Covenant Alignment With Stephen Crews, Part 4: Finding The Secret Place Of Peace And Restoration

Peace that holds in the middle of conflict isn’t a myth; it’s the fruit of living near to God. We open up the “secret place” as Scripture presents it—covenant nearness under God’s shelter—and show how this isn’t reserved for spiritual elites. From Psalm 91’s shadow of the Almighty to Jesus’ teaching about praying in the inner room, we connect temple imagery, priesthood, and the finished work of Christ to the way you pray, think, and live today.

Stephen shares a vulnerable story about wrestling with distraction, hearing the Spirit’s gentle correction about unrighteous judgments, and the freedom that followed through repentance. That moment becomes a blueprint: make space, meet God without performance, and let Him reorder what’s out of place. We talk about practical steps—fasting to clear the fog, a notepad to offload thoughts, habits that protect attention, and the simple courage to sit long enough for the mind to grow quiet. Along the way, we revisit Moses in the cleft and David in the tent, tracing a single thread: those who love God find shelter and direction beneath His wings.

If your calling feels complex, we simplify it: know Him and be known by Him. Assignments and purpose flow from there. Use righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit as a living dashboard for alignment, and when they dim, return to the secret place until they brighten. We close with a clear charge: seek first His kingdom, let Jesus take first place, and build disciplined choices that match your spiritual DNA. If this spoke to you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs rest, and leave a review to help more people find the path to real peace.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome Back & Today’s Focus
• 1:56 Defining The Secret Place
• 6:16 Temple Imagery And Access In Christ
• 10:31 Psalm 91 And Covenant Shelter
• 16:06 Hebrew Nuances Of “Hiding Place”
• 22:11 How We Enter Through Prayer And Worship
• 27:16 Personal Story: Distraction And Repentance

Transcript

SPEAKER_03: 1:14

All right, folks. Welcome back to part two of Covenant Alignment with Stephen Cruz. And Stephen, I'm not going to take any more time other than just to say welcome back again and have at it, brother.

SPEAKER_01: 1:26

Amen. Thank you, David. Welcome, everybody. Life around the fire. This is our fourth installment of Covenant Alignment. And today I want to talk to you about a topic that is deeply rich and is it's a continual search for intimacy and revelation in our personal walk with the Lord. It's a topic that has been made known to me, but has not fully been developed yet. Nor will I think it will ever will be on this side of eternity. And the topic today is uh the secret place. If you've been in Christian circles for any length of time, you have undoubtedly heard this phrase before. It is often spoken as if it is for the super Christian or the super anointed. But I'm here today to unpack the reality and the simplicity of the secret place because it is available for all people who love God and call upon the name of the Lord with sincerity of heart. How many of us know that peace is found in his presence? The peace that surpasses all understanding is found in Christ alone. True peace doesn't mean the absence of conflict, and it isn't found in the absence of conflict. True peace is found in living in harmony with God in the midst of life's challenges. God promises there is such a peace, according to John 14, verse 27. Jesus says and reassures us that peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, says Jesus. And the Hebrew word for peace is shalom. Nothing missing, nothing lacking, nothing broken, wholeness and well-being, completeness and harmony with God. Isaiah 9, verse 6 describes Jesus as the Prince of Peace, because he is the reconciliation and restoration of our lives with God. He says, Yeah, in the midst of life's challenges, there is a place we can find shelter, and that place is the secret place. To live in the secret place is to live inside God's covenant faithfulness, under his shelter, under his wings, under his blood, and under his authority. The secret place references to the inner sanctuary of the tabernacle, a space only the priesthood can enter. In 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9, he says, We are a royal priesthood because we have received the mercy of God, we have access through the finished work of the cross and the shed blood of Jesus. What once was only available to the Levitical priesthood is now available to all who come to God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews in chapter 10 tells us that a new and living way was opened up for us through the curtain, that is, through Jesus' flesh. And we are able with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, draw near to him. When Jesus speaks in the Sermon Amount in Matthew 6, 6, 6, when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret. And our father who sees in secret will reward you. Jesus is saying, Go into your secret place and pray to your father who is in secret. When he says this, he's using language that echoes temple symbolism. Now, the secret place is not about isolation for its own sake, it's about meeting God where no one else sees, and it's a relational space of intimacy without performance. So when Jesus says, go into your room and shut the door and pray, it's a meeting place. Psalm 91 is our key scripture for understanding the secret place. If you haven't read it, I encourage you to go read it. Verse 1 says, He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Verse 4 says, He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will find refuge. This imagery echoes cherubim wings overshadowing the mercy seat in the tabernacle. So we can conclude that the secret place becomes the symbolic area beneath God's wings, a place of refuge, nurturing, and divine overshadowing. Psalm 91 is describing an intimate relationship with God in which we have completely surrendered our lives to him and have put our complete trust in him. In verse 1, the Hebrew word for in the shelter is translated as secret place. That's where we're getting that language from. And that Hebrew word means to cover or a hiding place. It speaks to a place or a state of concealment, whether for safety, intimacy, or secrecy. It's a covenant nearness available to those who trust him. Thus, the secret place is a shelter found within covenant relationship. King David also spoke of the same place as well in Psalm 27. For in the days of trouble he will conceal me in his dwelling. He will hide me in the shelter of his tent and set me high upon a rock. In the day of trouble, the Lord will hide me in the secret of his tabernacle, the secret place. And so in our beholding becoming episode, we talked about you know, is our desire to seek after the Lord, to dwell in his house and behold his beauty. King David is that's the same Hebrew word as Psalm 91, in the shelter. It says he will hide me in the shelter.

SPEAKER_00: 7:59

And so the the verb form of of hiding place is a word that means to hide.

SPEAKER_01: 8:24

What it is the shelter. The first breakdown of the of the verb of the meaning hiding place is Shemek, which means a small rounded vessel with a flat roof or a cover. This rounded vessel refers to the heart of God, or perhaps a place in God's heart specifically designed for you. When you enter this place, known only to you and God, and therefore secret, God puts a cover over you and you are protected deep in his heart. The second letter of Sitar is this the Tao, which represents to the knowledge of God. It represents the restoration and guidance. In the secret place, we enter into the knowledge and guidance of God for the specific situation or difficulty we are facing. As we lay down our agendas and receive his instruction, we can let go of anxiety, fear, and worry. We are restored in the secret place. And the last Hebrew letter of sitar, which means to hide, is resh. And that means the Holy Spirit. And so, how do we enter the secret place? We are led into the secret place where we receive truth and knowledge of God by the Holy Spirit. So when we hide, quote unquote, or run into the Most High, the shelter of the Most High, we can see this beautiful picture being painted of a hiding place set apart from the world, known only to you and God. It is a place of protection, provision, and intimacy, a place where the knowledge of God is found, and it's a place of restoration. So the question for us today is do you want to enter the secret place? And if that answer is yes, then Jesus alone must rule and reign in your heart. And if that answer is yes, you know, how do we enter? In Christianity, everything begins with a relationship, and the secret place is a place open to us through by which we enter through prayer and worship. It is a journey, a process, but we begin entering in by desiring to live with Jesus in this secret place. Jesus must be our desire, and he must supersede all other wants and needs and desires. The secret place is a place of knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and revelation. It is also a place of restoration. You know, just recently, I uh about two weeks ago, I woke up early, about 4 30 in the morning, and I could feel the drawing, the calling of the Holy Spirit to pull away, to go spend time with him while everyone else in my house was sleeping. And so I have a I have a specific place that I go to to spend time with him. It's quote unquote my secret place. In the physical, we know that we meet with him in the spirit and in you know in our minds' eye. And so a little bit of a testimony here. I was I've been battling like distractions throughout the past like week. And it was beginning to like trouble my mind, like they were always in front of me, you know, not necessarily seeing clearly. And so when I felt the calling of the Lord that morning, I I knew that I knew that it was him, and I needed to go and sit before him. And so I as I began to sit, you know, all these thoughts and scenarios and people's names and places started like just coming up as I was sitting there. And we talked about that before about letting our thoughts quiet down. But uh this time they weren't like going away. And so I'm like, you know, what is what are these, you know, people's people, places, and things mean, Lord? And he said that these are people and places and things that you have made judgments about. And I immediately felt the peace of God when that was spoken to me when I heard that because I knew what I needed, what I needed to do. I needed to repent and forgive some people because I understood that you know I was walking in some unrighteous judgments, which was causing me to lose my peace and become mentally distracted. And so, you know, this is an example of basically walking in my own self-righteousness. The Lord was faithful to say, you know, hey, son, you're you need to get this straightened out before any more time goes by. And he called me to himself, and I was obedient in that. I know I had to sacrifice sleep to get up. And the list of names the Holy Spirit was showing me was like a laundry list that needed to be washed clean through the through the through the power of repentance. And so there are other scenarios. This happened many times throughout my my walk with the Lord where you know we may need wisdom on how to navigate a particular situation. You would run to the secret place to sit before him to hear from him. Or things may be going smoothly in your life, and we just want to sit at his feet and and be with him. You know, that's the opportunity to go to the secret place. And this just illustrates the type of relationship that is available with God as a boring unbeliever. You know, he never leaves us nor forsakes us. And so if we have a heart posture that, you know, we want to walk with him and walk before him and be blameless, you know, he's going to help us out when we get off track. And so that uh I hope that encourages hurt encourages somebody here today that there are answers, answers available. Things are not random in our life if we're experiencing something. It's it's our job to seek that out, and the Lord is faithful to reveal. In John 17, verse 3, it says, and this is eternal life, that they know you. Knowing God is eternal life, and it is for the here and now. It's not not later after we die, it's for right now. You can know him. The scripture says that eternal life is knowing him. And folks, our call in life is to know him and be known by him.

SPEAKER_00: 15:21

I truly believe that there's a lot of bad teaching or misconceptions about our calling.

SPEAKER_01: 15:35

You have calling, you know, a purpose, assignments, those are three different things. Our calling is in in in this life is to know him and to be known by him. And Apostle Paul says in in Romans 8, verse 28, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. You know, this is a scripture that's floated around in the Christian community, this language. But the many gloss over the key aspect in this verse, it's those who love God, all things work for good. All things do not work for good for those who do not love him. And so if we go back to part one of the beholding and becoming episode on September 30th, we did talk about Psalm 27, the one thing that I seek after. King David is saying, the one thing that I have asked of the Lord that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. This is the secret place that David is referring to in Psalm 27. It's the same Hebrew word in Psalm 91. And Psalm 91 traditionally is believed to have been written by Moses regarding his experience in the wilderness. And specifically while he was hiding in the cleft of the rock in Exodus 33. The imagery of God covering Moses with his hand and the promise of his protection, the shadow of the Almighty, highlights is Moses highlights Moses' deep trust and reliance upon God's care. And again, when we go to a little bit deeper into Psalm 91, verse 14, it says, Because he holds fast to me in love. So the theme here is: are we loving the Lord? Do we actually love him with all of our heart? Is he first place in our life? You know, I think that's a a prerequisite for covenant alignment. You know, he can't be, he has to, we have to live a God first life. He can't be third on the list. You know, a lot of families get things out of order. You know, God is first in my life, then my wife, and then in my children. A lot of people put the wife first or the children's first, and then God's second or third on that list. I guarantee you, if you look and examine their lives, things are not going as smoothly as they should be, and it's because things are out of alignment. God has to be first in our life. And so some questions here for us today is Is Christ our first love? Do we hold fast to Him? Is He the first person we run to when things aren't going right? And is He the first person that we we thank and give glory when they are going right? Are we lukewarm? And do we need to tend to the fire of our hearts? These are questions that if you desire to seek after the Lord, the Holy Spirit is gonna highlight these things and it's gonna be an easy fix. It's not gonna be a burden. You know, Jesus' teachings, his his yoke, the yoke of his teaching, teaching is easy in its light. It's not a burden to follow him and what he is telling us what to do and how how to live the Christian life. And so another question is are we a foolish virgin? Or are we wise and have our oil and our wicks trimmed? Is Christ a part of your life? Or is he your life? The secret place is for those who love him and understand that they have been bought with a price and their life is not their own, but their life is hidden in God in Christ Jesus. We have been restored to intimacy, and sin when you break it down is nothing more than broken fellowship. But Christ restored our relationship and the access is available for us. The question is, will we draw near? Going back to my testimony, you know, how did I not, you know, sought out that prompting, you know, things were going on. How did I push that down and ignored it? You know, I think that was the grace of the Lord of saying, you know, hey, these judgments that you have are starting to affect different areas. And if you don't fix it quickly by you know acknowledging them, agreeing that they are not right and repenting, you know, the Holy Spirit is is a is a He's such a gracious helper. But if we keep ignoring his promptings, he's gonna go silent on it on a matter. And now we have an even larger issue in our lives. And so will we draw near to him? According to Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6, without faith is it imp it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists, and he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Abiding in the secret places about beholding him. We must start with repentance, in which we re we relinquish every other idol and source of value. Then and only then can we abide in him. We talked in the previous episode about when we sit before the Lord, we compare our thoughts to being items on a grocery store conveyor belt. If you haven't listened to that, I encourage you to go back. You hear a lot of questions sometime, you know. Well, when I sit with God, you know, I have all these thoughts, you know, we gotta kind of let those go by. And so kind of the example was allowing your thoughts to pass by like food on a conveyor belt at the grocery store checkout line. You know, some of our thoughts may be from God, just like my testimony earlier, these things the Lord was highlighting that, you know, these are issues that need to be fixed. Some of the thoughts are just that. They're just our thoughts. And some of them are God's desires. And so as we begin to, you know, step into the secret place and make time in our lives, our busy schedule to get quiet before the Lord and sit before him, you know, we're gonna have to filter our thoughts, whether you're super anointed and been walking with the Lord for 40 years, or you're day one born-again Christian. We all have thoughts. You hear testimonies all the time of the big and the small and the kingdom of God, you know, struggling with getting quiet before the Lord because their thought life is dominating them and they can't get rid of it. Well, the thoughts are gonna run out, just like on the groceries on the conveyor belt. They're gonna run out eventually. Are you going to endure until this your mind gets quiet and still? And so a good way is to have a note pen. If you're worried about your thoughts for getting something, get a notepad and and you get a name or write it down real quick and then move on. You know, don't dwell on it, come back to it later. And so have a have a notepad handy next to you to jot down any idea and get back to being still before the Lord. And and I promise you, once them once your mind runs out of thoughts, you will come to a quiet stillness. And this is the place of transformation and a place of exchange that happens where where our burdens get replaced with his peace. And so in Christ Jesus, the secret place is our portion. Seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness is connected to the secret place. And it's how we add another log onto the fire of our hearts. You know, Apostle Paul talked about in Philippians chapter 3 that he's asking Apostle Paul's desire is that he would know him and the power of his resurrection. Verse 10 says, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. So the question here today is do we want to know him? Do we want a better relationship with our Lord and Savior? Jesus said in Matthew 16, verse 24, if anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Denying ourselves looks like eliminating distractions. Denying ourselves looks like forfeiting our comforts. Denying ourselves looks like fasting. And so what what things can we give up to seek the Lord? You know, that testimony I shared, you know, I had to forfeit time. Had to give up some sleep to go spend some quiet time before everyone else wakes up to figure out what was going on. And you know, we we need to deny ourselves of some some the best thing is fasting, giving up food for a period of time, and replacing that with prayer time and scripture reading and sitting before the Lord and worshiping and praising Him. The next acts, taking up your cross. Jesus said, if anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Taking up your cross means picking up your humanity so that your humanity aligns with your divinity. You are seated with Christ in heavenly places. And we enter in the secret place by the Spirit of the living God. Apostle Paul tells us in Romans chapter 14, verse 17, that the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. If we are not experiencing these three tangible fruits in our Christian walk, it is a red flag that we have not been in his presence. If we don't have righteousness, if we're not in right standing, the Lord will let you know. That's my testimony I shared earlier. I had unrighteous judgments. I was not in right standing. I was making judge, I had judgments against people. So there was, there was, I was losing my peace, I was losing my joy. You know, the it could be anything for anyone. That's just one testimony of hundreds that have happened in my life, and I'm sure have happened in yours. That, you know, if we're not if we don't have right, you know, right standing peace and joy, it's it's a clear indicator that we need to run back into his presence and receive from him. A secret place is about worshiping him, worshiping him, it's spirit and truth. It is a divine place of intimacy that is special and unique to each of his children. We find hope, life, correction, discipline, love, peace, healing, and restoration in this intimate place called the secret place. And so the question remains: if you've been following us here on the Covenant Alignment segment, the question that we've posed and we continue to ask is Am I fighting battles that alignment could resolve? A lot of times believers are facilitating distractions and warfare by not seeking and focusing on God. But when we embrace our identity in Christ and continually press into his presence by seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness, we then abide in the shelter of the Most High God. And so we will end today's episode by saying that covenant alignment is disciplined choices that demonstrate your spiritual DNA and it it invites others into the same freedom that you've discovered in Yeshua. And so, Father God, as we end this time with you with each other today, we ask, Lord, that you would help us make time to sit before you. And Lord, as we we take a step forward, Lord God, that you would open up the door to have that time, Lord. But may you reveal to us if we're out of alignment and what are the steps needed to get back on the correct path. And Father, if we are in alignment, show us how to establish covenant spiritual disciplines to maintain our spiritual sensitivity so that we can hear your voice clearly and do the works that you are calling us to do.

SPEAKER_00: 29:46

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_03: 29:48

Amen. Thank you, Stephen. Folks, once again, we we we we we love you, we care for you. And if you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at life around the fire at gmail.com. That's our email address. Or you can type in Life Around the Fire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you. In the meantime, God bless you. Adios, amigos.