So, What is the Secret?

There has been quite a bit of discussion about The Secret over the past few years. From Oprah to oh...just about everybody it seems, wants to discover THE SECRET.

A woman named Rhonda Byrne said she discovered the Secret to life. She made a movie and wrote a book to share this amazing secret and bring joy to millions. She says, The Secret offers the knowledge to create a joyful life.

The Secret, also called the law of attraction, is defined as a principle that suggests you attract everything you receive or experience to yourself (like attracts like). The principle explains that we create our own circumstances by our thoughts and the choices we make in life.

So a brief synopsis of Ms. Byrne’s secret is something to the effect of, think positive thoughts, be thankful, forgive others and ask, believe and receive.

Well that sounds great, but it does NOT appear to be a secret to me at all. The Bible, which was written long before Ms. Byrne’s movie or book, reveals The Secret to us.

The Apostle Paul wrote the following in the third chapter of Ephesians to reveal The Secret Plan of God (or the mystery of the gospel).

Ephesians 3 (The Message)
The Secret Plan of God
1-3 This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief.

4-6 As you read over what I have written to you, you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.

7-8 This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.

8-10 And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!

11-13 All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we're free to say whatever needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don't let my present trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud!

14-19 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

20-21 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
Glory down all the generations!
Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!

What’s more, the Bible is full of advice and promises that were provided to help us live a joyful life. Here is just a sampling of verses from the Bible that highlight the principles of 'The Secret.'

Think Positive Thoughts
“…Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” - Philippians 4:8 NLT

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” - Philippians 4:8 NKJV

“The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair. But we don't live or fight our battles that way-never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.” - 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (The Message)

Be Thankful
“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT

“As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!” - 2 Corinthians 9:13-15 NLT

“Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.” - Colossians 4:2 NLT

Forgive
“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” - 2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV

“But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.” - Mark 11:25 NLT

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven." - Luke 6:37 NLT

“For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.” – Psalm 86:5 NKJV

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” - Matthew 6:14-15 NKJV

Ask, Believe and Receive
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” – Matthew 7:7-8 NKJV

“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” – John14:13-14 NKJV

Abundant and/or Joyful life
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” - Titus 3:5-7 NKJV

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” - John 10:10 NKJV

"You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” - Psalm 16:11 NKJV

"For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.” - Psalm 30:5 NKJV

“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” – John 15:11 NKJV

You see, the real secret to life is Jesus Christ. In fact it’s no longer a secret because God has revealed this to us in his Word. Everyone has access to Jesus Christ and the good news of the gospel is available to all. Life in Christ is the Secret to a joyful life.

So now that you know the real secret to life, discover the secret to living.