December is a month of prayer, fasting, and personal prayer retreat (a time of abandonment with God). Those who do not like personal prayer retreats do not like freedom and are in slavery to vanity, failures, fears and doubts. Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: Thereby good shall come unto thee. (Job 22:21, KJV) It is wise to find time for solitude before the New Year in order to draw closer to God, seek His face and find out the plans He has for your future.
We can see the regular practice of this in Jesus’ life. He went up into the mountain to pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God. (Luke 6:12b, KJV) If it was such a necessity for the Son of God, then it is more so for us! We can also see that Jesus taught His disciples to seek unity with God in a quiet place. And returning, the apostles told Him all that they had done. And He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place. (Luke 9:10 MKJV) He knew that it was important to teach them so that when He would not be around, they would know that there is solitude – the place of encounter with God, possibility to focus, to turn to the Almighty with a request, a conversation, one’s personal prayer; give the Lord the opportunity to make the necessary changes.
Are we among those disciples of Jesus who support this teaching of God?For “everything worth respect is made in solitude, i.e. far from the society” (Jan Richter). Every person needs a close, intimate relationship with the Creator in order to have an abundant life as opposed to miserable existence. Moving ahead is not possible without an intimate relationship with the Lord, meditation on Him, and deep searching of Him. He is our source, our nourishment, our victory. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being.” (Acts 17:28, KJV) Solitude is a special time, where we demonstrate to God that we can do nothing without Him and that we rely only on Him.
God trusts His secrets to those who are ready to leave everything for the sake of the Lord. This is a wonderful truth and miracle. When your mind is focused only on the Lord, and is not held captive with all kinds of worries, then it can discover absolutely new things, and rise above the limits of consciousness and receive access to mysteries from Him which no one can destroy. A living mind is a mind of peace. Those who have times of solitude with the Lord regularly, have access to things other people can only dream of. In your solitudes with God you can retrieve plans, answers, blessings, which you could not have previously received in any other way. God opens our eyes and gives us understanding and knowledge of unbelievable truths. Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given (Matthew 13:11, KJV)
Solitude with God can be in different forms:
1) Prayer and meditation before the face of the Lord.
2) Doing work in God’s presence.
3) Asking God to hear His voice and know His will.
4) Standing before God in order to set your thoughts and feelings in order, give yourself to and receive from God; write it out on paper in full detail.
Solitude with God always gives power. It is a source of spiritual power, mental power, and physical power (cleansing, renewal, restoration of the whole body on cell level).It is effective to conduct solitude with God in combination with fasting. It can be water for some, or juices, fruits and vegetables for others. You can never have solitude for the sake of solitude. You must have results! Every conception and birth of a human is made as a result of a time of solitude between a man and his wife. The same way the consequence of a spiritual solitude must be the birth of new ideas, revelations, plans, power and knowledge. Solitude with God must always bring something new into our lives.
God comes in your solitude and covers you with His glory: Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain apart. And He was transfigured before them. And His face shone as the sun, and His clothing was white as the light. (Matthew 17:1,2, MKJV) In solitude the glory of God comes down and brings to earth whatever there is in heaven; and man receives blessings that are not accessible to others. And, brothers, I make known to you the gospel which was preached by me, that it is not according to man. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it except by a revelation of Jesus Christ, – Apostle Paul shares his observations (Galatians 1:12, MKJV).
Solitude with God produces miracles. Everyone must have a planned time and place for personal prayer retreats!I always encourage people to retreat for at least three days in quietness and unity with God, even though this is not enough. For those who have the opportunity, it is advisable to go into God’s presence for a week or more.
Apart from Jesus, who left people to prayerfully draw closer to the Father on a regular basis, the Bible gives us many examples of solitude with God. After Moses spent forty days with God on the Mount Sinai mankind received the tablets of the Covenant with the commandments, which we use even until today. Solitudes of Elijah filled him with unbelievable power and ability to do numbers of miracles (for example, by his prayer the sky was sealed, and by another prayer of his God gave rain after 3 years of drought). We mentioned earlier that Paul received unique revelations as a result of his 3-year solitude.
When we go to be alone with Him, we are under His cover, might, protection, under the mighty glory of God, and it will undoubtedly bring us to great results, signs and miracles. He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall rest under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of Jehovah, my refuge and my fortress; my God; in Him I will trust. (Psalm 91:1,2, MKJV)
Especially in this month everyone must find time to go for solitude with God. Take a break from your active busy life. Create a possibility to run into the secret room, where there is no one and nothing else apart from your soul and the Lord. These days, hours of unity, humbleness and humility before the Lord will certainly bear fruit that will make you happy and bring joy to the Father. Do not doubt, God will always reward and bless you during and after you seek His face!
For a more thorough study of this topic we recommend you read the following books:
“How to hear the voice of God”, “Understanding of God”, “Bearers of God’s presence”, “Fear God”, “Clothed in power”, “Majesty from Heaven” – by Sunday Adelaja
May the Lord bless you and your family!
With love and prayers for you,
Senior Pastor of the Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations Church
Sunday Adelaja
Translated by Kateryna Popova
Edited by Kizito Leacock
PS Directions for prayers in your solitude with God:
1) Analyze, sum up everything the Lord has done this year; things that
did not work; things that need improvement. Learn the will of God for
your life. Strive to see and accept God’s guidance.
2) Think out an action plan for the coming year and the Covenant,
which you would like to make with the Lord.
3) For God to help us build the church in the coming year.
4) For supernatural closure of the criminal case against Pastor Sunday.
