Developing a Secret History in God
by Mike Bickle
8/4/14
Teaching
“Draw me away with you!” (Song 1:4). This speaks of intimacy with God. It speaks of our private interactions with Him. Did you know every one of us is each developing a secret history in God? You and I, every believer in the earth, we are developing that secret history, that interaction with God that nobody else can see.
Whether you are in a public gathering, whether you are at a workplace, whether you are in a prayer room, whether you are walking in a park, we all carry our heart in a certain way and make choices. We are developing our secret history. I want a rich secret history in God.
That does not mean that nobody ever sees what is going on, but most of what happens in all of our lives happens on the inside. It is those choices that we make continually. I do not mean whether to sin or not sin. I am talking about how we are going to maintain the dialogue with Him in our heart. How we are going to refuse condemnation. How we are going to resist temptation. How, when the devil comes, and there is disappointment, and we want to just give up and give in, thinking it is not worth it and the Lord says, “Really, don’t you know I love you and all things work together for good? Contend for what I told you is true about you.”
How do we grow in this? When we study His name, what His personality is like, what He feels like, how He acts, what He thinks, it awakens love in the human heart. Why do I say that to you? A lot of folks want their love to increase. They want to feel the power of it. They want to feel the love of God for them, and they want to feel love back to God. But what they do is come to a worship service, wanting someone to pray for them, to impart it to them. I am all for that, but that is not mostly how you are going to grow in this revelation—by someone laying hands on you. You are going to grow in it day-by-day, inch-by-inch, reading the Word and talking to Jesus, the Spirit little-by-little touching your heart. I am telling you, that is how it works.
People say, “I believe everything you are saying, but I do not read the Word. I am not really one of those guys.” If that is true of you, then you will live a spiritually superficial life. You may have a powerful gifting that opens up big doors for you. You might sell a lot of CD’s and make a lot of money. You might be a famous preacher, but you will live spiritually shallow on the inside. To me that is the greatest tragedy a believer can have in this age. To be a sincere believer, but live spiritually shallow. “Draw me away with you!”
Mike Bickle
Mike Bickle is the founder of the International House of Prayer, an evangelical missions organization based on 24/7 prayer with worship. He is also the founder of International House of Prayer University, which includes full-time ministry, music, and media schools.
Mike’s teaching emphasizes growing in passion for Jesus through intimacy with God, doing evangelism and missions work from the place of night-and-day prayer, and the end times. He is the author of several books, including Growing in Prayer, Passion for Jesus, God’s Answer to the Growing Crisis, Growing in the Prophetic, and Prayers to Strengthen Your Inner Man. Mike and his wife, Diane, have two married sons and six grandchildren.
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