Kingdom People have Secret Growth in Life before God and do Righteous Deeds in Secret

As people of the kingdom of God, we believers in Christ live a hidden life, not performing our righteous deeds before men; rather, we give, we pray, and we fast in secret, having much secret growth in life before the Lord, so that our heavenly Father, who sees in secret, would reward us and be our reward. Amen!

We need to realize that the Christian life is not what others see in the open, outwardly, or things that we do for the Lord before others.

The Christian life is what we live before the Lord in secret, in private, in our personal time with the Lord.

There is an outward manifestation of the inner life, but what matters before God is our time with Him, our secret time with Him in which we seek Him in prayer.

Every believer in Christ needs to set aside time every day to be with the Lord in prayer.

We need to learn from the Lord Jesus, even in the busy schedule that we have today, to seek to spend time alone with the Lord.

The Lord Jesus was very busy, and He did many things; however, even though He was busy and crowds were pressing upon Him, He still took time to be with the Father.

The Lord spent many nights before the Father in prayer to be filled with the Father and become one with the Father in all things.

We may think that, since the Lord Jesus was God, He didn’t need to spend time with the Father, for He was always with the Father in spirit.

This is true, but at the same time, His roots were in the Father, His source was in the Father, and everything He did and said was in oneness with the Father.

He was always in communication with the Father, being one with the Father in all things.

Even after the miracle of feeding the five thousand, He didn’t remain there for a while to praise God for such a miracle; rather, He sent the crowds away, He compelled His disciples to go, and He went to be with the Father in prayer.

Many times He went to a deserted place to pray to the Father in secret.

How about us today? We as believers in Christ are the people of the kingdom of God, and the nature of our relationship with the Lord is secret, personal, private, and spiritual.

We need to set aside time every day to seek the Lord in secret, to open to Him in secret, and to fellowship with Him and pray with Him in secret.

Sometimes we may even have to spend a prolonged time in secret with the Lord, just to open to Him and be infused with Him.

If we want to be healthy Christians and proper believers in Christ, we need to have a hidden life with the Lord, always seeking Him in secret and paying attention to our private, spiritual, and personal contact with Him.

Kingdom People do Righteous Deeds in Secret, before God, not Outwardly before Men

The principle of the kingdom people is that they live a hidden life with God, particularly in Matt. 6, they do not perform their righteous deeds before men.

Our righteousness is not a performance or something we perform before others; rather, our righteous deeds are before the Lord, not before men.

Righteous deeds such as giving alms (Matt. 6:2-4), praying (vv. 5-15), and fasting (vv. 16-18) are not to be performed before men but in secret, before God.

Regarding each of these three illustrations, the Lord Jesus used the word secret (vv. 4, 6, 18); we kingdom people need to have a hidden life with God and do our righteous deeds in secret, not in public before men.

Our Father is in secret, and He sees in secret; we seek Him in secret, we fellowship with Him in secret, and we do our righteous deeds in secret.

The self and the flesh, however, want to show everyone the good deeds we do, and the self loves to show the good things it does.

But we as kingdom people need to do our righteous deeds in secret, before God, not in public or outwardly, before men.

This means that we as kingdom people are children of the heavenly Father, and we must live in and care for the Father’s secret and hidden presence.

When we pray, we should not let others know we pray or do things in such a way that they know we pray and how much we pray.

Rather, we need to enter into our private room, shut the door, and pray to our Father who is in secret; the Father, who sees in secret, will repay us.

Similarly, when we give, we should not let others know how much we give or that we give; rather, we need to give in secret.

We need to give in secret before the Lord, not letting our left hand know what the right hand is doing, that is, not even we ourselves should make a big deal about our giving, for we give to the Lord, in the Lord, and before the Lord.

Similarly, when we fast, we should not do it before men but before God, for our heavenly Father who sees in secret will repay us.

God to us is not just our Creator but even more, our Father; as our Father, His nature is in secret, He hides Himself, and He wants us to have a hidden life with Him.

We are not only created beings; we have the divine life, the uncreated spiritual life of God.

When we live by the divine life in our spirit, we will not do things before men to be seen by men and praised by Him; rather, we will do things in secret for our Father to see and be happy with us.

The new law of the kingdom of the heavens was decreed by the King on the mountain in Matt. 5-7; we keep this law not by our fallen human life but by the Father’s eternal, divine life, not to gain man’s glory but to receive the Father’s reward.

One outstanding thing about our life with the Lord and before the Lord is doing things in secret, before God, and not publicly before men to be seen or praised by them.

As kingdom people who live in an emptied and humbled spirit and walk in a pure and single heart, we live under the heavenly ruling of the kingdom of God today (Matt. 5:3, 8).

As such people, we are not allowed to do anything in the flesh for the praise of others but rather, do all things in the spirit for the pleasing of our heavenly Father. Amen!

The Lord is in us as life, and we live by His divine life in us; such a life is in secret, for it is a hidden life.

The Lord rules by His anointing to do things or not do things, and all things we do are before the Lord, not outwardly before men.

We need to pay attention to the inner anointing and follow the Lord’s leading day by day, and we need to make sure we do not perform our righteous deeds before men but rather, do things before God in secret, seeking Him and desiring to please Him in secret.

This does not come naturally, so we need much prayer before Him, opening to Him and telling Him,

Lord Jesus, we want to live as kingdom people today. May we live a hidden life, not performing our righteous deeds before men but doing things in secret before God to please Him. Amen, Lord, we want to live by the divine life in our spirit, the uncreated, spiritual divine life of our heavenly Father! Hallelujah, our Father sees in secret and He wants us to seek Him in secret, do things before Him in secret, and enjoy Him in secret! Amen, Lord, may we as children of the heavenly Father live and care for the Father’s secret and hidden presence! May we live in an emptied and humbled spirit today, walking in a pure and single heart under the heavenly ruling of the kingdom. We love You, Lord, and we want to live a hidden life before You. We do not want to do anything in the flesh for the praise of man but in the spirit for the pleasing of our heavenly Father! Amen, Father, we love You and we seek You! We want to live before You and do all things for Your satisfaction!

Having Secret Growth in Life Before God Deals with the Self and the Flesh

Even though the Lord Jesus said that those who do things before the Father in secret will be rewarded by Him in secret (Matt. 6:1, 5), what is important here is not the reward but the growth in life.

Every believer in Christ needs to have a secret growth in life before God, and this is done by living a hidden life before God and doing things in secret before God, not outwardly to be gazed at or praised by man.

The saints who grow openly don’t grow in a healthy way; those who have a secret life with God and grow before God, having secret growth in life before God, are healthy in their growth.

When we pray, we need to pray before the Lord and in Him in secret, not before others for them to see us.

When we worship the Lord, this needs to be in secret, just between us and Him, not for others to see.

Similarly, when we contact the Lord and fellowship with Him, we need to do all these in secret, in a hidden way.

Not even the ones close to us need to know we are doing it, that is, we shouldn’t let them know for them to praise us. Oh, Lord Jesus!

In ourselves, in the self, we want others to know when we do something good.

The self wants to be appreciated and praised. But as kingdom people, we need to do our righteous deeds in secret; when we do this, the flesh and the self are killed.

If people today in society and even in degraded Christendom are not allowed to make a show of their good deeds, they will not do them!

This is because the self loves to be glorified, and the flesh loves to be gazed upon.

We all have the self and the flesh, and when we do something good, the self wants to be appreciated and praised.

In society today some people give large amounts of money to help with this or that, and they love for everyone to know they are doing this.

The ones who give more may even want to have their name inscribed on a plaque or printed somewhere.

Some may not even give money or help unless they are appreciated. Oh, Lord Jesus!

We as kingdom people living in this corrupt world and in the midst of the degraded Christendom need to live by the hidden life of our heavenly Father and do things in secret.

We need to have secret growth in life before God, not before men.

We need to have some secret experiences of Christ and some secret growth in life before God.

This means that we need to pray to the Lord, worship the Lord, contact the Lord, and fellowship with the Lord in a secret way.

This kills the self and the flesh, and we grow in life in a genuine way, secretly, before God.

If we live in the flesh, we won’t grow in life.

Though we may not sin that much, we still have the self and the flesh, which are the greatest hindrances to our growth in life.

How can we grow in life if the self is there, being expressed and manifested? How can we grow in the divine life when we live in the flesh and are natural?

May we have secret experiences of the Lord and therefore have the self and the flesh killed.

May we see that the greatest frustration to the Lord’s growing in us is the self and the flesh, and may we spend much time secretly with the Lord.

We all have the self, and the self wants to be praised and appreciated.

If we look around us, we may see that even in Christianity or in the church life there are some who do things in the church and love to be appreciated. Oh, Lord Jesus!

We may be so full of the self and the flesh that we are eager to do things for the Lord and in the church, for we love to be gazed at by others or appreciated by them.

May we let the Lord expose the self and terminate it by spending secret time with Him to have secret growth in life before God.

Our reward is the Lord Himself. He may reward us in this wage (2 Cor. 9:10-11) or in the coming age (Luke 14:14), but what we want is to gain more of God for Him to be satisfied, not for us to gain any praise or appreciation. Oh, Lord Jesus!

May we be recovered back to having a secret life with our Father, having secret growth before God and not doing things before men in order to be gazed at by them.

Our anger and our lust are ugly, but what frustrates us the most from growing in life is the self.

The self enjoys and wants to do things before men in a public way.

May we live according to the hidden, spiritual, divine nature of our Father to do our righteous deeds before Him, not before others.

Lord Jesus, we love You and we want to grow in You. We want to live by the divine life in our spirit and not do things merely outwardly for others to see us. Amen, Lord Jesus, have Your way to expose the self and the flesh in the desire to do things publicly for others to see. May we do our righteous deeds in secret so that the self and the flesh are killed. May we do all things before the Lord and in the Lord, desiring only to please the Lord and not to gain any appreciation or praise from others. Have Your way in us. May we have secret growth in life before God and in the Lord. Amen, Lord Jesus, grow in us. We want to pray to You, worship You, contact You, and fellowship with You in a secret way. May we be those who grow not only openly but even more, have secret growth in life with God! Grant us some secret experiences of Christ today. We just open to You. We live to You. We want to live one spirit with You so that the heavenly Father would be pleased!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ricky Acosta in the message 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, Living in the Reality of the Kingdom of God (2024 October ITERO), week 2, Living the Kingdom Life by Living a Hidden Life.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Concerning the righteous deeds of the kingdom people, a portion from, Life-Study of Matthew, Chapter 21.
  – How to Practice the Private Prayer Described in Matthew 6:6, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – Living the Kingdom Life by Living a Hidden Life (2) – Truth Series #14, via, Uni Students youtube.
  – Magnifying Christ in the Midst of Turmoil, via, Shepherding Words.
  – The purity of the children of the kingdom in their good deeds, a portion from, The Kingdom, Chapter 43, by Witness Lee.
  – Praying in the Two Spirits, via, Living to Him.
  – The righteousness of the children of the kingdom under the restriction of the law of life, a portion from, The Kingdom, Chapter 43, by Witness Lee.
  – Christ Living in Us Brings Us into New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The word of righteousness – the kingdom of the heavens, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Living in the Mingled Spirit, The Secret of the Christian Life, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Would you like to know that sweetness / Of the secret of the Lord? / Go and hide beneath His shadow; / This shall then be your reward; / And whene’er you leave the silence / Of that happy meeting-place, / By the Spirit bear the image / Of the Master in your face. (Hymns #553 stanza4)
  – For my words I take His wisdom, / For my works His Spirit’s power; / For my ways His ceaseless presence / Guards and guides me every hour. / Of my heart, He is the portion, / Of my joy the boundless spring; / Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, / Glorious Lord, and coming King. / I’m abiding in the Lord / And confiding in His word; / I am hiding in the bosom of His love. / Yes, abiding in the Lord / And confiding in His word, / I am hiding in the bosom of His love. (Hymns #564 stanza 4 and chorus)
  – Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / In the spirit seek His face; / Ask and listen in His presence, / Waiting in the secret place. / Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / Fully opened from within, / With thy face unveiled, beholding, / Single, pure, and genuine. (Hymns #784 stanzas 1-2)