I have a sacred space to commune with God. It’s a beautiful gift of office space in our new house. My husband knew I needed “my own place” to meet with God, pray, study and write. He insisted that I’d get a small office space built into the basement. I am so blessed to have this sacred place (and a wonderful, supportive husband). It’s not always been like this. For the past 17 years, I communed with God in our shared bedroom, and told my family to please not to disturb me (unless there was an emergency). I made the space even when I didn’t have a separate place of my own.
We all need to be set apart from life’s demands to pray and listen to what our Lord wants to show us. Even Jesus did this. In Luke 5:16, it says that “Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness to pray.” Mark 1:35 also shows that “before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.”
Having your own space to meet with God is crucial in the life of a believer. This place can be a bedroom, car, the out-of-doors, or even a closet—if that what it takes to find alone time with God! The point is, you need to ‘find space’ where you feel connected to God. Jesus found His sacred place out in the wilderness. In Mark 6:46, it says that “after saying good-bye to them, He went to the mountain to pray.” He even spent whole nights in prayer! “And it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.” (Luke 6:12.)
If you don’t have a ‘sacred place’ yet, make one! Be also prepared for interruptions and things that try to keep you from that special time. Even Christ had distractions that tried to keep Him from prayer: “And when day came, He departed to a lonely place; and the multitudes were searching for Him, and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from going away from them.” (Luke 4:42.)
Jesus found sacred places to get alone and pray to His Father in Heaven, no matter what happened. Sometimes it may be distracting or overwhelming due to critical life circumstances. Nonetheless, you still must pray! Look at how Jesus prayed in His last hours before the passion: “And they came to a place called Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.” And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground, and began praying.‘ ( Mark 14:32-34.)
When I go to my sacred place, I begin by worshipping God. I focus on God’s holiness, and sing songs reminding me of how Holy He is, how marvelous, how big and how awesome is He. That keeps my mind off of me, and gets my mind set on things above. It’s seems to be the right mind-set then to begin my prayers. I tell God what’s on my mind, and then ask Him to reveal more to me though His Word. My Bible reading follows, and I almost always finish with writing something down: a thought He may have inspired, a prayer request or an answer to prayer. Writing things down helps me not to forget.
The bottom line is this—to ‘think divinely’ (which, in essence, is cultivating your relationship with Christ) you need to set your mind on things above: His holiness, His greatness, His love. And you need a space to do that: a sacred place that you commune with your loving Savior. Where is your sacred space?
