Sharing Our Thoughts on God's Words in a Group Devotion

A church in Ancaster, Ontario

We were at a retreat in Ancaster, a small town about an hour and half drive from Toronto, this past weekend.

I was grateful that right after submitting my research paper last Friday, God has prepared us a place where we could relax and rest for a couple of days to recharge our spiritual lives. 

On the first full day of the retreat, we finished breakfast by 8:30apm and were ready in the lecture hall for the morning devotion session.

The Redeemer University was  the  site of our church retreat.

In our Christian faith, we have always been encouraged  by the church to have personal devotions at regular times during the day or the week.

Instead of having individuals doing their own devotion in their rooms, we had a group devotion with the reading provided;

With the passage of scripture provided to us, we were assigned a group and sat in a circle. The passage was as follow:










2 Kings 19:14-21

19:14		And Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of those who had come with it; and after reading it, Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, opening the letter there before the Lord.
19:15		And Hezekiah made his prayer to the Lord, saying, O Lord, the God of Israel, seated between the winged ones, you only are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
19:16		Let your ear be turned to us, O Lord, and let your eyes be open, O Lord, and see; take note of all the words of Sennacherib who has sent men to say evil against the living God.
19:17		Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have made waste the nations and their lands,
19:18		And have given their gods to the fire; for they were no gods, but wood and stone, the work of men's hands; so they have given them to destruction.
19:19		But now, O Lord our God, give us salvation from his hands, so that it may be clear to all the kingdoms of the earth that you and only you, O Lord, are God.
19:20		Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, The prayer which you have made to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, has come to my ears.
19:21		This is the word which the Lord has said about him: In the eyes of the virgin daughter of Zion you are shamed and laughed at; the daughter of Jerusalem has made sport of you.

The Ground of the Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Ontatio

 We were asked to read this scripture slowly. After reading this

 passage twice, we were to underline or write down the word ( words), or a phrase or sentence that touched our heart or caught our attention. No special reason needed to be given.

After underlining the the phrase or sentence, we had to read again that section of the passage twice.

After re reading of that same section, we were to mediate the following questions, one by one, slowly:

1. What does the underlined phrase/ sentence remind you of? What's being reminded of can be a person ( including yourself). or an incident.

2. Think about how are you impacted by the person/ incident? The impact can be positive or negative.

3. What emotions or feelings can be positive or negative. What counts is that they are genuine.

4. Let us invite you to tell God what has gone through your mind. Please also take this time to pray to God for yourself and that person/ incident.

Additional question to ponder: What is/ was your 'god of the nations' ( the things that are not reliable yet you have relied on)?

After we all have reflected on these questions, we went around our group and each shared their thoughts on the passage.

It was touching to hear others baring their souls and revealed their true feelings, desires and fears  in front of strangers. We only met each other for the first time at this retreat. Believing in the true God and sharing the same faith, we are sisters and brothers in Christ. Therefore, we were able to share our deep feelings; it was a touching experience for me. I thank all those ladies in my group for being so sincere and open about themselves in front of God.

R.T.

Summer Retreat at Redeemer College

Ancaster, Ontario