Personal Prayer Retreat
How would it change your life to be able to experience the fullness of who God is and really grow in your relationship with Him?
The following will help you get a grasp of why we would encourage you to schedule a prayer retreat and a few resources located at the bottom on how to plan your time.
For some, you can take a full 24-48 retreat. For others, it will be a day off of work (6-12 hours). And maybe for others just starting out, it would be great to start with a four-hour block at the beginning of your day.
Jesus Often Withdrew
The following is adapted from 'In A Scattered and Hurried World' by Ben Baker of Oikos Ideas. Check the link for more about Oikos’ prayer retreat in July.
"Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed."
— Luke 5:16
In a scattered and hurried world, we struggle to understand the truth about ourselves. Jumping from personality assessment to giftedness and then heading in the opposite direction into our sin or woundedness. But, the life of Jesus tells an entirely different story about what is truth and who we really are.
Just a few moments into the beginning of Jesus’ story, right after casting out a demon in the middle of a synagogue while teaching, we find Him laboring as he heals many at the home of Simon and Andrew (Mark 1v29-37). He heals Simon’s mother-in-law, at the faith of two of his newly minted disciples (Simon and Andrew), and then everything breaks loose.
His teaching and casting out a demon in the synagogue, and then the news of healing Simon’s mother-in-law, set into motion an evening of ministry in this home that most scholars place going into the early hours of the next morning. All of this in 24 hours.
The home of Simon and Andrew would become the base of operations for most of Jesus’ ministry - to us Jesus arriving at this home would be like getting off of work and being ready to prop our feet up and watch Netflix. But Jesus saw the home as much a place for ministry as He did the synagogue or streets.
In orthodox faith, we understand that Jesus was fully God and fully human, so we can posit that our Lord was feeling exhausted, but to Him, the home wasn’t a primary place of rest - it was a place of continual ministry. He had to get away.
The Gospel of Mark shows us 3 instances of Jesus’ prayer life: 1) at the beginning (1v35), 2) in the middle, after feeding the five thousand (6v45), and at the end in the Garden of Gethsemane(14v32-52). Each moment of Jesus’ prayer life chronicled in the Gospel of Mark is preceded by an immense amount of ministry and “noise”.
The rest that Jesus was seeking was what He was trying to teach all of us about, connection with the Father. That our greatest moments of rest are when we are fully with God.
This practice of rest has been handed down through the centuries to followers of Jesus as “silence and solitude” and “retreat” - Jesus taught us how to withdraw and return.
Dallas Willard writes that “Solitude frees us...” and that “The normal course of day-to-day human interactions locks us into patterns of feeling, thought, and action that is geared to a world set against God.” Jesus had a lot of noise around Him and even He needed to quiet it all to hear from the Father once again.
Jesus sought this solitude in what Biblical writers called the “wilderness” or “uninhabited places”, and to them, this was a place of contact with the supernatural, both for empowerment from God and for conflict with Satan (refer to Mark 1v35,45; 6v31, 32, 35). Our retreat should mirror this journey into the “wilderness” for life that flows from the Father.
In this place of silence and solitude, or retreat, we find our truest selves - a self that desires God and seeks the capacity to reach for more of God. In the words of Ruth Haley Barton, “that is the deepest essence of who you are.”
So, carve out time to find your own “wilderness”. Journey into the unknown with only the Scriptures in your hand and ears set to listen for the voice of the Father. We invite you (and maybe even challenge you) to grab your calendar and in the next 24 hours, schedule a personal or group (ie friends/family) prayer retreat within the next 2-3 months.
Remember, we withdraw to be with Jesus so that we would return looking more like him. There is no greater way to become like our creator than to be with our creator.
Begin your time with a simple prayer inviting yourself to see Jesus and asking Him to show you the Father, and then be silent. Every time your mind begins to wander, go back to this simple prayer of seeing.
"Holy Spirit come. Jesus, help me to rest in your presence and see you. Help me to be fully present to you and who you are."
Your journey into the heart of the Father may be frustrating and you may go in with all sorts of expectations of what will happen - take only the expectation of obedience to the way of Jesus and how He lived. To simply and humbly be with God.
I promise that a life lived with a consistent practice of retreat will produce dividends of spiritual transformation, that will flow into every area of your life and you will see Jesus in ways you can’t even imagine.
How To Withdraw
There are all kinds of reasons why you would take a prayer retreat including wisdom for current and future decisions, filling your cup after a long season, or even igniting a spark in your relationship with the Lord. At the end of the day, the primary goal is to simply be with and enjoy the presence of God. There is no greater gift.
There are common elements like rest, prayer, worship, and periods of solitude and silence. However, going on retreat is not really about what you do – spiritual retreat is about what God does as we are present with him. The goal of a spiritual retreat is to be as fully present to God as we can be.
While the personal choice is up to you, focus on activities that quiet your soul and recenter your heart on the Lord. Do not feel pressured to make every moment a spiritual workout. Like your body, you will need moments to simply break, rest, and take a breather. Go enjoy a good cup of coffee or a bit to eat, take a walk, etc.
Here are some prayer retreat ideas. Feel free to search for sample prayer retreat schedules or ideas as well.
Reading the Bible.
Maybe start with Mark 1:29-37 and think about why Jesus had to withdraw and why you need to as well.
Journal about your favorite scripture(s).
Open Psalms and use them as prayers.
Working through a devotional
Put on your favorite worship or instrumental playlist
Reading a book (prioritize reading scripture of course)
Look at Time Away book
Look at Spirit of Disciplines book
Resting (yes, it’s ok to nap for a bit on your retreat!)
Exploring nature as you pray
Reflecting on the current state of your life and heart
Other Resources
Watch The Thin Place by Pastor Brandon from our When We Pray series
Prayer Course: Creating a Prayer Retreat
C3’s Prayer Guide