C. S. Lewis & JoySample

When Joy Moves Us

When Joy moves us, a new question may enter our minds: “How do I go about spending more time with God?”

Fortunately, Jesus answered this question for us: Go to the secret place.

We are to go into a room alone and close a door behind us.

If we do not have a room at our disposal, we find a corner or place of separation that provides solitude, even if only a little.

The next question follows: What do we do there?

Jesus told us to go and pray. Volumes have been written about prayer, but all of it can be distilled into one simple principle: the prayer that happens in the secret place is meant to be a heart-to-heart encounter between you and your Abba Father and not an intellectual exercise.

The secret place is where you bare your heart before God and pour every ounce of it at His feet ─ whether it be sorrow, gladness, thanksgiving, intercession, or all of it mixed together. In turn, God draws near and shelters you with His presence in the secret place.

How to Act on This

Allow this devotional to be just the first step in your time with God each day. When you finish your devotional, put everything aside and go find a secret place where the world can’t get to you. Be still in the secrecy of that place, close your eyes, bend all your thoughts toward God and draw near to Him with the deepest depths of your heart.

C. S. Lewis Quote of the Day, from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew:

"The Lion drew a deep breath, stooped its head even lower and gave [the broken-hearted boy] a Lion’s kiss. And at once Digory felt that new strength and courage had gone into him."

Shadowlands and Songs of Light Quote of the Day:

"In the [secret place], we meet Aslan [i.e. God] as Digory did. When we see his face, new strength fills us, and we have a revelation: our painful circumstances hurt him more than they hurt us. He grieves for our loved ones and our sad circumstances more than we do."