Solitude “Jesus calls us from loneliness to solitude.”

Solitude “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place where He prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

Solitude “Purposefully abstain from interaction with other human beings.” (Dallas Willard)

Solitude “Making the proactive choice to be alone to focus my mind and spirit on God and my relationship to Him.” (Dave Roadcup)

Solitude Where shall the world be found? Where will the world resound? Not here, there is not enough silence. (T. S. Eliot)

Solitude State of Mind and Heart

Solitude Freedom!

Solitude “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things – rather than the Creator.” (Romans 1:25)

Solitude “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:1-)

Solitude “Solitude is a terrible trial. For it serves to crack open and burst apart the shell of our superficial securities. It opens out to us the unknown abyss that we all carry within us – and discloses the fact that these abysses are haunted.” (Lois Bauer)

Like Jesus Reasons for Solitude “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

Like Jesus Reasons for Solitude “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the WILDERNESS to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1)

Like Jesus Reasons for Solitude “After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside BY HIMSELF to pray. Later that night, he was there ALONE” (Matthew 14:23)

Like Jesus Reasons for Solitude “At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place.” (Luke 4:42)

Reasons for Solitude Hear the voice of God better “BE STILL and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) “BE STILL and know that I am God.” God does not ordinarily SHOUT to make Himself heard. As Elijah

Reasons for Solitude Expression of worship “The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be SILENT before him.” (Habakkuk 2:20)

Reasons for Solitude Expression of worship “Be SILENT before the Sovereign Lord.” (Zephaniah 1:7)

Restoration Reasons for Solitude “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a QUIET place and get some REST.’” (Mark 6:31)

Restoration Reasons for Solitude “Precisely because our secular milieu offers us so few spiritual disciplines, we have to develop our own. We have indeed, to fashion our own desert, where we can withdraw every day, shake of our compulsions, and dwell in the gentle healing presence of the Lord.” (Henri Nouwen)

Restoration Reasons for Solitude “Oh Thou Lord of Life, send my roots rain.” (Gerald Manley Hopkins)

Restoration Reasons for Solitude “Fuge, terche, et quissett” (“Silence, solitude and inner peace”) (Desert Fathers)

Reasons for Solitude Spiritual perspective

Will of God Reasons for Solitude “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. 13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles” (Luke 6:12,13)

Reasons for Solitude “We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grow in silence. See the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. The more we receive in silent prayer, he more we can give in our active life. We need silence to be able to touch souls.” (Mother Theresa)

Solitude “We move through life in such a distracted way that we do not even take the time to rest and wonder if any of the things we think , say, or do, -- are WORTH thinking or saying or doing.”

Solitude “We move through life in such a distracted way that we do not even take the time to rest and wonder if any of the things we think , say, or do, -- are WORTH thinking or saying or doing.”

Solitude “Do not model yourselves on the behavior of the world around you, but let your behavior change, modeled by your new mind. This is the only way to discover the will of God and know what is good, what it is that God wants, what is the perfect thing to do.” (Romans 12:1,2)

Solitude Anthony First of desert fathers Born around A.D. 251

Solitude “We must be made aware of the call to let our false, compulsive self be transformed into the new self of Jesus Christ. SOLITUDE is the “furnace” in which this transformation takes place. And once the real changes are made in us, then “it is from this transformed or converted self that real ministry flows.”

Solitude

Submission “A Christian is a perfectly free Lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” (Martin Luther)

Submission “Nothing can put people into bondage like religion, and nothing in religion has done more to manipulate and destroy people than a deficient teaching on submission.” (Richard Foster)

Submission Good Leaders oversee the godly order: In our souls In our fellowship In the surrounding body of Christ

Service “Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” I have set you and example that you should so as I have done for you.” (John 13:14)

Service “In service, we engage our goods and strength in the active promotion of the good of others and the causes of God in our world.” (Dallas Willard)

Service “Learn the lesson that, if you are to do the work of a prophet, what you need is not a scepter but a hoe.” (Bernard of Clairvaux)

Service “Most of us know we will never be the greatest, just don’t let us be the least.”

Service “True service is free of the need to calculate results.”

Abstaining from letting others know about our good deeds and qualities. Secrecy

Secrecy “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven.” (Matthew 6:1)

Secrecy “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men that they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, Who is unseen. And your Father, Who sees that is done in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16)

Secrecy “You are not any holier even when you are praised. Nor are you more sinful when you are blamed or criticized. . . . for a person not to wish to be comforted by anyone else is a token of great purity and inward trust.” (Thomas A’Kempis)

Secrecy “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. But in humility consider others better than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3)

Confession Letting trusted others know our deepest weaknesses and failures.

Confession Increases our faith in God’s ability to provide for our needs

Confession Increases our sense of being loved.

Confession Helps us grow in humility

Worship “In worship we engage ourselves with, dwell upon, and express the greatness, beauty, and goodness of God.” (Dallas Willard)

Guidance “Wise Counsel -- together”

Fellowship Koinonia Together

Chastity

Obedience “The prompt, personal response of an available life to God and his Word, always characterized by a focus on God and a commitment to action.” (Martha Thatcher)