My Dwelling Place, Part 1: The Secret Place Habit That Comes First (Pastor Paul Hohman)

My dwelling place is the secret place where a believer lives with God, and Pastor Paul Hohman teaches that it is the one habit every other good habit depends on. In this message he explains how habits shape our lives from childhood, answers a friend’s question about why bad things happen, and shows from Psalm 91 and the words of Jesus that time alone with God is what moves us from surviving life to thriving in it.

Below you will find the full video, a structured summary of the sermon, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps you can take this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was posted on July 31, 2024, and is the first in the My Dwelling Place series. It runs about 60 minutes and closes with communion. Pastor Paul Hohman says that when he was asked to preach, he was already in the Word, and the Lord kept bringing him back to one subject: habits, good and bad, and how we form them.

He builds the message around a simple comparison. Just as the physical body needs daily discipline in eating, drinking and exercise, the spirit needs daily time in the Word and in prayer. The habit that comes first, he says, is finding your dwelling place in God.

Habits Shape Our Lives

Pastor Paul Hohman begins with his own childhood. He admits to being a thumb sucker and a bed wetter, habits he had to overcome by building discipline in his body and mind. Children, he says, are a wonderful gift from God, and we are to train them up in the way they should go so that when they are old they will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6). He says he is where he is today because of the habits his parents helped him build.

Habits are so important, he says, but there is one habit we cannot start without: my dwelling place, the secret place of abiding in God. Without it, we can build good habits in our own strength, common sense and will, and we will only go so far. God wants to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).

Many people today are just trying to make it through the day, he says, surviving rather than thriving. God has had a greatness assigned to each life since the foundations of creation. Choosing our own way instead is a slap in the face to a Father who sent His only Son to die for us.

Why Do Bad Things Happen?

A friend who sees many hard things in his line of work texted Pastor Paul Hohman with a question: why do bad things happen, and why does God allow them? The friend told of a woman in a large city who struck and killed a child who ran out from behind parked cars, and who still could not drive because of the fear that gripped her. If God is almighty, the friend asked, could He not have prevented it?

Because he reads the Word every day, Pastor Paul says, the verses rose up in his heart. In John 16:33 Jesus says that in the world we will have tribulation, but to be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world. Then in John 10:10 Jesus says the thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy, but He came that we may have life more abundantly.

His answer to his friend was that we live in a fallen world. When Lucifer thought himself something great, sin entered his heart and he was cast down to the earth, his tail drawing a third of the angels with him (Revelation 12:4). There is a real devil and there are real demons. Tragedy is not God’s will. People who ask God why, he says, often do not know Him, because a person who knows the Father knows He has only good for His children.

That conversation is part of his point. Believers are to make disciples, but you cannot train someone if you do not know what you are doing. Instead of saying, “I don’t know, go talk to Pastor,” we need to find the dwelling place so that God rises up inside us when the question comes. When you know your Father, you know Him as comforter, strength, Prince of Peace and provider, and perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

Training Body and Spirit

Pastor Paul Hohman then turns to the physical body. If we neglect it, laziness, lack of strength and lack of energy set in. He jokes that he loved Kool-Aid so much as a child that he had a permanent stain on his lips, but as an adult he has learned to drink water, eat his vegetables and stretch. Joining a gym is good, he says, as long as the body does not become a god.

He says all of this because it goes hand in hand with the spirit. Just as he disciplines his eating and exercise, he gets up early and reads the Bible every day, and prays several times a day. The more he presses into God, the more God can do through him. When he lets the habit slip, he grows lazy spiritually and starts asking where God is. But God does not change (Malachi 3:6), so the one who changed is us.

1 Timothy 4:8 is his key verse here: “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.” Our time on earth is like a vapor of breath in cold air. Godliness profits mentally, physically and spiritually, now and for eternity, so that one day the Father can say, well done, good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:21).

That is why Jesus said to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added (Matthew 6:33). Christianity, Pastor Paul says, is not just a prayer said to get someone off your back. It is a lifestyle and a relationship. Jesus Himself prayed, “not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

Starting is hard. The first day of exercise hurts and so does the second, but after a week the energy and endurance come. The same is true spiritually. Even ten to fifteen minutes early in the morning in the Word is a start. Reading a verse while scrolling social media, he says, is not spending time with God; that is lurking.

My Dwelling Place in Psalm 91

Pastor Paul Hohman says he is still pressing in, and he has seen signs and wonders. He was there when a little girl was found face down in a pond, and his father commanded life into her on the way to the hospital until she revived and threw up in the back of the car. When you know the life-giver, he says, you can command life, because you built the habits and found the dwelling place.

The devil is a thief who goes after those who abide in God, because they threaten his kingdom. God’s answer is in Jeremiah 29:11–13: His thoughts toward us are of peace and not of evil, to give a future and a hope. In two sentences God says four times to come to Him: call upon Me, pray to Me, seek Me and search for Me with all your heart. You cannot fool God about it, and you will know people by their fruits (Matthew 7:20).

Then comes the central text, Psalm 91:1–2: “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” To dwell means to live there. Like your house, it is the place you always come back to. If you spent ten seconds a week at your house, would it really be your home? A house you never move into is just a house. God wants us to move in with Him.

He reads verse 2 from the Amplified Bible, which describes the Almighty as one whose power no foe can withstand and calls the Lord a refuge and fortress on whom we lean and rely. The psalmist knew this, Pastor Paul says, because he had found his dwelling place. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him (Isaiah 59:19). These are covenant promises to those who dwell with Him in the secret place.

The secret place may be a closet, an office or the basement. Jesus Himself had to get away from the crowds and even His disciples. David wrote, “You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble” (Psalm 32:7). In John 5:19–20 Jesus said the Son does only what He sees the Father do, because the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things, and will show Him greater works so that you may marvel. He saw what the Father was doing because He met with Him.

Deny Yourself and Abide

Even on bad days, Pastor Paul says, God has set him up for success, and God’s favor surrounds him like a shield (Psalm 5:12). In Matthew 16:24 Jesus says that whoever desires to come after Him must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Him. First we come, because the Spirit and the bride say come (Revelation 22:17). Then we deny our own way, will, emotions and old habits, including the excuse “that’s just the way I am.”

Denying yourself, he adds, does not mean giving up your house, food and job. Use wisdom and discernment. If something is contrary to the Word of God, it is not God, because God will not say something different from His Word. We complicate it because habits are hard to break, which is why forming godly habits matters so much.

Many read Psalm 23:6, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever,” as only a promise of heaven. Pastor Paul says God is his dwelling place right here, right now, in the early mornings and in prayer through the day. It means surrendering everything: sins, failures, successes, grief, thoughts and feelings. In return we receive a new life, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

John 15:7 says, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” People forget the abiding part and only want the asking. When His words abide in us, from Genesis to Revelation, our will and desires line up with His. God is not looking for excuses about where we grew up; He is looking for a surrendered heart. The table below gathers the habits of the dwelling place as he describes them.

A New Creation With Endurance

Pastor Paul Hohman urges the church: if you get nothing else, find that dwelling place. Jesus is coming back for a church without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27). 2 Corinthians 5:17, which he reads from the Amplified Bible, says that anyone in Christ is a new creation; old things have passed away and all things have become new. You cannot blame your past for your habits now. Like joining a gym, you choose to commit.

The more he gets into the Word, he says, the more that new life flows like a stream instead of a stagnant pool. God says not to remember the former things (Isaiah 43:18) and promises new heavens and a new earth where the former will not be remembered (Isaiah 65:17). When the devil reminds you of your past, he says, remind him of his future.

Finding the dwelling place does not mean sitting still all day. It is like revving an engine. The Holy Spirit stirs you to look for the next person to pray for and the next way to help, seeing through eyes of compassion and opportunity. That flow only stops when we leave the habit and find another place instead.

Hebrews 10:36–39 says we have need of endurance, the just shall live by faith, and we are not of those who draw back. Endurance, Pastor Paul says, comes only from good, strong habits, because we are in a marathon, not a sprint. He invites anyone who has stepped away from the dwelling place to come back, asking God to forgive and to give clean hands and a pure heart (Psalm 24:4).

At communion he asks the church to remember God’s goodness and faithfulness, to remember that God has not given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7), and that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). He closes with Matthew 6:6 from The Message, which tells us to find a quiet, secluded place so that the focus shifts from ourselves to God.

Building the Habit This Week

Pastor Paul Hohman ends by saying, start there and watch what God will do. Here are practical steps from the message:

• Pick your secret place. Choose a closet, office, basement or quiet corner where it is just you and God.
• Start with ten to fifteen minutes. Get up a little earlier and read the Word before the day begins, even when you do not feel like it.
• Do not settle for a verse in a feed. A verse of the day is good, but give God more than two minutes.
• Pray through the day. Besides set times, look for moments to talk to God and people to pray for.
• Let the Word answer hard questions. Learn verses like John 16:33 and John 10:10 so you can answer a friend who asks why bad things happen.
• Come back if you have drifted. Ask God to forgive and deliver you from habits that have crowded out your dwelling place.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 Ready in season and out of season
• 1:03 What God showed him about habits
• 2:00 Train up a child, and the one habit we need first
• 2:59 Surviving versus thriving
• 4:16 A friend asks why bad things happen
• 6:24 John 16:33 and John 10:10
• 7:17 We live in a fallen world
• 10:22 Knowing God as comforter and provider
• 11:36 Taking care of the physical body
• 14:29 Daily Bible reading and prayer
• 17:52 1 Timothy 4:8: godliness is profitable
• 19:04 Seek first the kingdom: Matthew 6:33
• 21:15 The first days of exercise hurt
• 23:40 A little girl brought back to life
• 26:19 Jeremiah 29:11–13: seek Me with all your heart
• 28:37 Psalm 91: the secret place
• 30:40 Ten seconds is not a dwelling place
• 32:29 Refuge and fortress from the Amplified
• 33:35 Psalm 32:7 and John 5:19–20
• 36:48 Favor surrounds you like a shield
• 37:56 Deny yourself and follow: Matthew 16:24
• 41:36 Psalm 23:6 and surrender
• 42:37 John 15:7: abide in Me
• 45:07 A new creation: 2 Corinthians 5:17
• 48:36 Revving the engine
• 49:32 Hebrews 10:36–39: the need for endurance
• 51:45 Prayer to return to the dwelling place
• 54:38 Communion and Matthew 6:6

My Dwelling Place Series

This message is the first in a four-part series at NTC Ministries. Continue with the next message:

• You are here: My Dwelling Place, Part 1: The Secret Place Habit That Comes First (Pastor Paul Hohman)
• Next: My Dwelling Place #2: The First Habit of the Secret Place

Frequently Asked Questions

Where should my secret place be?

Pastor Paul Hohman says the secret place may not be a building at all. It could be a closet in your home, your office, the basement or upstairs, wherever you can get alone with God. What matters is that you go there consistently, the way you return home each day. He points to Jesus, who withdrew even from His disciples to be with the Father.

Does denying myself mean giving up everything I own?

No. Pastor Paul says some take Matthew 16:24 too far, as if Jesus wanted them with no house, food or job. He calls for wisdom and discernment. Denying yourself means laying down your own way, will, emotions and old bad habits, and testing every leading against the Word, because anything contrary to the Word of God is not God.

What if I used to have a dwelling place but drifted away?

Pastor Paul tells those who once heard God clearly not to think they are too far gone. It is one step back: rebuilding the habit of meeting with Him. He leads a prayer asking God to forgive anything that has drawn us away, to deliver us from habits that took that time, and to give clean hands and a pure heart, so that we find Him again.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Psalm 91:1–2 — the secret place of the Most High
• 1 Timothy 4:8 — godliness is profitable for all things
• Matthew 6:33 — seek first the kingdom
• John 16:33 and John 10:10 — tribulation, and abundant life
• Jeremiah 29:11–13 — seek Me with all your heart
• Psalm 32:7 — You are my hiding place
• John 15:7 — abide in Me
• Hebrews 10:36–39 — the need for endurance

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

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