Spiritual Retreat – Part 5

Key verse: Isaiah 40:31: “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint,” (NKJV).

The word “retreat” is rooted in a Latin word ‘retrahere,’ which means “to draw back” or to take a step backward in order to be equipped for a better productivity. Retreat may refer to a time when one withdraws from his or her usual activities and goes to a quiet place to meditate on the word of God and pray. Retreat is an important part of spiritual development. It is a deliberate act of stepping outside of normal routine by moving back from the noise and pressures; the immediate and insistent claims of our social, domestic and everyday activities in order to be in a quiet place where all our senses are open and ready to listen to God. A spiritual retreat is, therefore, a time when a believer withdraws from people and his or her usual activities to concentrate on having dealings with God specifically to: seek the face of God and hear from God; examine his/her life in relationship with God; take a stock of his/her progress in life and in spiritual things; take tough decisions that have strong impact on his or her destiny; seek divine solutions to problems; seek divine directions as to what to do next; seek for God’s judgment and justice and seek for new dimension of spiritual power.

Great men of God through the Church age were known for spiritual retreats. Charles Finney said whenever he discovers that he was no longer manifesting the presence of God as he used to, he would go into a three-day spiritual retreat in the woods with fasting and prayer. When he comes back, the divine presence will return. As leaking vessels, we need to go for refilling from time to time. The place for that refilling is the place of retreating alone with God. Challenges, besetting sins, sorrow of heart, disappointment, failure, anger, bitterness, and lots more leak away the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. As a result of these leakages, we need to be refilled. A retreat will give us the opportunity to spend quality time in God’s presence for communion and fellowship. The experience of a few days spent deeply in the presence of God, praying and reflecting on our life’s direction, gives an incomparable richness to our vision of things.

Jesus, Himself,modelled retreating when he would leave the crowd to be by Himself to spend time in prayer and with His father (Mark 1:35). Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed (Luke 5:16).

One of those days Jesus went to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God (Luke 6:12). Jesus used spiritual retreat as a time to refuel His spiritual power, for example, in Matthew 14:23, immediately after feeding of the five thousand, He sent the multitudes away and went up to the mountain to pray and till evening, He was alone with God. Spiritual retreat is about separating oneself from the crowd and distracting activities to be alone with the Father.

Jesus validates the value of personal retreat time with God amid demanding schedules.

As ministers of God, we cannot meet up with the pressures and demands of ministry without investing quality time in personal retreat with God. The place of solitude is a choice. The concept of solitude is difficult in our society, so we must make a choice on a consistent basis to unplug ourselves from the noisy environment and intentionally position ourselves where we can “silently wait for God.”

•Today’s nugget: The place of solitude is a choice. Prayer: Lord increase my hunger for you. Prayer lines: 08033299824.E-mail: [email protected]. Rev. Abel UkachiAmadi, General SuperintendentAssemblies of God, Nigeria