SEPTEMBER 27, 2024
Topic: “BEARING GOD’S PRESENCE BY RETREAT AND SOLITUDE ”
Text: Isaiah 30: 15, 20-21.
Memory Verse: Mark 9:29 ” Isaiah 30:15 ” For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not”
Finding time habitually to retreat and rest is by no means a luxury. It should be a practice for everyone who calls upon the LORD and worships him in spirit and in truth. Many Christians run up and down and round the clock without retreating. They go from pillar to post attending functions, meetings and programmes year in and out. No time to withdraw consciously…no time to relax in his presence and no time to reflect on what they have done …right in the presence of God.
This is not the usual daily devotions. It is a time earmarked for God for a day or more in a secluded place. The telephone would not ring and the meetings would all be postponed. God is sought and his voice is heard. Look at what Jesus told his very busy disciples in Mark 6:30-31; “And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.
And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat”
When last did you obey the LORD in respect of these scriptures? Are you busy and guilty? It is time to be like David in Psalms 132:4-5
“I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob”
PRAYER: LORD forgive my errors in the errands I run. My mind is made up from today to seek your face deliberately. I receive a time of refreshing from the presence of the LORD in Jesus name. Amen.