The Prayer Retreat

          In between series, I have decided to empty my mailbag. One of the questions that come to me from time to time is about my prayer retreat. I have resisted writing about it publicly for quite a while for two reasons. First, prayer is a very private thing to me, and I am loathe to pull back the curtain. Second, I have no desire to give the impression that someone should pray like me to be spiritual. But as the question has kept coming, I have pondered it, and a discussion of it may help a few. So please accept this in the spirit with which I offer it.

How It Began

          Although I grew up in a pastor's home, I did not get serious with the Lord until I was fourteen, when I surrendered to the call to preach. I asked my Dad to show me how to pray for an hour, and he did. I began to apply that while delivering my paper route. Later, I asked the principal at the Christian school I attended if I could use the church auditorium to pray during my lunch hour, and he consented. In the process, I began to learn what it meant to be alone with God.

          Many years later, after accepting my Chicago pastorate, I struggled to find places to be alone. Literally. It was a big, busy city. I hungered to get out into God's creation, just me and Him, to be still, to listen to Him, and to pour my heart out to Him. About fifteen years ago, one of our families returned from a vacation out of state and told me about a prayer cabin they had seen. "Prayer cabin?" I said to myself. And a light bulb went on in my mind. I had never thought of such a thing, but immediately it appealed to me.

Sitting down at my computer, I pulled up a search engine and went to work. After several weeks of looking, I found a place I thought would work and scheduled my first one. I have been back many times since.

How Mine Works

          Each Autumn, I schedule a Monday-Saturday prayer retreat. I inform my church, but only my wife knows where I am at specifically. The place I choose to use has three one-room huts on an 80-acre wooded parcel in a rural area of the  Midwest. There are trails cut through the woods and benches/seats scattered throughout. In all my years there, I have seen another person a handful of times but never spoken to them. My cell phone gets no reception. There is no television or internet available. I am about as alone as a man can get in modern America for that week.  

          I take enough food for the week (there is a kitchenette in one corner), my Bible, a songbook, a few books I am working through, my laptop, and all my prayer lists. During the day, depending on the weather, I will load my backpack with food, water, a book, my Bible, and my prayer lists and hit the trail. Sometimes, I come back for lunch and then leave again. Other times, I sit in one place for most of the day, reading, thinking, or praying. At least once each week, I will stay out until the stars come out, singing as the sun descends and God's world quietens down for rest. In the evenings, I write my wife a continuing letter I give to her when I return. I also use the time for planning the following year, such as my preaching calendar, church projects, and Brennan's Pen projects.

          At the end of the week, I pack my things, clean my cabin, and drive back to the world.

Some Thoughts For Your Consideration

          First, it is vital that you are away both from your world and the world. I suppose it could be done in a hotel if you were highly disciplined, but I rather doubt it. Either go somewhere your phone and the internet do not work or else have the character to leave them both entirely untouched. Yes, I know your people need you. But they need you to reach out and touch His face more. Yes, I know there will be emergencies. Those emergencies will still be emergencies when you return. When you leave, leave.

          Second, if you have small children yet at home, be conscious of this. I went for shorter periods when I was younger. My wife needed me home, and I understood that. As I age, I expect to go either longer or more often. But do not hurt your wife or family by your absence in their tender years.  

          Third, expect to come face to face with some uncomfortable things about yourself. We are so good at hiding ourselves from ourselves. We use our schedule and our screens to do so at an alarming rate. Your prayer retreat will have neither of those. At first, it will be enjoyable, then it will be disturbing, then it will be horrifying. Then you will see God, and it will be beautiful.

          Fourth, I have found it helpful to ramp up my time with the Lord in the weeks leading up to my prayer retreat. This is similar to how a runner will train for a marathon. If your prayer muscles are not already strengthened you will find a prayer retreat to be a rather heavy lift. So build up to it.

Lastly, do not expect or attempt to produce a mountain peak experience with God. Pray intentionally, yes, but much of the time, be still. Read and meditate upon the Word. Watch the clouds trail across the sky, the hawks circle and the trees bend in the wind. Talk to Him. And let Him decide if and when one of those experiences comes. When they do, like Elijah, you will find the strength to run for many days.

 

And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3.8)

          He still walks through His Creation in the cool of the day seeking time with His children. If you go look for Him there, and listen for His voice, you will find Him.