Now more than ever...is a time to abide in the secret place with the Lord. This is where we draw closer to Him, receive His plans and strategies over our lives, and learn to thwart the enemy's plans!
Our friend Ella Onakoya writes an excellent and timely article about this as she states:
Now read on and receive insightful keys to gain your victory through Christ. (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
I hear God's call this year to abide in His secret place. Our abiding place of intimacy with Him will also be our place of covering. This is God's wisdom being revealed to deliver us from evil.
One of the Scriptures the Lord gave me for this year was Psalm 91. From this Scripture, He gave revelations and prophetic directives to share with the Church. The promises and the revelation revealed by the Lord in this passage are to be meditated on and decreed into manifestation through prayer. Below are the revelations the Lord gave me for 2019 and beyond to share with the Body of Christ.
What is the Secret Place?
The secret place is a place of the overshadowing of the presence of God that we enter into through communion, fellowship and friendship with the Lord. This year the Lord is calling forth a deep love walk with Him that will cause us to abide and dwell in His presence. In the place of intimacy and abiding in His love, we are better able to hear and heed revelation and direction that will protect us and hide us from the evil one.
This secret place will form a protective shield against evil schemes of the enemy. The Lord is calling forth His Church to arise and declare His shield of protection over their lives, nations, families and communities.
The Protective Promises of His Secret Place
From childhood, while growing up in Nigeria, I was introduced to the secret place through my mother's radical, intimate walk with the Lord and her unwavering trust in God's protective covering. To hear her speak was to envisage the secret place of the Lord as a tangible fortress of protection for those He loves. Numerous times I experienced God's healing as my mother would release God's presence over my body.
I was amazed at God as I watched my mother take care of a young Muslim girl who suffered from infectious tuberculosis and who she nurtured in our home. She declared that God's abiding presence in our home meant we would not be infected and that instead the girl would receive her healing. Indeed, we never got infected and the girl received her healing and became a Christian. God also protected our home from armed robbers who regularly raided other homes. I knew this was because my mother regularly prayed through the covering of the secret place over our home. (Photo via Pixabay)
Suffice it to say, as the Lord reminded me at the beginning of this year to rediscover the protective promises of His secret place and pray it through over myself and the Body of Christ, these early testimonies of my childhood released fresh faith for the times we are in.
I see the abiding place of fellowship and friendship with the Lord releasing an incubating glory that is impenetrable to the enemy. However, just like I watched my mother (who has since gone to be with the Lord) release the covering of the secret place over me through faith-filled declarations, God's protection over us in this season will also be released as we boldly declare His covering glory over our lives and all He has for us. Trust in Him who has the power to deliver you from the snare of the fowler and the noisome pestilence (Psalm 91:3).
Overcoming the Prowling Lion, the Dragon and the Serpent
In the secret place, God will release strength and insight to overcome the plans and strategies of the lion, the serpent and the dragon.
Psalm 91:13, "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet."
In 1 Peter 5:8 the devil is described as one "...who walks around like a roaring lion, looking for whom he may devour." The strategies he uses are intimidation and fear. The Church must therefore arise and ask for boldness in the secret place to resist and overcome all intimidation of the enemy.
Today we see multiple attacks against the Church, but I hear the Lord say, "Be strong and of good courage." Ask Him for boldness and invite Jesus, the Lion of Judah, to fight and defeat the enemy on your behalf. The key the Lord revealed to me to overcome the attacks of the enemy, when he arises as a lion, is for the Church to walk in boldness and PRAISE HIM against all odds. The name "Judah" means "praise," and when we praise Jesus, He arises as the Lion of Judah to bring us victory. Jesus is the Lion of Judah who leads a people of praise into victory!
In Revelations 12:9, satan is referred to as the serpent and dragon who deceives the whole world. The serpentine strategy of the enemy is deception. He seeks to deceive the nations, the government, the Church of Christ and all peoples of the earth. One key to overcoming this strategy of deception is to ask the Lord for the wisdom from above to be made available to nations and governments. The Church must also walk in this wisdom. Ask for scales of deception to be removed from all eyes and hearts. Pray for the unsaved also, that every veil that the god of this world has put on their hearts will be removed so they can believe in Jesus. When the nations begin to operate in the wisdom from above, God's will will be done on Earth as is in Heaven.
Another key to overcoming the enemy's deception is to walk in the truth of God's Scriptures. Psalm 91:4 declares that God's truth will be our shield and buckler. Know His voice and the Scriptures so intimately, because the truth that you know will be your shield and protection. Ask the Lord to reveal to you any lies you have believed in your heart, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, pull down every stronghold of lies or deception in your heart. Then replace the lies that have been removed from your heart with His truth, and ask for strength and perseverance to walk through His revealed truth.
Angelic Assistance in the Secret Place
God's abode in the heavenlies is filled with angelic beings. Heaven has ordained that they will serve and protect us. God is releasing a timely reminder that we can trust Him for angelic assistance. One of the keys to angelic assistance, that is being released to encamp around us, is to walk in reverential fear of the Lord. We can trust in this sure promise from God: "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them" (Psalm 34:7).
One of my favorite supernatural stories of angelic deliverance was told by my mother. She shared with me that once when she was crossing a road, an oncoming car came at her. It would have crushed her, but she felt an unseen hand lifted her up and deposited her in a clear path so she was safe. What a wonderful story to testify to this verse in Psalm 91:11: "For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone." I am aware of this promise and when I'm on my ministry trips, on plane travels that are experiencing severe turbulence, I quietly call forth angelic help to bear the plane up in their hands so the plane can soar safely as the Lord calms the storms. (Photo via Pexels)
Deliverance from the Terror of the Nights
Abiding in God's secret place will activate His protection that delivers us from the terrors of the nights. Many Believers suffer from night terrors, and recently someone contacted me and said he was troubled by attacks in his dreams and he wanted to know how to stop it. The key to overcoming the terrors of the night is to walk in our authority and be immersed in His presence.
For those who suffer from night terrors, I have this to share: I would often sleep with worship music playing all night as I knew that God's presence, released through the worship, would overshadow me as I slept. On one such night as I slept, I encountered a malevolent spirit in my dream. He sought to kill me, desperately looking for me but not finding me, even though I was right in front of him! The Lord overcame him in the dream and when I awoke, I understood that I was unseen to this enemy because I was hidden in God's secret place.
Beloved, I encourage you to hear God's call to abide in His secret place. Fear not as you allow the Lord to draw you in to nestle under His wings! (To Subscribe to the Elijah List subscribe here.)
Ella Onakoya
Harvest of the Nations
Email: info@harvestofthenations.com
Website: www.harvestofthenations.com
Ella Onakoya is the founder of Harvest of the Nations. She is a full-time itinerant minister and author based in the UK who has been traveling for several years to preach a message of revival and awakening to Believers in churches; she also preaches the Gospel to the lost and unsaved in many parts of the world. The ministry also aims to equip, activate, and disciple Believers in their calling to do the works that Jesus did. As an evangelist and prophetic revivalist, Ella Onakoya travels and ministers extensively in Asia, Africa, Europe, the UK, and in America with God fulfilling His Word with signs and wonders as she speaks at crusades, conferences, church revival meetings, and equipping schools.
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