We have just finished week 2 of Advent.
What has God been stirring up in your heart? What has He been revealing? Do you feel like there has been distraction upon distraction? Though this Christmas season is a special time of the year, have you felt like you might be missing out on what God wants to say to you?
I have a friend of mine who goes on “retreat”. She drives away from the city to Santa Cruz beach. She’ll stop at her favorite breakfast spot to fuel up before she heads to beach. Once she is there, she turns off her phone and opens up her bible to read and prayer. Though she only an hour and a half away from home, she knows she has to go on retreat to get away from distractions to focus on the Lord.
I love this idea because I know in my life I need to go on retreat. I get so distracted by my own house because I can’t even focus.
You might be thinking, “Sarah, I have kids. I can’t go away.” or “Sarah, I can’t afford driving away to step away from distractions.” I understand, completely.
Think of a place in your house or backyard where it can become your retreating place. My place is my bathroom. I know, it’s weird. I find no distractions in there. It has become a secret place because I can lock the door.
I love what Bob Sorge says about time spent with God in a secret place.
“Everything in the kingdom depends upon whether or not we hear the word of God. I will endure months of silence if He will but speak one creative word from His mouth to my spirit. Our devotional life with God is more like the planting of a garden. When we arise from sowing into the secret place, we will not usually be able to point to immediate results or benefits. What we sow today will require an entire season of growth before the results are manifest. The wisest thing you’ll ever do in this life is to draw close to God and to seek Him with all your heart. I never consider time invested in the secret place to be wasteful; and even if it is, I gladly waste it upon my Lord! When you neglect the secret place, He’s not disappointed in you, He’s disappointed for you. One day of exhilaration in the Holy Spirit is worth a thousand days of struggle! The greatest things in life—those things that carry eternal value—always come at the steepest price. The closer you get to God, the more you realize He’s in no hurry. No one can mentor you into an abiding relationship with Christ. We all have to find our own way to abiding in Christ. When all is said and done, we must shut the door, get into the secret place with God, and discover what an abiding relationship with Christ will look like for ourselves.”
Read this line again:
“I never consider time invested in the secret place to be wasteful; and even if it is, I gladly waste it upon my Lord!”
Going into these secret places is powerful. Even if we spend months in silence to hear just one word from Him, we should long for that. There is spiritual growth that comes with waiting.
Let’s pray.
Prayer One
O God, early in the morning I cry to you.
Help me to pray
And to concentrate my thoughts on you:
I cannot do this alone.
In me there is darkness,
But with you there is light;
I am lonely, but you do not leave me;
I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;
I am restless, but with you there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;
I do not understand your ways,
But you know the way for me…
Restore me to liberty,
And enable me to live now
That I may answer before you and before me.
Lord, whatever this day may bring,
Your name be praised.
Prayer Two
Lord,
We long for You. May we enter into Your courts with hands opened to receive whatever You may give. Prepare our hearts to wait. Press into our hearts that there is growth when we wait. Lord, help to become more like You. Slough off anything that doesn’t look like You. Help us to understand that You are not in a hurry. Help us to sit in silence with You. Lord, we want to draw close to You. Draw close to us. Restore us. Minister to us. Shape us. May we understand that being in Your presence we will experience the fullness of Your joy.
In Your Name, Amen.
Credit: First prayer by Dietrich Bonhoeffer // Photo by Sarah Simon; Instagram: @themintgardener
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