You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever. Psalm 16:11.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
You cannot have or know true joy that nothing and no one can take from you until you live constantly and consistently in My presence.
I have set the LORD continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely. Psalm 16:8-9.
Many people ignore Me and then there are those that avoid Me, but, sadly, there are very few who constantly enjoy Me. And yet that is the way I planned it and desired it to be. I made you in My image according to My likeness so we would fit together perfectly.
I made everything I made for you to enjoy. I gave you life so you would abundantly enjoy it. I gave you the earth as your very own home. I gave everything you will ever desire or need for now and eternally.
I gave you free will to make choices and be like Me. I did not want slaves, I am here to serve you. I wanted a family, but more than a family, I wanted a people who loved Me and wanted to be with Me constantly as their choice upon whom I could pour out My love and My blessings. I want to bless you. I want to delight you. I want to surprise you each day and night with wonderful things.
Do you know what I desire more than anything else that you could do? Your fellowship with Me. That is what I am constantly seeking—those whose hearts are inclined to Me, those who worship in spirit and in truth. In other words those who walk by faith (spirit) and not just by sight and who keep My Word as precious treasure (truth). In loving My Word, you are loving Me, and in keeping My Word you are agreeing with Me, and how can two walk together unless they agree?
I want complete openness between us. Adam, when he sinned, hid from Me and did not want to bring out what he had done into the light because his deed was evil, but My ways are lovingkindness and truth. To walk with Me you must walk in the light.
This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” John 3:19-21.
And that is where joy is, in the light. There is no joy in hiding under the cover of darkness, for hiding there is fear.
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:16-19.
I will make you joyful in My house of prayer. My house will be called a house of prayer for all people. “Is anyone among you suffering? He must pray.” James 5:13. Why? Because I will make you joyful in My house of prayer. There is fullness of joy in My presence, the delights at My right hand forever. “Is anyone joyful? He is to sing praises.” James 5:13. In the shadow of My wings you sing for joy till harm passes by, and it will pass you right by when you are there in My secret place of prayer. “Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.” Psalm 32:6-7. “When you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:6.
David wanted to stay in My house of prayer all his days, “One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the delightfulness of the LORD and to inquire in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; in the secret place of His tent He will hide me, He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.” Psalm 27:4-6. Do you see? He knew My house was delightful and filled with answers for his inquiries. David never fought a battle without first getting the plans from Me. And he was never defeated. He also would write down what I showed him, like the plans he gave Solomon to build My house of prayer. “All this,” said David, “the LORD made me understand in writing by His hand upon me, all the details of this pattern.” 1 Chronicles 28:19.
David had tasted the joys of living in My house of prayer. He sang, “How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! and the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.” Psalm 36:7-8. “O taste and see that the LORD is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” Psalm 34:8.
You can live all your days in My house of prayer, and you will want to once you have tasted My goodness in My banquet hall of love. “Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. In his shade I took great delight and sat down, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He has brought me to his banquet hall, and His banner over me is love. Sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, because I am lovesick. Let his left hand be under my head and His right hand embrace me.” Song of Songs 2:3-6. In My house you will find Me and I am love, so there you will experience My love and love is sweet, love heals, love gives answers, love encourages, love exhorts, love gives good direction, love gives protection, love gives joy, and love comforts. “May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine. Your oils have a pleasing fragrance, Your name is like purified oil; therefore the maidens love you. Draw me after you and let us run together! The king has brought me into His chambers. We will rejoice in you and be glad; we will extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you.” Song of Songs 1:2-4.
I raised Jesus from the dead and made Him your great good Shepherd and your great High Priest. And as your Shepherd and your High Priest He guides and ushers you into My house of prayer, to My very throne of grace. He brings you into direct and intimate relationship with Me so that we dine together in My banquet hall of love and converse freely in the Holy of Holies. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside healing waters of peace. He restores my soul; nnHe guides me in the [c]paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the dark valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for length of days (forever). Psalm 23:1-6. “I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:3. “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16. “We who have taken refuge have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:18-20.
In prayer, in communion with Me, I surround you with the shield of My good will and cover you with glory. And in that cloud of glory you are healed, blessed, and lifted up to My very throne. It is the secret place, it is the refuge of prayer.
Prayer is a continuous flow of love between us where we honor and understand one another. You do not wrestle with Me in prayer as Jacob once did. You nestle in prayer like a baby bird with the mother who feeds it and loves its little chirp. And there I will teach you to fly as I carry you on My wings—the wings of prayer.
Many people never reach this level of intimacy with Me. They do not open the door when I knock. Revelation 3:20. They do not hear My voice because they are listening to so many other voices, but above all their own. If you are blocking Me out because of your sins the answer is simple and has always been the same. Jesus preached it. Repent. When Jonah preached to Nineveh, they repented of the evil they had done and dropped the evil in their hands and turned to Me. And what did I do? I blessed them and forgave their sins. They repented and I relented and remembered their sins no more. Jesus took them for all people from the beginning to the end of time by His one sacrifice on the Cross. But it proved retroactive as well as proactive. Jesus took them and the act of repentance qualifies you for that. Repentance releases the Kingdom into your life. Jesus told you that, “Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Why? Repentance releases the fruit of what Jesus did for you into your life. It releases salvation into your life. You did not pay for it, He did, all you have to do is repent and receive Him as your Lord. “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” Acts 2:37-39.
I love you. Pray, it is our secret place in every place where you are. For when I am with you, what can man do against you? Nothing. You are surrounded by the shield of My good will. And I will make you joyful in My house of prayer no matter what is going on around you. It is the place of answers, healing, refuge, instruction, production, direction, correction, protection, provision, comfort, encouragement, love, edification, revelation, joy, and, above all, fellowship and partnership. And it is yours in Jesus by Covenant. The everlasting Covenant of love. Just follow your great Good Shepherd and your great High Priest and you will find yourself in the banquet hall of love, the very Holy of Holies, forever.