Retreat of Silence Who are you?

The Retreat of Silence is a time carved out for people to spend personal time alone with God
listening to Him, receiving from Him, taking joy in Him, dwelling in His presence. Begin by finding
a place to be by yourself, where you wont be distracted and can focus on listening to Gods voice.
Lets enter this time of silence and listening with the joy and expectation that God will speak to us
when we seek Him wholeheartedly (Deut. 4:29).

Ask God who He is, and listen.

(Guiding questions: Who does the Bible say He is? What does Jesus sacrifice on the cross tell you
about who God is? What has God done for you?)
If being reminded of who God is moves you to stray from this sheet and pray directly to God about
things on your heart, whether its to praise Him, thank Him, cry out to Him, question Him, argue
with Him etc., then feel free to do so! The most important thing is to seek and listen.

If you dont have a relationship with God, or if you want some biblical references, here are some
parts of the Bible that may help you understand more about the God Christians believe in: 1 John
3:16, 4:7 21 (Love), Ephesians 2:1 9 (Faith and grace), Isaiah 40 (God is unfathomable,
incomparable), Isaiah 57:14 21 (Holy but forgiving) Psalm 139 (Omnipresent, all-knowing, and
intimate), Revelation 21:1 8 (Jesus will come back and bring full redemption).

Notice your emotions when you think about who God is. Do you feel joy? Peace? Awe?
Adoration? Fear? Doubt? Apathy? Guilt? Emotions may not always tell you a firm truth
about God since we can easily interpret God wrong, but they are useful in indicating what
you truly believe about God right now. Be as honest with yourself as you can and dont worry
about how things ought to be yet. Focus on how things are. How do you feel when you think
about who God is, and what does that reveal about what you believe about God/yourself?

Now ask God who you are to Him, and listen.

(Guiding questions: What does it mean for God to call me His child (John 1:12)? What does it
mean for you to be able to have access to God, to be able to communicate with Him as a Father
(Rom. 8:15 16), as a friend (John 15:15)? How has this been made possible through Jesus?
What has been made possible through Jesus? What do these things say about what God thinks
about you?)

If you are unsure of who you are to God, or if you want some biblical references, here are some
parts of the Bible to consider in addition to the Bible verses already mentioned to meditate on:
Romans 8:31 39, Ephesians 1:3 14, Ephesians 2, John 15:5 17, 2 Corinthians 5:14 21, 6:1,
1 John 5:13 15, 18 20.

Now that youve thought about who God is and who God says you are, what do you make
of it and how do you feel? How do you want to respond?
 Responding to our knowledge of God and His gift to us

In Pauls letter to the church in Colossae (the Colossians), he writes:

We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom
and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and
please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great
endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to
share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us
from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in
whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:9b 14)

Some questions to reflect on:

- What does it mean to live a life worthy of the Lord? Am I living a life worthy of the Lord?
- Do I want to please God, or do I want to please myself/others more?
- Am I bearing fruit? What fruits am I bearing?
- Am I growing in the knowledge of God? What am I doing to grow in the knowledge of
God? What can I do?
- Do I feel strengthened by God? In what ways? If not, why not? Would other people say that
theyve witnessed God being my strength?
- Do I display endurance and patience?
- Do I give joyful thanks to God daily, even when its hard?
- What does it mean that Im qualified to share in the inheritance of Gods holy people? What
is the inheritance? Am I experiencing this inheritance right now?
- What is the kingdom of light? Am I living in the kingdom of light? What should that look
like?
- What darkness has Jesus rescued me from? How do I want to respond to Jesus doing this?
- Now that I am redeemed and have received the forgiveness of sins, what should my natural
reaction be? How should that impact the way I live? Am I responding to this redemption
and forgiveness in my daily life, or do I live similarly to those who do not know about this
redemption and forgiveness?

Additional reading: Colossians 3 (Living as Those Made Alive in Christ).

Pray. Ask God to make you more like Him, to root you in the reality of who He is and to teach you
how to live out your identity in Christ. Pray it over our fellowship, over Geneseo. Rejoice in the full
life that weve received from Christ! Live in a way that shows a constant, daily response to Gods
grace and goodness. God has so much more for us than just salvation from sins He offers
everlasting joy, everlasting hope, everlasting love, and everlasting life.

**There is a ton of suggested Bible reading here. No worries if you dont read through all of them
you can read the Bible every day! Take your time with Gods Word and feed on it regularly. A friend
of mine asked someone, How often should I read my Bible? and the person replied, Whenever
you want to. So, the point is not how much of Gods Word we read in a day/week, but whether we
want to seek Him and listen to Him through His Word. And if we want to, we will.