Obviously God is omnipresent! He is with you wherever you are—at any time. And if you meet with God in a different place every day, He meets you in that different place every single time. Wherever and whenever you turn to Him, He is there ready for you. But finding a place where you can go regularly to tune out the world and tune into God can be a game changer.

How can you establish a special and sacred place for you and God to meet? It might be a coffee shop, a corner of your home, or a certain park bench. Or are you in a phase of life where you spend lots of time chauffeuring kids around to their activities? If that’s the case, maybe your car could become a sacred place for your spiritual growth. Wherever it might be, I encourage you to find a place! …and then return to that place regularly so that when you enter, you will have a heightened sense of the Lord’s presence there. 

We see a bit of a reference to this idea in the gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 6, Jesus gives guidance regarding prayer. …not how to pray, but where to pray. It says: 

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. -Matthew 6:5-6

Now when I read this passage, it feels like the main point is that God doesn’t want us to make a show of spiritual practices like prayer. He says to guard against doing things to be seen, noticed and recognized. Along those lines, these verses specifically suggest finding a hidden place to pray. While it seems like the primary message here is to avoid hypocrisy and showboating, I think there’s something else we can take from Matthew 6:5-6. Jesus talked about having a room! A prayer room, to be more exact. He said to go in the room, close the door, and pray; and then He promised that God would see and reward this. 

If having a room like this can help believers avoid the pitfall of hypocrisy, I wonder what other pitfalls it might assist with? For me, having a sacred space helps me avoid the pitfalls of distractions, laziness, excuses and apathy. Having that established place increases my focus and awareness, and it also encourages accountability. Since I’m in a regular routine of going to Caribou once a week to just spend with the Lord and His Word, when I don’t do it, it feels like something is missing. 

Psalm 91 talks about abiding in a secret place under the cover of God’s mighty shadow. The Amplified Bible, Classic Edition says it this way:

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand]. -Psalm 91:1

Doesn’t that create an awesome picture in your mind? While this verse may not necessarily be talking about a physical space, it creates a mind picture of a safe, stable and sheltered place in God’s presence. This is a place that is under the shadow of the Almighty. It’s separate from the world, thank goodness! When the world is chaotic and dark, believers can thrive in a place that’s set apart. 

This makes me think of my classroom at school. A few years ago, I was assigned to a new classroom in a corner of the building that’s pretty isolated. I’m in a computer lab in the back of the school’s library, which is nowhere near the hallways of traditional classrooms. At first, I was less than thrilled about this move. I’m a people person, and with the new location of my classroom, I don’t see many people throughout the course of a typical day. …other than the students on my roster, of course. Most of my colleagues I only see at weekly or monthly staff meetings! 

But as time has gone along, I’ve become more and more accustomed to my classroom’s location, and it has grown on me quite a bit. Why? Because on days when the rest of the school is crazy and loud, my little corner of the building stays peaceful, quiet and calm. When students enter my room, it’s almost like they’re entering a different world. Literally! Students who are hyperactive in the rest of the building, surrounded by lots of noise and commotion, are different in my classroom. My room is kinda like the secret place! It’s definitely set apart, and it’s sacred in its own way. It’s a place where students and adults can come and count on an atmosphere that’s relaxed and serene. It’s different from the rest of the school building, and because of that, spirits are lifted, anxieties are calmed, bad days often turn into better days, and students can relish an hour of tranquil respite in the middle of their day.

Find a place like this in your corner of the world where you can meet with the Lord. Your heightened sense of God’s presence in your sacred place will prayerfully lead to increased growth, maturation, development, knowledge and heart transformation. There’s no telling what the Lord might do! Just don’t even think about stealing my table at Caribou Coffee…. 🙂