6 Benefits of A Silent Retreat With God

– Quotes by Wesley and Stacey Campbell

Dear intercessors,
In
learning about prayer, silence contemplation is a special dimension
that very few of us have fully grasped. Most of us are not skilled in
beholding God. One of the reasons for this is because we have been
influenced by the noise and busyness of our present-day life style. And
in the midst of a whirlwind of activity that we have so often
misunderstood as important or necessary, we have missed the beauty and
necessity of learning the discipline of silence before God. We so often
miss out on the life of contemplation, one of beholding the beauty of
Jesus.

“Be still, and know that I am God” – (Psalm 46:10).
“In
silent contemplation, a supernatural drawing occurs. Having come to the
end of words, we simply stare in silence at the person of God. One of
the most apt, and most beautiful, descriptions of the essence of
contemplation that I have heard comes from a simple farmer: ‘Think of
the wonderful description given by that unlettered farm laborer at Ars
who used to remain for hours in stillness and silence gazing at the
tabernacle and when the Cure d’Ars asked him what he did there, simply
replied: I LOOK AT HIM, AND HE LOOKS AT ME.’”

The Benefits of Silent Contemplation in Prayer 
“From
time to time you will begin to touch the state of inward silence. What
shall be your response to such an experience? But what shall you do?
Nothing! Simply yield to the inward drawing. Yield to the wooing of your
spirit. Your spirit is drawing you deeper within.”

There are so many benefits of retreating before God in silent contemplation. Here are some of them:

God fights on our behalf when we are silent – 

We are too weak to fight our enemies ourselves. We will be wounded, but
in times of temptation if we remain in faith in God’s presence, He will
give us His strength.

“The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent” – (Exodus 14:14).

We find God in a deeper dimension – 

In silent prayer, we develop the art of looking at God.

“’You
will seek me and find me when you seek for me with all your heart. I
will be found by you,’ declares the Lord” – (Jeremiah 29:13-14).

We grow in the art of meditating on Scripture – 

Exodus 34:6-7 is filled with the divine attributes of God. I encourage
you to meditate on these verses for a long period of time.

“And
he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the
compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness,
rebellion and sin’” – (Exodus 34:6-7).

We learn to shut out external activity – 

We learn the art of external simplicity and inwardly learn to dwell in God’s presence.

“One
thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty
of the Lord, and to meditate in His temple” – (Psalm 27:4).

We learn to meditate on God’s nature – 

It is good to start with meditating on one aspect of God’s nature in a
single verse of Scripture. For example, meditate on God’s holiness
adorning His house for endless days as found in the following verse:

“Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days, O Lord” – (Psalm 93:5).

We grow in our love relationship with God –