And it came to pass in these days, that he went out into the mountain to pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God. Luke 6:12

Our church is engaged in 21 Days of Prayer until the end of January as part of our twice  yearly spiritual Reset. It’s a time to reflect on how we pray, seek God for His mercy and grace to pray  and  then recalibrate  how to do so according to His will. And isn’t this  resetting  to fervent, unceasing prayer absolutely critical right now as the cultural and political landscapes around us disintegrate like  runaway locomotives  going off the rails? Our souls need to be still and know that He  who is God hears our hearts crying out to Him, for ourselves,  our loved ones and the soul of this nation.

Prayer calls us to dwell in  Psalm 91’s “secret place of the Most High,” beneath the shadow of His wings. It is God’s secret place where He draws us to Himself and then blesses us. It is the place where Jesus dwelt all His life.  The  Gospels  often describe Jesus praying,  how He  went to the mountain by Himself and spent entire nights in prayer.  There, away from the disciples and crowds, He was utterly alone with the Father.  I can only imagine the magnitude of His heart pouring out on the mountainside for those He’d come to save. I can hardly fathom the depth, breadth and height of the Father’s love  enveloping  His  beloved Son  in the darkness.

Jesus taught the necessity of praying alone in a personal, secret place where God already is.

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 youopenly. Matthew 6:6

Most of the prayer warriors I know have  a secret place to shut the door, shut out distractions, listen for God’s Voice and pray. Mine is an upstairs room (which is usually freezing in January so I have a very warm blanket nearby as well as hot tea!) It is my cherished mountain spot to be alone with God. And yours?

Wanting to be alone with God is shockingly audacious  and should not be undertaken  mindlessly. What do I mean?  In my natural state,  I am never really alone because I am  always attached to people, places  or things. Like it or not, the world has a very strong grip on me. Sometimes like today, my husband is gone and I am “alone”, except my dog’s sitting under my feet, the neighbors stopped by and the phone rings. I look outside at the snow falling and marvel at God’s creation, uttering a quick and heartfelt praise heavenward. I am indeed by myself  today, but God’s secret place is not just the absence of worldly clutter. It is God’s Presence, a holy, divine, secret  realm into which I’m invited. My upstairs room is but  the introduction.

In the Bible when men found themselves alone in the presence  God (often as the angel of the Lord,) the experiences shattered them. Moses came down from the mountain in such a state of burning glory that his face had to be veiled. After his wrestling match, Jacob limped with a dislocated hip. Elijah endured hurricane and earthquake to hear God’s “still, small voice .” Isaiah’s lips were burned with a coal. The  prophet  was completely undone.  Paul was struck down, blinded and had a complete personality transplant as the Spirit of Jesus took hold of him. I don’t know of a single person in the Bible who was personally called into God’s Presence and then came away untouched, unchanged and even undamaged. Hebrews 10:31 says the “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” He is still the same awe and fear inspiring God Almighty. It is this same God whom Jesus called Father and with whom He spent hours on the mountain. Love given and received on the mountain which Jesus  spent on the cross allows us now to approach God  as Jesus did.

To be alone with God is in prayer is more than dutifully spending 20-30 minutes of our busy time behind closed doors.  It is to encounter the Father’s Holiness, Christ’s transforming Love and the Holy Spirit’s power. Alone with God He will  strip us naked exactly as we are in our skin, expose our hearts, destroy illusions and overwhelm us. It will leave us with nothing but knowing God .  

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

The Hebrew word  rapha which is translated as still actually means to give up, specifically  to surrender. When we enter  God’s secret place, we will not  know Him until everything  and everyone is stripped away and surrendered to Christ’s lordship.  Drastically, utterly  alone in all but  Him,  we then have everything.