The Step-Aside Power Retreat

After Jesus was baptized by John, he had three short years for ministry. With just over a thousand days for preaching and teaching, Jesus chose to invest the first forty days in the wilderness. Fasting. Praying. 

Not a soul in sight.

No one to listen to His preaching.

No one to teach.

No one to heal.

That's quite a chunk of time, with what looks, on the surface, like little return. Why spend all that time in the wilderness?

There's power to be found in the kind of retreat in which the usual distractions are removed. A sweetness of communion with God that can be found nowhere else. 

Jesus taught about fasting as a private mode of worship and sacrifice, warning that we are to make no outward sign of fasting for others to see. He, who was sinless, prepared for service in the most important way of all, quietly, privately, communing with our Lord.

Denying ourselves is not at all popular in this culture, and I don't like it much either, but there's power to be found there. 

Is our concern about the spiritual needs of our children and loved ones great enough to spend time fasting and in solitude with our Lord? If so, offer a sacrifice of fasting (either food or pleasures) as you pray today.

Is our concern about our own spiritual needs great enough to spend time fasting and in solitude with our Heavenly Father? Then do so today. 

The sweetest times with our Lord, and the most powerful, can be found when all the distractions are left behind, so pray for a heart willing to step aside with Him, if only for a few minutes.

"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days..."(Luke 4:1, 2a NASB)

The James study will be available January 15th at www.lessonsindiscipleship.blogspot.com. As always, there's no charge, but there will be the opportunity for a suggested donation to cover the cost of producing the materials.

In case you missed yesterday's post, here's the link: Fighting with a Dead Writer and Conceding Defeat 
If you'd like to help support this ministry, here's the link to give: Global Outreach Acct 4841 If you'd rather use a check or money order, make it out to Global Outreach. Remember to put "Account 4841" on the "for" line. Mail it to: Global Outreach, PO Box 1, Tupelo MS 38802
#Jesus