I would suggest that you plan a personal retreat, if only for an afternoon, say on the Lord’s Day (Sunday). Go to a place where you will not be disturbed and work through a plan something like the following:

1) Just be quiet for a few moments, perhaps to contemplate a scene of nature, a photo of nature, or even a starry sky, to remember the creativity, greatness, and power of the Lord.

2) Sing or repeat the words of a few favorite worship songs. Invite the Lord to come near to you. (For those of us who grew up with the “traditional hymns,” I would recommend working through the words of one of the stalwarts, like “Praise my soul the King of Heaven.” Glorious!)

3) Be quiet in His presence. Ask Him to guide you during this time.

4) Meditate on a passage of Scripture. One may come to you. I would recommend Isaiah 55 or Psalm 139. One way to meditate is to pray your way through the passage. Turn each of the verses into your own prayer. Ask Him to give you understanding of their content. Sooner or later I would suspect that He’ll touch areas in your life that need to be confessed and repented of. Ask Him for His cleansing, restoration, and process of change.

5) When it seems appropriate, move into intercession: for yourself – personal needs and issues, your family, close friends, the I-V group, other situations that concern you (like the people you met in India), the coming year, the future. I think the Lord will guide you both as to themes as well as to content. Thoughts may well come to you with regard to your focus for the year – things you want to accomplish (or what He wants to see you accomplish). Perhaps even a vision for your life’s work.

6) As you linger in His presence, you will find yourself drawn to worship and adoration, perhaps even to fall on your knees before Him, even lie prostrate. Enjoy His presence; linger there. Ask Him to fill you with His Spirit.

7) All of this takes time. Let Him guide you.

8) As you close, I would suggest that you write out what you learned through the experience. Perhaps you’d like to write out your own Psalm of praise; of yearning; of confession; of confusion – issues you can’t seem to solve as yet; of specific requests. Get it all down on paper. Keep it for future reference. File it in your personal notebook.

You may or may not want to share what happened with someone. But plan to repeat the experience – perhaps once a month. The Lord will call you back. He longs for these times with you because He loves you and savors these intimate moments we are usually too busy to give Him.

I would encourage you to be faithful in your daily times alone with Him. Follow through on the commitments you make during your personal retreat.

Jack