I believe there is a certain place in prayer we must tap into, a place of CERTAINTY and authority! A CERTAIN place in prayer is a place filled with unfolding destiny and expectation of answered prayer. "I ANSWERED thee in the secret place of thunder... Selah." (Psalms 81:7) I believe that the CERTAIN place in prayer, the place of ANSWERED prayer IS the "secret place of thunder."

It is a SECRET place, it is a place of intense intimacy where we are bound together, woven together with the Lord, a place of being "naked and not ashamed" before the Lover of your soul. "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy CLOSET, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in SECRET; and thy Father which seeth in SECRET shall reward thee openly." (Matthew 6:6) The place He is to be found is a SECRET place.

We are instructed to enter into our closet. The word translated as closet is tameion in Greek. Its' meanings include, a storage chamber, storeroom, a chamber- especially an inner chamber, a secret room. Friend, there is a storage chamber, a storeroom filled with the purpose and blessing of God that is waiting for us to enter into. I believe that every time we access this storeroom by prayer that it is automatically filled up again with a never ceasing supply! It is especially an INNER chamber, and like the verse says, as we enter we must "shut our door" to all outside and circumstantial influences. I believe that if we do not "shut our door" to circumstantial influences when we access this storeroom by prayer, we could end up "praying" from a mindset of fear or self-interests.

A Place of Secrets

This is a SECRET place, or a place of "secrets." A secret is not common knowledge, it is something few people know. Father wants to let us in on His SECRETS, His mysteries. His "secrets" usually are OPPOSED to the common knowledge and circumstantial influences we are surrounded by. It is time to "shut our door" of discouragement from circumstantial influences and open the "inner storehouse" of Father's divine intention!

I believe that the place of answered prayer is the "secret place of THUNDER." In Biblical symbolism, thunder speaks of mysteries that can only be discerned in hearing the "higher frequencies" of the Voice of the Lord as He whispers "secrets" in our ears. "Then came there a VOICE from heaven... The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel SPAKE to him." (John 12:28-29) Here we have two groups of people who apparently heard the same sound. However, it would seem that some heard a voice- the distinction of words, and some just heard thunder, an indecipherable rumbling. Some had "ears to hear," some were "dull of hearing." Even today, not all have ears to hear. Some just hear the thunder as an indecipherable rumbling... Some hear the Thunder as the Voice of the Lord.

"And it came to pass, that, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of his disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us TO pray..." (Luke 11:1) Notice it does not say, teach us HOW to pray, rather it says, teach us TO pray. Oh, that prayer would be given its' rightful place in our lives! If someone were writing about our life, which statement would be more accurate- "AS he was praying" or "IF he was praying." I am afraid that for many in the Church today it would be "IF he was praying" rather than "AS he was praying." We must understand that prayer is the "currency" of heaven, without it we find ourselves bankrupt. Prayer must become that which sustains us, it is as necessary as our breath... in fact it IS our breath, because HE is our breath.

Quotes of Others on Prayer:

"What a man is on his knees before God, that he is, and nothing more." - Robert Murray M'Cheyne

"Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God." - Oswald Chambers

"The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel." - Thomas Watson

"Prayer is not monologue, but dialogue; God's voice is its most essential part. Listening to God's voice is the secret of the assurance that He will listen to mine." - Andrew Murray

"Prayer is surrender-surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boat-hook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God." - Eli Stanley Jones

"I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day." - Abraham Lincoln

"You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed." - John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim's Progress

May our fervent prayer be, Lord, teach us TO pray!

Doug Fortune

www.dougfortune.org