David killed the lion and the bear when no one was watching. And these unseen foundations created the framework to conquer Goliath before the eyes of all. In the Trinity, Father and Spirit are unseen, while Yeshua is plainly visible… the “express image of the Father” (Hebrews 1:3). And we, as ones created in His image, are two thirds unseen (spirit and soul), and one third seen with natural eyes. Are you seeing the pattern here?
Our lives are to have a 2 to 1 ratio of unseen to seen. It is the iceberg principle. When the bulk of our lives are spent in the Secret Place, we have solid foundations to support those things which are seen by man. In Matthew 6, Jesus talks about giving, praying and fasting, telling us clearly that if what we do is seen before men, that itself is our reward. But if we do these things secretly, before God alone, He will reward us openly. In verse 19, He tells us to store up treasures in heaven rather than on the earth, because those “cannot be stolen and will never rust, decay or lose their value.” He commands us not to worry about material things, because the Father will always take care of us. Verse 33 is familiar, where He commands us to seek His kingdom and righteousness FIRST, so that all these other things can be poured out abundantly upon us.
One of the most poignant examples of the tangible fruit that emerges from a secret life in God is Daniel Nash (1775-1831), who was Charles Finney’s personnel intercessor and who was the key to the revival fire that burned in Finney’s meetings during the 2nd Great Awakening. When Finney would receive God’s direction for the location of his next meeting, Father Nash would gather two or three other people and go there ahead of time to pray fervently, preparing the spiritual atmosphere.
Leonard Ravenhill gives this account:
I met an old lady who told me a story about Charles Finney that has challenged me over the years. Finney went to Bolton to minister, but before he began, two men knocked on the door of her humble cottage, wanting lodging. The poor woman looked amazed, for she had no extra accommodations. Finally, for about twenty-five cents a week, the two men, none other than Fathers Nash and Clary, rented a dark and damp cellar for the period of the Finney meetings (at least two weeks), and there in that self-chosen cell, those prayer partners battled the forces of darkness.
Another account tells of a lady who approached Charles Finney, asking if he knew Father Nash. She ran a boarding house and had rented a room to him and two other men, who had been there for three days without eating anything. The woman told Finney, “I opened the door and peeped in at them because I could hear them groaning, and I saw them down on their faces. They have been this way for three days, lying prostrate on the floor and groaning. I thought something awful must have happened to them. I was afraid to go in and I didn’t know what to do.” She was concerned and asked Finney if he would come check on them, to which he replied, “No, it isn’t necessary. They just have a spirit of travail in prayer.”
Nash did not usually attend Finney’s meetings, but continued praying in his hideaway for the conviction of the Holy Spirit to melt the crowd. If opposition arose, word was sent to Father Nash, who would bear down harder in prayer.
Nash once wrote in a letter,
I am now convinced, it is my duty and privilege, and the duty of every other Christian, to pray for as much of the Holy Spirit as came down on the day of Pentecost, and a great deal more…. I have only just begun to understand what Jesus meant when He said, “All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”
Father Nash died in the winter of 1831, still in a posture of prayer. Within four months of his passing, Charles Finney left itinerant ministry. The private momentum for public victory was gone.
The 2nd Great Awakening brought hundreds of thousands into the kingdom, radically changed the church, and reformed society in many dramatic ways. And it began in prayer… in the Secret Place.
I think we are all aware that we are in a crucial time in human history, a time of radical shifting and changing. God is raising up His sons to direct these changes, so that they are “on earth as in heaven.” In the United States, a pivotal election is upon us. Whether you live in the U.S. or are linked with us from another geographical location, I would like to encourage everyone to gather together in prayer in the Secret Place, so that we can see a public, tangible victory.
For months, we have been setting our alarms to remind us to release Truth, Righteousness, and Justice from heaven to earth. Now, if we gather together in the Secret Place to seek His faces, the earth will be filled with His glory. Perhaps I will see you there…
Really, it is a glorious time to be alive!
-Virginia