According to Matt. 6, the principle of the kingdom people is that they live a hidden life, not performing their righteous deeds before men but in secret to please the Father, for the Father sees in secret and rewards in secret.
Our living as kingdom people today, those who live in the kingdom of God, should not be something merely outward and manifested, that is, we should not do righteous deeds only to be seen by men.
Rather, we should learn from the pattern of the Lord Jesus seen in the Gospels to spend much time privately with God and pray.
It is much easier to do a work for God outwardly and to be involved in many activities in the church than to spend time privately with the Lord.
But the Lord Jesus never remained in the issue of the miracles He made but rather, He sent the disciples away, He sent the crowds away, and He went away to a secret place on the mountain to pray privately to the Father.
For us to live a God-man life in the kingdom of God we need to spend much time in secret with the Lord, praying and fellowshipping with Him privately many times throughout the day.
We need to have set times of prayer, and our times with the Lord should be in secret, not open or public.
We may know a lot of doctrines and teachings; we may have much scriptural knowledge; we may even memorize quite a few verses in the Bible, but unless we have daily private time with the Lord, our Christian life is still something outward.
As kingdom people, those regenerated to live in the kingdom of God, we need to learn to “go up on the mountain” and pray, that is, we need to enter into our private room and spend much time in secret with the Lord.
We allocate portions of time to many things throughout the day, and we do our best to schedule our daily activities according to what we think it is important and what has priority. The utmost priority should be our time with the Lord; we need to come to the Lord as we are, open to Him, enjoy Him, speak to Him, and let Him speak to us and infuse us.
We may need to cry out before the Lord so that He may save us from our deadness and our barrenness; we need to learn to empty ourselves before the Lord and let Him fill us with Himself.
When we are filled with the Lord and obtained His answers to our problems, we can flow Him out, and wherever we go, we bring the kingdom of God with us.
It is good to spend time with the saints and pray, read the word, and fellowship, but this time should not replace or be above our time with the Lord; our secret time with the Lord, our hidden life with Him, should be our priority in our Christian life.
Living a Hidden Life and Living and Caring for the Father’s Secret and Hidden Presence
The principle of the kingdom people is that they live a hidden life; they don’t perform their righteous deeds before men to be seen and praised by them, but they do things in secret for the Father to see them.
In Matt. 6 we are told of the righteous deeds of the kingdom people, such as giving (vv. 2-4), praying (vv. 5-15), and fasting (vv. 16-18), all of which have to be done in secret.
We should give in secret, for our heavenly Father sees in secret; we should pray in secret, for our Father who is in secret sees in secret; and we should fast in secret, for we fast for Him and unto Him.
Actually, the reward we should expect for our righteous deeds should be the Triune God Himself – when we fast, pray, and give in secret, we will receive Him as a reward, and we practice these by Him as our life.
Regarding each of these three illustrations, the Lord used the word “secret” (see vv. 4, 6, 18); our Father is in secret, He sees in secret, and He rewards us in His time and in His way in secret.
As the kingdom people of the heavenly kingdom of the Lord, as children of the heavenly Father, we must live in and care for the Father’s secret and hidden presence.
The heavenly Father’s seeing in secret must be an incentive to doing our righteous deeds in secret; we should not do things for others to see them and praise us but rather, we should do things in secret before our Father, and we should expect the reward and appreciation only from Him.
When and how the Father will reward us is up to Him; He may reward us in this age (2 Cor. 9:10-11) or in the coming age (Luke 14:14), but what we should care for is living a hidden life with the Lord and caring for the Father’s secret and hidden presence.
We may encourage one another to function in the meetings, but even our function in the meeting by prophesying and sharing and declaring the word and the hymns should not be merely outward, as a show; rather, we should spend much more time in secret with the Lord, having a hidden life with Him.
We need to send roots downward into Christ, spending much time alone with Him and in His word to be infused with Him and saturated with His element, and then there will be a manifestation outwardly, and this manifestation will be for the glory of God.
We should always try to do the things that are pleasing to God and righteous to man in a secret way, for our life is a hidden life with the Lord, and what we care for is not others’ seeing and appreciating us but the Father’s secret and hidden presence.
Lord Jesus, we love You. We love to spend time with You in secret and seek You in secret. Save us, Lord, from doing things outwardly as a show for You or in Your name. Save us from any hypocrisy or outward display. May we live a hidden life with the Lord daily, having much secret and private time with Him, and caring for the Father’s secret and hidden presence. Oh Lord Jesus, You are our only reward; we want to gain more of You, have You wrought into us more, and have You lived out of us more for the glory of the Father!
Not doing our Righteous Deeds in the Flesh but in Spirit and in Secret to Please the Father
In the world today many people want others to know how much they gave for a good cause, how much they pledged to give for this good thing or that good cause, and how much they donated to this or that. This is the vanity of life found in man’s flesh and his self.
Even in Christianity there are many who are being praised for how much they donated, and the sum they donated is mentioned along with their name on the plaque in the church building.
But the Lord Jesus told us clearly that, when we give, the left hand should not know what the right hand is doing, for our giving is in secret.
As kingdom people, we need to live in an emptied and humbled spirit and walk in a pure and single heart under the heavenly ruling of the kingdom; as such ones, we are not allowed to do anything in the flesh for man’s praise but do all things in the spirit for the pleasing of our heavenly Father.
We all have something within us worse than anger or lust – we have the self and the flesh, who manifest themselves not only in negative ways but also in seemingly positive ways such as performing righteous deeds, yet not in secret but in public.
The Lord used the illustrations of fasting, praying, and giving to show us that man’s flesh and self seek to glorify themselves, so men would do righteous deeds in public and before men to be praised by them.
But we as kingdom people should not do our righteous deeds in the flesh but in spirit and in secret to please the Father and not to show off before men. What we do in secret only we know, and only God who sees in secret knows.
The effect of doing our righteous deeds in secret is that the flesh and the self are killed; if people in society and even in degraded Christendom are not allowed to make a show of their good deeds, they will not do them; the self loves to be glorified, and the flesh loves to be gazed upon.
When we pray, give, and fast in secret, doing this in spirit please the Father, we are rewarded not by man but by God who sees what we do in secret.
The effect of doing our righteous deeds in secret is that the self and the flesh are killed, and we live a hidden life with the Lord to please Him and be rewarded by Him.
Living the kingdom life is not something outward to be displayed and for men to see; it is something inward, hidden, and in secret with our heavenly Father, so that the Father would see and reward.
A basic principle concerning our righteous deeds is that we should never make a show of ourselves; as much as possible we should hide ourselves, keep ourselves covered, and do things in secret.
If we would fast, we should not let the others know about it so as to make a display of it, neither should we disfigure our face or show a sad countenance; rather, our fasting should be in secret to please the Father.
Our functioning in the meeting should not be to display what we know or understand, neither should it be done for others to see and appreciate us; rather, we should have much time in secret with the Lord, be filled with Him, and overflow with what He has spoken to us and done in us in the meetings.
We should simply do our righteous deeds in the presence of God, not in the flesh but in the spirit and in secret to please the Father.
When we give in secret, pray in secret, and fast in secret, when we do our righteous deeds in secret, we believe that our heavenly Father sees in secret and will reward us in secret, for we seek to please the Father.
Lord Jesus, we do not want to do our righteous deeds in the flesh and outwardly for others to see us but in the spirit and in secret to please the Father and be rewarded by the Father. May we live in an emptied and humbled spirit and walk in a pure and single heart under the heavenly ruling of the kingdom. Lord, may we seek You in secret, give in secret, fast in secret, and pray in secret much, so that we may please the Father and not seek any glory from men. May we realise that we cannot do anything in the flesh for the praise of men but do all things in the spirit for the pleasing of our heavenly Father!
You can read this article also in Romanian – citiți acest articol / această împărtășire și în limba română via următorul link, Ca popor al împărăției noi facem faptele noastre drepte în duh în secret pentru a-I face plăcere Tatălui.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Matthew, msg. 21 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Development of the Kingdom of God in the Church Life and the Christian Life (2019 spring ITERO), week 2, Living the Kingdom Life by Living a Hidden Life.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / In the spirit seek His face; / Ask and listen in His presence, / Waiting in the secret place. (Hymns #784)
# In the secret of His presence / How my soul delights to hide! / Oh, how precious are the lessons / Which I learn at Jesus’ side! / Earthly cares can never vex me, / Neither trials lay me low; / For when Satan comes to tempt me, / To the secret place I go. (Hymns #553)
# Keep my heart still faithful to Thee, / That my earthly life may be / But a shadow to that glory / Of my hidden life in Thee. (Hymns #547)
About aGodMan
