As believers in Christ we are citizens of the kingdom of God, and as kingdom people we need to practice living a hidden life in secret with the Lord, that is, we need learn to live by the hidden life of our Father.
The principle of the kingdom people is that they live a hidden life – they don’t perform their righteous deeds before men; when they give, pray, or fast, they don’t do this so that man can see them but in secret, for their heavenly Father to see them.
The kingdom of God is a realm different than the natural realm; in the natural realm when one does something good and praiseworthy, he has to show and tell everyone so that he may receive the praise.
But in the kingdom of God we do not perform our righteous deeds before men but rather we do things in secret, before our Father, so that our Father who sees in secret would reward us.
This should be the norm among all the believers in Christ and in all the churches; however, in many places where believers meet this is not practiced. Rather, there’s a great show put on for those who give money to the church, and the benefactors and donors are recognized and praised.
But we should return to the word of God and practice what the Word has said; the Lord in Matt. 6 repeatedly said, “in secret” when He spoke of the giving, praying, and fasting of the kingdom people.
The kingdom life we have received is a hidden life – it is not something we display or show openly, but something inward, something that we live in private, something mysterious.
God Himself is hidden, mysterious, and not seen; we have not seen God with our human eyes, yet we believe into Him, and we are filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. We need to live by the hidden life of our Father so that we may live the kingdom life as kingdom people.
What we care for as kingdom people is not man’s eye, man’s recognition, or man’s appreciation, but we live and care for the Father’s secret and hidden presence.
He wants us to spend personal time with Him in His word and in prayer; He wants that we get into our private room, close the door, and pray to our Father who is in secret.
May we be saved from the display of the self and the flesh; may we be saved from living a performing life, that is, putting on an outward show of doing things for God yet without living by the hidden life of our Father.
May we live in an emptied and humbled spirit, and may our heart be pure and single as we live under the heavenly ruling of the kingdom, so that our flesh and our self would not be manifested or expressed, but we would do all things in spirit for the pleasing of our heavenly Father.
Having Secret Growth in Life and Living a Hidden Life with the Lord in Spirit
If our growth in life is only outward for others to see, this is not real growth; we need to have some secret growth in life, some secret experiences of Christ.
As kingdom people we need to pray to the Lord, worship the Lord, contact the Lord, and fellowship with the Lord in a secret way, not openly. And we contact the Lord and pray not because we want a reward from Him but because we love Him and we want to spend time with our heavenly Father, whom we have not seen but we love and enjoy.
Our life with the Lord has to be a hidden and secret life, a life in private; not even the closest ones to us should know or understand what we are doing.
When the Lord spoke of our giving, He said in Matt. 6 that our left hand should not know what our right hand is doing, which involves giving in secret.
When we have secret experiences of the Lord, something that we don’t talk about to others and we don’t brag about these before men, such experiences cause the element of Christ to grow in us and at the same time they kill our self and our flesh.
We may think that it is our anger and our lust that are ugly, and we need to deal with them, but it is our self and our flesh that are the most ugly, especially when they try to do good and gain the glory.
What most frustrates us from growing in life is the self; the self loves to be glorified and gazed upon, and the self likes to be recognized and appreciated.
But we should deny the self by praying much – yet without letting others know how much we pray; we should deny the self by giving and fasting yet without making a display of it, without even mentioning it.
As kingdom people we need to live a hidden life with the Lord in spirit, having secret growth in life and secret experiences with the Lord for the kingdom of God.
If we always tell others how much we pray or give, we lose our reward, and our growth in life is not that healthy; but if we seek the Lord, fellowship with Him, pray, give, and fast, in secret, then there’s a healthy growth in life, a growth that comes from God and not from man or before man.
Any time we exhibit ourselves in our righteous deeds, we are not healthy, for such an exhibition greatly frustrates our growth in life.
As kingdom people we need to have some experience of prayer in our private room, contacting our heavenly Father in secret, experiencing some secret enjoyment of the Father, and receiving some secret answer from Him (Matt. 6:6).
Lord Jesus, we desire to have a proper and healthy growth in the divine life by having many secret experiences of Christ, secret enjoyment of the Father, and secret answers from Him. May our living and our deeds be done before our heavenly Father and not before men. May we live the kingdom life by contacting the Father in secret, praying in secret, and doing our righteous deeds in secret, living by the hidden life of our Father to please the Father. May we not exhibit ourselves in our righteous deeds but deny the self by having a hidden life with God in spirit.
We Practice Living a Hidden Life with God by Living by the Hidden Life of our Father
We believers are mysterious people; we believe into Someone we have never seen with our eyes or touched with our hands, and we love Someone whom our five senses cannot substantiate.
The universe indicates that God is hidden – He is secret; He can’t be seen by telescope, He can’t be reached by man’s endeavor or touch, and He cannot be substantiated by our physical senses.
Yet we love Him, we believe into Him, and we are in His kingdom, the kingdom of God. God has done many great things, yet we are not aware of them; He has done so much for each one of us, but we are not aware that He has done them.
We may have seen some of the things that God has done, but none of us has ever seen Him for He is always hidden, always secret. Such a God with a secret life and a secret nature has come into us, and the only way we can live the kingdom life is by the hidden life of our Father.
God’s life in us has a hidden life and a secret nature; when we do anything in and by the divine life, we will remain hidden and not make a display. The human life loves to make a display, a public show, but God’s life is always hidden.
A hypocrite is one who has an outward manifestation without having anything within; all he has is the outward show, but there’s no reality inwardly. This is contrary to God’s nature and to His hidden life.
However, this is what many times Christians do – they put on a show, they try their best to display something outwardly with no reality inwardly. Oh Lord Jesus!
May we be recovered to the proper experience of Christ according to the word of God, and may we realise that, for us to practice living a hidden life with God we need to live by the hidden life of our Father.
Our God has so much within Him, but only a little is manifested; He does so many things, but we can see only a very small portion of them.
If we live by the hidden life of our Father, we may pray much – yet others will not know how much we prayed; we may give much, but others will not know; we may do other righteous deeds, but others may not be aware of them, for we do them to please our heavenly Father.
If we’re serious about being the kingdom people of the heavenly kingdom, we must learn to live by the hidden life of our Father.
We should not live by our natural life – which always wants to make a display of itself; we should live by the Father’s hidden life, and what we do shall be in secret, hidden from the eyes of others. Oh Lord Jesus!
May we be the real kingdom people who seek God in private, live a hidden life with God, and live by the hidden life of our Father!
May we realise that we cannot do this by our natural life, for our natural life likes to show and display things, and may we turn to the Lord, contact Him, seek Him, fellowship with Him, pray to Him, and live by the hidden life of our Father!
Lord Jesus, we want to practice living a hidden life with God by living by the hidden life of our Father. We are serious about being the kingdom people, those who live in the kingdom of God today to be rewarded with its manifestation in the future. Lord Jesus, teach us today to live not by our natural life but by the divine life, the hidden life of our heavenly Father. May we practice turning to our spirit, living in the mingled spirit, and living a hidden life before God and with God.
You can read this article also in Romanian – citiți acest articol / această împărtășire și în limba română via următorul link, Să practicăm trăirea unei vieți ascunse cu Dumnezeu prin trăirea vieții ascunse a Tatălui nostru.
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, / List’ning earnestly to Him; / Be impressed with His intentions, / Yielding to Him from within. (Hymns #784)
# Father with Thee in secret I’d remain, / Letting Thy light my thoughts and will make plain, / Thy Son, my only plea, I now embrace, / Sheltered in Him from my unholy ways. (Song on, Father with Thee in secret I would be)
# 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)
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