The Secret Place: Confession & Worship
I think many here have believed a lie that to enter into the secret place it needs to look a certain way. You need to wake up super early, have coffee, light a candle, read your bible and worship.
Though the word and worship are essential to the secret place, we must remember that we were made by a creative God. God made us uniquely, none exactly the same and when we talk about the secret place it also means He has also designed us to connect with Him in different ways.
Some of us may connect mostly through worship, some mostly through study, some mostly through meditation, some mostly through fasting.
Some of the disciplines we will connect with more naturally because of the way God has made us, others will push us out of our comfort zone to experience God in a new way. Some disciplines will help us get out of a rut in the secret place. Explore the disciplines with the goals in mind.
The goal of this sermon series is:
To be seen by God
To connect with Him
To enjoy Him
We want you to discover how you best connect with God. The better you are at something the more likely you are to do it. (Me playing Tetherball vs. Me playing volleyball)
HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS: Once you are in, you will naturally begin operating in the other disciplines (this is so good because they are all essential).
We want you to get so good and getting in, you will want to do it all the time.
We want you to ABIDE, not just check it off a to-do list.
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.Psalm 91:1
Think: What disciplines help get me into His presence?
We will begin with Confession & Worship:
*some of you will really resonate with these “THIS IS HOW I CONNECT!” Others, may need to try it out in their “secret place” time.
Why are we starting here?
All other disciplines (ways of delighting in Jesus) take place in between confession and worship.
John 8:14 NKJV “Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.”
Main Point:
Confession is knowing where we came from are/where we are and worship is where we are going
This the only way to truly bear true witness of our lives
Confession -yada - praise, thanksgiving, shoot the arrow, confess sin, confess truth, confess God
Confess truth: admit, acknowledge, declare
We see tons of examples of this in the Psalms.
Psalm 31:9-13
This Psalm is filled with confession:
Confession of Sin
Confession of His need for a Savior
Confession of Who God is
Confession is truth. Often that means acknowledging our sin and admitting our failures. (necessary)
“God blesses those who are poor in spirit and realize their need for him,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. Matt 5:3
Confession also refers to:
Declaring the truth of God
Declaring the truth God has spoken
Declaring what He has done before
Psalm 31:14-21
Our confession leads us to worship.
It says:
This is what I have done
This is how I have fallen short
I recognize my need for Him
I am turning back to Him
As I turn back and look at Him
I am reminded of who He is
I am reminded of what He has done for me
I am reminded of what He will do
I must worship Him
I don’t know a person who wouldn’t end up in the Secret Place after that.
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” Psalms 100:4 NKJV
*The word for thanksgiving here is yada=confess truth! Confession is the password to enter in!
Confession is a gift. It is a gift to “yada” before the Lord. To lay bare before Him, with nothing to hide. Poor in Spirit, recognizing your need for Him. Yours is the kingdom of heaven.
David understood this connection between confession and worship. Confession took him to a place of worship.
David understood the need to worship in spirit and truth.
John 4 reads: 21 Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. 23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus told her, “I am the Messiah!”
God is Spirit, Christ is the truth.
Worship happens when surrender to His Spirit and accept all of His truth.
There are MANY words used to describe worship (see our post on worship for more) in the Bible, but all of them have to do with a life surrendered or sacrificed for God’s pleasure.
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” Romans 12:1 NLT
It must be all about His Spirit and His truth and us surrender to all of Him.
Make Time for:
Confession: verbal partnership with the truth
Worship: a surrendered life dedicated to pleasing Jesus
You won’t leave the same.
