind that door? How am I going to read the Bible?
Have you heard about physical Bibles? They still make those !
If you use it for a song , change to flight mode !
Social media , text messages , phone calls , they distract you and there is no one more important than the creator of the universe when you meet with Him.
If in your prayer life the doors are open the window of Heaven are closed.
I have to admit that I broke this rule in my own life but I’m disciplining myself not see the first thing in the morning my phone screen but my wife’s face and not to check social media until I’m done with prayer.
When I’m with God in the secret place I want to give God my undivided attention.
“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
Matthew 6:6
Who is in the secret place !
Go there to be with Him ! You go to your room and the Father is already in the secret place !
You don’t have to seek Him , you need to be with Him !
He is saying: Come and be in a secret place !
Sometimes you don’t need to talk , be with Him !
Did you know that God loves your presence way more than you enjoy His?
He loves more your presence than you love His presence.
Did you know that God enjoy you being with Him ?
God loves your presence so much more than you love His and prayer is not about you getting something out of God , is God trying to get you , getting your heart , getting your presence.
When you don’t see your wife for 1 week do you feel guilt or do you miss her ?
When you didn’t pray for a week you don’t have to feel guilt but you have to fell thirsty , you have to miss Him !
Than you go back to his presence and say God I miss you !
I miss being with you , I miss your presence !
God loves your presence than go end be you Him ! Because he miss you !
Have you fall asleep when you were praying? I did
In the another day we say to God : I’m sorry I felt sleep .
I heard Bill Johnson saying one time : When your daughter falls asleep in your arms as a father do you ever punish her ?
When I had my daughters in my arms and they felt sleep I really enjoyed seeing her sleeping.
God loves your presence !
If you born again you’re son , you’re a bride of Christ ! God is there in the secret place and he’s waiting for you.
Even if you have sinned against God make your way to the secret place ! Because God is waiting for you !
He says just come and confess but don’t hide from me !
Come to me God is saying !
God is waiting for you in the secret place !
God bless you!