RETREAT INTO PRAYER

From the West Meadow
By Pastor Wesley Higgins

This winter I read several articles on prayer retreats. This is a time people set aside to spend with God, in a peaceful setting, away from the normal everyday routine. This special prayer time draws a person closer to God and opens the door for God to work more closely in their lives.

I began to wonder about the Bible personalities who might have used prayer retreats. What I found was retreats into prayer.

I Sam. 1:9-17 Hannah deeply desired a child. She retreated to God in prayer, beseeching Him to give her a child and she in turn would give the child back to God.

II Kings 19:8-20 Hezekiah, the king of Judah, receives a threatening letter from Sennacherib, king of Assyria, speaking against God and telling Hezekiah not to trust God. After reading the letter Hezekiah goes up to the house of the Lord, spreads the letter out and retreats to God in prayer.

I Sam 12:1-13 Nathan speaks a parable to David exposing David’s sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. Verse 13. David confesses he has sinned against the Lord and in Ps. 51, David retreats to God in prayer, confessing his sin, asking God not to take His Holy Spirit from him and acknowledging that the sacrifices God looks upon are a broken and contrite spirit.

Matt. 4:1 Christ begins His ministry with a 40-day fast and prayer for the strength He will need when He goes up against Satan.

Matt 14:23-24 Christ took time to retreat into prayer on a mountain away from all the people. He needed time with His Father.

Matt. 26:36-44; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46 These accounts show Christ retreating into prayer for the strength and comfort only God could give Him to go through the beating, hanging on the cross, death and resurrection He faced.

So, how often do we retreat into prayer? Probably more than we think. We might begin and end our day in prayer. There are the prayers we say as we go through the day. There are the specific times we set aside for prayer and fasting. Maybe it’s a song that we sing in our minds or a scripture we think on sometime during the day.

Why do we retreat into prayer? For the same reasons we just read about. We need encouragement, protection, forgiveness, and strength. Most of all we need the close, loving relationship, with our Father that prayer brings. By being open with God, He can be open with us.

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