A Nugget from New Life Network
(written by Dr. Larry Ollison)
Scripture for the Day (October 14, 2015)
“Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now has been made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith” (Romans 16:25,26).
God has kept secrets for us, not from us. He’s kept the mysteries and now, He is revealing these mysteries to us. It’s called progressive revelation. As we get closer and closer to the time when Jesus comes back to get His Church, we are going to have more and more revelation of these mysteries. It is going to continue.
Of course, the mysteries of God cannot be fully comprehended by the reasoning of carnal men. In this passage in Romans 16, Paul is saying that Gentiles cannot clearly understand the depth of the revelation of the Word of God. “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
There are many things God has kept secret for us and it is our responsibility to obtain these secrets. Once we understand them, they are ours. We can claim them.What kind of mysteries are we talking about? How to do something. When to do it. Where to do it. What is it you need to do in your life? What has God given you to do? What is the job that is set before you? What is the direction of your life? Do you ever just wonder about a lot of those things sometimes? It’s a mystery, but God wants to reveal the answer to the mystery to you. How are we going to get buildings paid for? It’s a mystery. Our brains sometimes go into a cramp trying to think about it. It’s a mystery, but God has the answers for us.
If we want God to give us those secrets, then we have to know where He keeps them hidden for us. Jesus told us about it in Matthew 6:6: “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.” Go into the secret place of your prayer closet. That doesn’t have to be with the brooms and the mops. It is where you go to get alone with God and to get into His presence.
Psalm 91:1 says, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” If you are under His shadow, you are in His presence. So the secret place is in the presence of God. That’s where you are going to get the answers to the mysteries. That’s where you are going to get the secret things of God revealed to you.
I want to tell you something about the presence of God, the secret place. There are no limits in the secret place. God will take you beyond what you can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). When you spend time in the secret place in the presence of God, He will reveal His secrets to you. You have to make a quality decision to practice that each day. Practice spending time in His presence.”I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel” (Isaiah 45:3). I believe that this verse has a two-fold meaning. First of all, in the last days God is going to transfer the wealth from the wicked so that we will receive the treasures of darkness and the hidden riches of the secret places (Proverbs 13:22; Isaiah 45:3). And secondly, when God is referring to the hidden riches of the secret places, He is talking about the mysteries of the Kingdom — the secret things that He has hidden for us for this day and time.
The secret place is an awesome place. You can go in there discouraged and come out uplifted. You can go there confused and come out of there not confused any more. You can know exactly what you should be doing. Go there depressed, and come out full of joy. Spending time in the secret place is vital. We need to get an established heart. Psalm 112:8 says that the man or woman who learns to trust the Lord has an established heart. We need to learn to rely on Him and move when He speaks. He wants to take us to levels where we have never been before. But we must have a teachable spirit.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:4, “My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” Real power is the ability in your life to rearrange and change things – knowing what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. If the power of God is going to work in our lives, we need to be affected by change that the power of God will bring to us. The Holy Ghost was given to us for a purpose. God is a purposeful God. We need to get back to the purpose God has for us.
