(Wielding The Warhead of Personal Retreats for A Lifestyle of Conquest)
The virtue most responsible for Jesus’ successful life on earth was likely not His humility, authority or divinity. The reason for His tremendous impact, fulfillment of destiny & eternal work of the cross was His personal intimacy with God, most glaringly demonstrated in His lifestyle of obedience and prayer. This lifestyle was strongly encapsulated in a peculiar habit that uniquely tagged His life and is one of the distinguishing characteristics of Bible heroes – His unusual proclivity for retreating to solitary places to spend time with God.
Gospel references typically highlight this peculiar habit in loaded one-liners. Luke describes it as follows:
“But He would go away to places where He could be alone for prayer.” (Luke 5:16; ESV)
Why would God the Son need to pray (for anything) if He was indeed divine as professed? Why would He feel the need to habituate this retreating pastime? I believe there are several reasons for this, the foremost of which is the fact that His life on earth was entirely human even though His origin, spirit (nature) and birth were divine (Philippians 2:5-8, Colossians 1:15-16; Hebrews 1:3; etc.). This duality of existence (i.e., being fully man and fully God) did not exempt Him from passing through the human condition; indeed Philippians 2:5-8, Hebrews 2:9-11, 14-18; 4:15-16; 5:8-9 and other verses demonstrate His desire and initiatives taken to pass through everything humans experience so He could be the best leader (most people agree that the best leaders across spheres are those who role up their sleeves and get down in the trenches with their team to lead by example).
This decision subjected Him to every natural law that pertained to man, including that which showcases the terms under which heaven’s intervention is permitted on earth (Jeremiah 33:3, Luke 18:1; Matthew 16:19, 7:7-11; 18:18-19; etc.). Beyond that, it was evident that His times alone with the Father were not an endless litany of requests, but were spent in sweet companionship; catching up with and enjoying One Another while deliberating on eternal plans and purposes. My guess is that the Holy Spirit hung out with them each time and was just as participatory; indeed, as heaven’s power broker, He would have been responsible for each miracle and demonstration of power that Jesus effected.
Dialogues of such delicate sorts naturally only lend themselves to discussion in intimate atmospheres, hence Jesus’ tendency to quietly withdraw from societal demands to attend those much anticipated rendezvous.
NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER
In the 1985 movie from which this title was derived, the protagonist experiences a season of frustrating defeats in spite of his many efforts to subdue his archenemies. One night, he is awakened by the spirit of his hero Bruce Lee, who begins to tutor him in the martial art of karate. In many private sessions under this spirit’s tutelage, this formerly defeated amateur evolves into a superior martial artist who subsequently leverages his advanced training to conquer his enemies and run them out of town, becoming a highly respected champion and the hero of his locale. It is the singular decision to separate himself to focus via these retreating and regrouping sessions with his mentor that set him on the path of success and ultimate victory.
Retreats are deliberate acts of withdrawal from the usual demands of life (including social, vocational, relational and other daily activities) to the extent that the retreater is able to spend focused solitary time with God for a specific target. While the Bible records most of Jesus’ retreats as voluntary, at least one (i.e.. His forty-day wilderness retreat just before the inception of His ministry) was prompted by the Holy Spirit {see Matthew 4:1; Luke 4:1}). Similarly, most, if not all Bible heroes underwent seasons of inadvertent retreats (a.k.a. wilderness seasons) in their journey to greatness; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Ruth, David, Mary, and Paul, John the Baptist and John the Apostle to name a few. This suggests that wilderness experiences are a requisite aspect of destiny’s syllabus, and may contribute to determining the quality of one’s life outcomes …
Apart from the reasons of intimacy already stated and His constant need to replenish and regenerate divine power for the maintenance of an effective and impactful ministry, certain conditions and seasons seemingly played a key role in Jesus’ voluntary retreats. Matthew 14:24, Luke 6:12, and Mark 1:35 are highly suggestive of this. These reasons and seasons are also applicable to every lover of Jesus as they advance in their journey of life and destiny.
The twenty third psalm (the most widely quoted chapter of the Bible) paints panoramic imagery of the abundant rewards personal retreats into God’s presence afford. His leadership and guidance, supernatural supplies, wide open spaces, rest and peace, divine satiation and repletion, rejuvenation and restoration, direction in right living, sovereign protection, perpetual presence, abiding comfort, superlative sustenance, spiritual renewal and empowerment, overwhelming victory, and boundless other fringe benefits are just some of the bounties lavished upon the intentional retreater.
Have you experienced repeated defeat, challenges, or setbacks? Are you spinning your wheels, feeling hemmed in, or cannot seem to find your way out of an undesirable situation or figure out next steps into one you desire? On the other end of the spectrum, have you enjoyed major victory, expansion or promotion requiring greater wisdom, skills or strength? Are you hungry for more of God or desirous to fuel your spiritual fire? Do you need increased levels of power for your next phase of life? It may be time to retreat into a season of intimacy with God …. so current or potential adversities can bow out and surrender to your Christ-ordained victories!