Regarding this area, just as a regular time is helpful, it is beneficial to have a regular place to pray. It allows the disciple to concentrate more fully because the environment is familiar, therefore less likely to distract. Also, the continued practice of prayer and the practice of the presence of God can open the heavens over a particular place making access to and from the spiritual realm easier. For example, it can be much easier to connect with God and focus your attention on prayer in a dedicated room of your own home, than to engage with God on a deep level in the aisles of the local supermarket.

Again, there is no place where prayer cannot be made, but the intimacy of lovemaking is not something a couple engage in the car as they drive to work in the morning. Deep intimacy and oneness is reserved for the ‘secret place’ or the ‘chamber’. Our Bridegroom is calling us into the chamber of intimacy, where our heart and purpose become one. Equally, if you are serious about prayer and intimacy with God, tagging it along with the rest of your busy schedule is unacceptable. There is place for continual fellowship and friendship, and the exercise of prayer throughout the day’s activities, but without private devotion to prayer alone with God, only the surface of possibility will be skimmed.

On a practical level, it is good to create a place that is comfortable and free from distraction, where you can seek the face of God and hear His counsel each day.

If music helps, utilise it in your times of seeking, burn oils to create a pleasant atmosphere, make sure there is enough light to read by if you are searching the scriptures. Cultivate an environment that facilitates intimacy and rest in God’s presence.

At the same time we must remember that intimacy is not a product of environment but an issue of the heart. To cultivate an inner environment of yieldedness, love, faith and passion for God is most important. The disciples were just as free to connect with heaven in a prison cell as they were in their homes. It was a matter of their hearts. For me, because I pray before day break, and enjoy expressive and sometimes loud prayer, I needed an environment that could facilitate this. My terraced house did not, so I sought out a local church and asked the minister if I could use a room in his building from 5am-7am each day. The basement of the local Baptist church is presently my ‘prayer closet’. I encourage you to believe God for the right place for your development in this vital area of Christian life.