What the Bible refers to as the “secret place” is where you get alone with God and spend time in fellowship with Him. The secret place is any private place; it could be an office, your house, your bedroom, or your closet. It is wherever you are alone with God. It is the place where you experience God’s manifest presence, where you encounter all that He is in order that you may reveal His glory and power to others. In the overflow of His presence, favor and supernatural power come as a result. The depth of your hunger will lead to the greatest depths of His presence in your life.
Like so many pioneers we talk about in the church world today— revivalists from the past, history makers, and those who truly accomplished something incredible for God and for their generation— it all began for them in the secret place.
That’s where it began for me, where everything in my life changed. There was an acceleration, a supernatural power, and a divine favor that launched me into my destiny. Before I ever met my beautiful wife Amy, I always knew that there was a call of God on my life even from a young age. I used to lay on my bed at night, being only ten years of age, envisioning myself preaching before crowds of people—and I would continually tell the Lord, “Please use someone else. I can’t do it. How do You expect me to preach in front of all these people?”
Throughout the years, I knew in my heart that there was a call of God on my life, and in some ways, it was like a heavy burden that I couldn’t get away from. One night the Lord gave me a dream. In this dream, I was holding a microphone, preaching in a church and people were receiving miracles as I prayed for them. I knew that the Lord had set me apart for His use. Yet I felt so afraid to say yes to the call!
I grew up in a Christian home. My parents loved the Lord and they were what some would call “radical God-chasers.” They would go into dangerous neighborhoods to share the gospel of Jesus and win souls. They were on fire for the Lord and were looking for something real in God, something more than dead, lifeless religion. They wanted the real thing, no matter how great the persecution attached to it.
Never the Same
I remember the day when my father and another pastor came together at our home talking about a man named David Hogan who was being used mightily by God, and who had raised the dead in Mexico. They began to pray and wrote a letter to David Hogan inviting him to come to our town to preach. David accepted the invitation. It was these three days of meetings that changed my family forever. We had never been exposed to anything supernatural, beyond speaking in tongues.
In these meetings when David ministered, there were notable miracles that took place. For example, there was a man who received a miracle from being crippled; he had been confined in a wheelchair for several years. There were so many people who received miracles, healing, and deliverance.
I will never forget the night David Hogan gave an altar call, inviting people to receive prayer for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. As I approached the altar for prayer, David instructed his younger son to pray for me. His son looked to be about 12 years of age, about as old as I was at the time. He reached out to me with a handkerchief in his hand and touched my chest, and the power of God went through my body like powerful electricity. Throughout the years of my life, I never forgot this experience! It was the first time that I was touched by the Holy Spirit!
My family was never the same. I remember my father received a visitation from the Lord that year and received a supernatural gold tooth. Many of his church friends and his dentist could hardly understand why God would do such a thing. My father’s dentist kept asking him who was it that performed the dental work on his tooth, as he shook his head in disbelief. From then on, when my parents would minister to people, they would see people set free from demons and healed of illnesses such as cancer.
Jesus Full of Light, Glory, and Power
My parents would often bring missionaries into our home to stay. They usually ended up sleeping in my bedroom. Which I was never excited about. One night a man came to stay at our home. I had to sleep in my brother Charlie’s room. I had a profound encounter with the Lord that night. I had fallen asleep and slipped into an encounter. My spirit was lifted into Heaven. Then I saw what looked like a man walking toward me—He was full of light, glory, and power. I knew it was Jesus! The closer He came to me the brighter and more powerful the glory became! I knew that the Lord was calling me, but at the time I refused to say yes.
When I was sixteen, I remember being so backslidden that I found myself exhausted with church. I told myself that I would never be a minister. I would say that I was definitely my youth pastor’s worst nightmare during this season of my life. Yet, I’ll never forget the day that a woman came to our church and told my mother that she wanted to pay for my father and I to go to India together. I argued to have my brother Charlie go in my place, complaining that I wasn’t a preacher. But she insisted, telling me to go and observe. In her words, she said this trip had to do with my destiny and ministry in the future. She said that she had seen in a vision my father and I and another man going to India.
Much of what she saw in her vision came to pass, with great detail! One of the words of prophecy she gave was that during this trip, we would meet a boy named Dennis, with glasses. The word came to pass during the trip! Looking back, I can see that she had what we would call a seer gift, as she prophesied with great accuracy. There was a man who accompanied us on the trip named Gordon Jensen. You may even have heard one of his famous songs, entitled, “Written in Red.” Gordon had played music for Benny Hinn for many years. One night while singing on the platform during one of Benny’s crusades, Benny Hinn prophesied over him and the power of God fell on him. He then began to move in the healing anointing, coupled with an accurate word of knowledge gift, or a prophetic gift where the Lord would reveal to him details about a person’s life.
As we were in India, I saw Gordon minister words of knowledge with great detail. Nearly every night, he would go into his hotel room to pray, and come out the next day with a list of names and conditions that he would call out in the crusades. The names were a bit difficult for Gordon to pronounce, as you can imagine them being Indian names that Americans are not quite accustomed to pronouncing. People would respond by name and come and be healed of tumors and blood diseases. One man testified that the doctors had given up on him after three attempts of surgeries to remove cancer. At the crusade, Gordon ministered to him and he later testified that the doctors could not find a trace of cancer.
Hindus and Muslims came to give their lives to the Lord. Many people were set free from demons and oppression, and countless salvations took place as my father and Gordon ministered side by side!
The trip had great impact on me throughout the years. Yet in my heart I was still wrestling with God. As much as I tried, I could not get away from the call to minister the gospel. I continually ran from the Lord, rebelling, doing all that I could to shake the feeling of being called by God; yet, God would not let me go.
I later began using drugs and alcohol, which led me to getting in trouble with the law. I was much like Jonah in the Bible, who fled from the call of God. The call was there, but it wasn’t until my early twenties that I said “yes” to it. The Bible says that many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14). I’ve always believed this Scripture to mean that few have said “yes” to obeying the call of God.
I had spent so many years running from the Lord, running from my call, from my divine purpose. It seemed that the more I ran, the more trouble I would find myself in. The enemy wanted to take my life so that he could stop me from entering into my divine destiny. I remember the day that I was, once again, placed in handcuffs and taken to jail. Suddenly it dawned on me that if I didn’t surrender completely to the Lord, I would eventually be taken to prison or lose my life.
I had finally come to the place in my heart where I wanted more than what the world had to offer. I was given the opportunity to go through a drug rehabilitation program called Teen Challenge. The experience changed my life forever. I found a peace that had been missing in my life for so many years. I knew that a change had taken place inside me. I knew in my heart, that I had been set free from my past. As I would study God’s Word and pray, I could feel the power of the Holy Spirit come upon me like waves.
I can honestly say that it was the best time of my life, but also the worst time of my life. I had hit rock bottom. I was in a place of brokenness, in a place where I didn’t know if God could do anything with the mess that I had made of my life. Yet, I discovered that the Lord was with me in my brokenness. Every day, I began to draw closer and closer to the Holy Spirit. God’s presence became everything to me and helped me get through what I was facing in that season of my life. After completing Teen Challenge, I was eager to spend time with the Lord in the secret place. I wanted to press in for an encounter with the Lord like I had never previously experienced.
The Secret Place
Before my wife, Amy, and I met, God was preparing me in the secret place, as well as God was preparing her! I believe many overlook the importance of the secret place and the vital role that it plays into our own individual destinies. The secret place is where we go from being just called to chosen. It’s the place where our destinies are birthed, where we empty ourselves of all that we are and allow the Lord to fill us and prepare us for His use!
I had made up my mind that I was going to press in and encounter the Lord. I had such a hunger that was rising in me to know the Lord. I was so desperate. There are many Christians who have desired to know the Lord in a powerful way, yet they have never allowed themselves to become desperate for a deep touch from Him. There is something about hunger that draws Heaven to you. I was at that place of spiritual hunger to know Him, to know the Holy Spirit in the way that others said they knew Him! I desired to know the Holy Spirit the way I heard others talk about Him.
I decided to go on a twenty-day fast. During that time, I began praying in the Spirit for hours every day! I would push myself to pray a little bit more each day. As I would ask God for the fire to come, the fire of the Holy Spirit would start to fall on me. Each day, the fire would be even stronger. As I would meditate on Scriptures, such as Acts 2:2 where it says that the Holy Spirit entered the upper room like a mighty rushing wind. It was my desire to encounter the Holy Spirit the way the apostles did in the upper room! I wanted that very same fire! Each day, I would pray as long as I could, which took a lot of discipline at first. Then I began to notice that I was praying with ease. Instead of prayer seeming like a chore, I couldn’t wait until I could get away from everyone and everything and spend time with the Lord.
As the days went by, the Holy Spirit’s presence became so real and tangible. There were even times when I felt electricity flowing into my body as the Holy Spirit was brooding over me. As the presence of the Holy Spirit would come upon me, all I could do was bask in His presence as He would fill me over and over again! The Holy Spirit began to wash over me so strongly that all I could do was weep in His presence uncontrollably. This would happen to me for several hours a day, where I would be in the presence of the Holy Spirit, and all I could do was weep and ask God to send me to the nations. I knew this to be a burden for souls that the Lord was placing on my life. The Bible says, “Ask of Me and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance…” (Ps. 2:8).
Suddenly there was a passion burning within me to minister the gospel in the nations. It became the very cry of my heart—and continues to be. There was a fire in my heart and in my spirit that I had never known before. Day after day, the Holy Spirit was visiting me. It felt like it was just the beginning of what was available to me in God. I knew there was so much more that the Lord wanted me to experience, so much more He wanted to reveal to me. There was such a mystery in the sense that every day seemed so fresh and new. I purposed in my heart that I was not going to be satisfied with a season of knowing the Lord, nor be satisfied with merely an encounter. I felt as if I had barely tasted of what was available. I knew that if I continued to press in and continued to be hungry, that God was going to reveal Himself to me according to my hunger and sheer desire to know Him.
A Divine Season
It was such a divine season in my life that it is difficult to express through words. I began to truly know and bond with the Holy Spirit. He became so real to me, not just as a feeling or an atmosphere, but as real as a person or companion. I understand why Kathryn Kuhlman often referred to the Holy Spirit as her best friend. She relied upon the Holy Spirit to move upon the people in her meetings, to perform healings and miracles!
I’ve tried desperately to make this season of my life of the secret place into a lifestyle. I’ve returned continually to this place of being filled and refilled by the Holy Spirit. We must make it a priority to return to that place of spiritual hunger, forever returning to that foundation of discovering Him over and over again. Daily I remind myself that it’s all about knowing and experiencing Him!
I was only 20 years of age when I had decided to say yes to the call of God on my life. It was the greatest decision that I could have made. Being in this season, I was encountering the Lord in ways that I never thought possible. It was amazing, yet I felt that there was still something missing or out of place. Though I had always felt that there was a call of God on my life, I had never received a commissioning word from a prophet to confirm my call. I began to doubt if I was truly called. I thought to myself that if I was truly called, God would confirm it through a true prophet. I prayed, “Lord, if You have called me into the ministry, then You will have Jeff Jansen prophesy over me everything that I am called to do at his church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.” I told the Lord it had to be that Tuesday night or I wouldn’t go into the ministry.
You may think, Who do you think you are, talking to the Lord like that? But I was serious when I said yes to the call of God, and I was believing for a word from God to confirm it! I had been to Jeff ’s church on so many Tuesday nights. I had been to nearly every Tuesday service since Jeff started his church—but this night, I was believing for God to answer the cry of my heart and to answer my prayer.
The service began and suddenly Jeff called me out in front of the church and prophesied over me the call of God on my life; he spoke out everything that I was called to do. The word was about the calling of the nations, about a mantle for miracles, signs, and wonders. Much of what my wife and I are doing now came as a result of that prophetic word. Even this book that you are reading now came from the prophetic word spoken over my life and destiny that night! It was a divine commissioning, a kairos moment, a mantle for the miraculous that was released on my life for a divine purpose!
Looking back, I can see that the Lord was depositing so much in me in that particular season for my destiny. There was such favor and power that came on my life, and I know that the Lord will do this for you as He has for me, as you journey into the secret place with God!
Activation Prayer
Father, I thank You for using me to establish Your Kingdom on the earth. Use me to demonstrate Your love and power to all those I encounter. I declare that Your glory will be shown through miracles, signs, and wonders in my city and region. Thank You for setting me before kings and princes, and for giving me favor with men and women in high positions, that I may display Your goodness, power, and love!
