17/06/2026
God Commands the Morning in the Secret Place
I trust that you are well.
I am often awakened by the Lord early in the morning. This also happens when my soul is troubled, burdened, or deep in thought. He may wake me even earlier than usual, and during those moments of prayer I often find myself feeling lighter, more peaceful, and filled with renewed joy.
This pattern of responding to the Lord when He calls me into prayer has strengthened me over the years. I have come to cherish the morning hours as a sacred time when He speaks to me, when I speak to Him, when I cry before Him, and when I simply sit and listen. Prayer is often a place of waiting upon the Lord, and it is there that He sustains me.
This morning, the Lord reminded me of Jesus and how He established a culture and pattern of prayer, continually seeking the Father, even in the early hours of the morning.
Psalm 5:3
"In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly."
In this Psalm, David asks the Lord to hear his prayer. He brings his voice before God early in the morning and presents his requests before Him. Yet he does not simply pray and walk away—he waits expectantly.
In verse 1, David asks the Lord to consider his meditation and heed his cry. He approaches God as his King and his God. David understood that the early morning was a time to direct his prayers to the Lord and to look up with expectation.
The meditations of your heart and mind must be brought before the Lord early in the morning.
Direct your requests and concerns to Him.
Lift your eyes toward Him and direct your voice to Him.
Trust the Lord in prayer and wait expectantly for His response to the matters you have laid before Him.
In the same Psalm, David declares:
Psalm 5:12
"For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favour You will surround him as with a shield."
The Lord responds to the prayers of the righteous with favour that surrounds them like a shield—protecting, preserving, promoting, and prospering them according to His will.
The Lord is good, and His mercies are new every morning. Every day presents a fresh opportunity to encounter Him and to grow deeper in intimacy with Him.
I am grateful that I can still cry in His presence. I can still be broken before Him, and He heals me. I can still call upon the Lord, and He answers me. What a joy it is to know that He is always available to hear us and meet with us in the quiet and secret place.
The Lord Jesus built such a consistent pattern of prayer that His disciples eventually asked Him:
"Lord, teach us to pray."
The most powerful prayer is not merely one learned from a person, but one taught by the Lord Himself. There is no substitute for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in prayer. Personal prayer gives us access to deeper fellowship with God, where it is simply you and Him, face to face.
Jesus often rose early before the demands of the day began.
Mark 1:35
"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed."
Do you have a place of prayer?
Do you intentionally make time to meet with Him in the quiet place?
I encourage you to seek Him in the early hours of the morning. While we can pray at any time as the Lord leads, there is something powerful about beginning the day in His presence and setting our hearts before Him.
Jesus regularly withdrew from crowds and distractions to commune with His Father.
Luke 5:16
"But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."
He prayed at night, in the morning, and throughout the day. Prayer was not merely an activity for Jesus; it was His lifestyle. He maintained continual fellowship with the Father.
This is the pattern we must pursue—a life of communion with God, heart to heart, face to face, and spirit to spirit.
Keep your mind stayed on Him.
Keep your thoughts fixed on Him.
Draw near to Him in the morning and listen for His voice.
Luke 6:12
"One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God."
The disciples observed the devotion, diligence, and intimacy that prayer produced in Jesus. They recognized that prayer was one of His greatest strengths, and they desired the same life for themselves.
Luke 11:1
"One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, 'Lord, teach us to pray.'"
As I was seeking the Lord, He impressed upon my heart that continually spending time with Him and seeking Him is part of abiding in the secret place under the shadow of His wings.
This led me back to Psalm 91, where I began to see more clearly that Jesus found His secret place in the Father. They walked in perfect unity, and prayer was one of the places where that communion was continually expressed.
Psalm 91:1
"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."
The place of prayer brings protection, covering, strength, favour, blessing, and peace. There, we remain under the shadow of the Almighty God—the One for whom nothing is impossible.
The secret place is a place of dwelling. It is not somewhere we visit occasionally; it is somewhere we learn to live.
The Hebrew understanding of the secret place speaks of a hiding place, a private place, a shelter, and a place of covering.
In the Lord, you have a place of refuge.
You have shelter from the storms of life.
You have protection from the fires and waters that seek to overwhelm the soul.
The Lord keeps in perfect peace those whose minds are fixed upon Him.
Job 38:12–13
"Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?"
God has been commanding the morning since the beginning of creation. It is His divine order that the earth hears His voice first.
Only the Lord can teach us how to order our days and command our mornings according to His will. We must learn to present ourselves before Him day and night, seeking His face and submitting our lives to His direction.
Every morning is an opportunity to draw near, beloved of God.
Come closer.
The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come."
Draw near to the Lord and direct your voice, your thoughts, and your heart toward Him. He will hear you, answer you, and surround you with His favour as with a shield.
May you have a blessed day.
Love and Grace,
Lungile and Unathi Mnukwa
