At The Prayer Room, anyone who can play a few chords and is willing pretty quickly becomes a worship leader. That’s the nature of a small house of prayer. Many of us are in that boat, including me. Others… WOW. One guy in particular is crazy talented. Like, dang. He’s basically TPR’s Matt Gilman. I would confidently throw him up on a Onething conference stage in front of 30,000 people and he would rock the house no problem.
And yet, day after day he’s playing and singing in an empty room in a rented church in Arlington, Texas.
One day while I was in his set (I was literally ushering an empty room) I was blown away by this picture of hiddenness. He wasn’t holding back or singing halfheartedly because his audience was lacking. He wasn’t singing for any audience but One. As God started showing me what He sees in this moment, I almost felt like I was intruding on something private and sacred.
The great heavenly chorus of “HOLY HOLY HOLY” pales in comparison to the way one human voice lifted in an empty room captivates Jesus’ heart.
There really is such a beauty in hiddenness. There’s a purity in undistracted worship–in secret faithfulness.
“And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
(Matthew 6:4, 6, 18)
It reminds me of David’s years of preparation, singing to the Lord alone while watching his father’s sheep. I think God cherished those songs even more than He did the songs that came out of David’s amply-staffed 24/7 tabernacle later on.
And of course, it reminds me even more of Jesus–who was in the very form of God yet emptied Himself to take the form of a servant. (Philippians 2:5-11) He hid his own glory so thoroughly for 33 years–and especially for the first 30 before His ministry began. Even today, He hides Himself. He who will one day split the sky and appear in the clouds like lightning flashing from the east to the west (Isaiah 64:1, Matthew 24:27-30) goes unnoticed and unconsidered by billions of people every single day.
Many of us feel hidden right now. Many of us feel like we have something to offer, and we’re stuck in a back corner somewhere, because it’s not our season yet.
Guess what. If you love Jesus well in the corner, He’ll treasure it forever. He may have been the one who put you there. Maybe He wants your undistracted gaze just a little while longer. It’s a beautiful thing to be alone in an empty room singing to Jesus. All the best leaders in history did their time in obscurity… and many of the most faithful ones, whose names we’ll never know until heaven, spent their whole lives in hiddenness. What kind of glory are they swimming in now?
Holy hiddenness is a beautiful thing, because you can lock your heart fully on Jesus and know He’s the one who hears your song. He’s the one who counts your secret faithfulness as a personal offering of love. It doesn’t matter whether anyone else ever sees you. He sees, and He loves every moment.
Hello Caitlyn,
This made me think of stories I read about some of the evangelists of the Great Awakening. The men in the pulpit were well known. But apparently they had other men in an advance team who would go to each city, rent a room, and prostrate themselves before the Lord, asking that He might turn the hearts of men to God. While they might have gone forward at an altar call, the spiritual work was done weeks in advance by the intercessors.
I was sharing this story with someone, and they pointed out to me that Billy Graham did the same thing: weeks were spent in advance organizing the churches for prayer, and to receive those who accepted Christ at the event. For his last crusade in Los Angeles, WOL organized the volunteer decision counselors for the event.
Harvest also has intercessors praying well in advance, and they walk through the EMPTY stadium, praying over every seat and the people who will occupy them.
I see your IHOP work in much the same way. It may appear that you are praying an worshipping to no one right now. But the advance work of prayer in an empty space is the critical component needed before any revival can take place. It is the most important work.
Blessings,
I see the
Brad D. Bargmeyer
Mobile: 909-782-7257
That’s so good and so true, Brad! Thanks for sharing! I see it that way too. 🙂
Catching up here…Great insight. There is value and beauty in hiddenness. 🙂
I always look forward to your contents, Michelle. 🙂
…and your comments, which is what I actually meant to say.