This month’s Greenhouse retreat is looking at Jesus in the wilderness.
We all experience wilderness times: periods of transition, disorientation, and trial. It’s just a question of whether it’ll be fruitful and generative or merely hard. Jesus goes into the wilderness to redeem the wilderness for us and our salvation.
Take a few minutes over your lunch break today or before you go to bed to walk through this exercise.
Name one or two of your wilderness experiences as simply as you can.
Jesus’s public ministry starts with a dramatic water event followed by 40 days in the wilderness.
The story of Israel as a nation begins with a dramatic water event (the parting of the Red Sea) and then 40 years in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land.
Jesus has come to re-enact Israel’s story to redeem Israel’s story, to pass the tests that they failed in order to be true Israel. He is fulfilling the covenant with Abram that through his offspring all the nations might be blessed.
The whole of the New Testament is emphatic: Jesus is with us and dwells within each of us once we trust in him. Let’s invite Jesus to take up and inhabit the parts of your wilderness experiences that still linger with pain and hurt and/or big question marks.
Take one of your experiences of wilderness from above and call to mind one scene from it. That might be an image or place: a house, a particular room or table or seat in that house, an office, a building of some sort, etc. along with the people involved (if there were any).Now prayerfully ask the Lord to show you where he was in that scene and wait quietly to see what comes to mind. If nothing happens, that’s okay, we trust that Jesus was there by faith and according to what he has promised. But give him a chance to see if he might meet you in that memory and show you that he was there.
Knowing by faith that the Lord was with you in the wilderness, pray to him something like: “Jesus, would you inhabit and redeem this wilderness experience like you did for Israel?” Then pause and see if the Lord might give you a Scripture or word.
Repeat that exercise with any of your wilderness experiences, especially the ones where there are big questions remaining.
This is just one exercise in this month’s free Greenhouse Retreat, “Redeeming the Wilderness.” For more:
Access and print out the free retreat materials (printing is optional but recommended)
Block off 4-6 hours sometime in the next few weeks OR simply use the material in shorter chunks as a daily devotional guide
Most importantly, show up and be refreshed by the promises of God
February 2024 Retreat: Redeeming the Wilderness
For Everyone: Transition, testing, trials, and disorientation come to us all. Click here for Redeeming the Wilderness for Everyone.
For Ministry Leaders: In the Scriptures, every leader we have the full story of is formed and shaped in critical ways by time in the wilderness. Make sure your time there is fruitful. Click here for Redeeming the Wilderness for Ministry Leaders.
Greenhouse Retreats: helping you to create conditions ideal for long-term flourishing and fruitfulness.
Happy flourishing, y’all,
Alex