TO PREPARE:

Select a day when you can pull away from regular activities for at least 45 minutes of dedicated attention to the exercise. If your schedule allows,* extend the retreat to a full day and divide the three parts between morning, midday, and late afternoon/evening.
Choose a comfortable spot free from attention grabbing media or devices.
If you are able, fast for at least one meal. Fasting is a powerful discipline for revealing what rules us.
*If you are choosing the extended version of the retreat, incorporate one or more of the following passages and meditate on them throughout the day: Daniel 2:44, Daniel 7:13 – 14, Matthew 6:33, Matthew 6:10, Luke 17:20 – 21, John 3:3 – 5, Romans 14:17, 1 Corinthians 4:20, 1 Corinthians 6:9, Colossians 1:13

This practice is meant to be life-giving and not to cause stress. Plan in cooperation with your schedule.

It’s normal to feel apprehensive about an exercise designed to bring to your attention areas of your life that are not yet fully surrendered to God’s rule. But the point of revealing these areas of disorder or bondage is not to make you feel bad. It’s to help you become more free to love and obey God.

If you tend toward a perfectionist mindset or struggle to know that you are accepted by God, please remember that God already knows everything about you and loves you unconditionally.

Some of the questions through this practice will resonate with you and some may not. It’s ok if you don’t connect with all the questions. Consider each one, but don’t force yourself to spend much time on the parts that are not connecting with you.

PART 1: Looking at corners of our life to determine who or what is in charge

Sit quietly for a minute; settle yourself to be at peace with your surroundings.

Opening Prayer:

Begin by simply looking around your room or your setting. Wherever your eye lands, thank God for what you see. After a few minutes, speak a word to God from your heart about why you are doing this exercise. Ask for whatever you need to begin — courage, focus, energy, an open mind. Close your prayer with a few deep breaths and gratitude that God has surely heard your prayer.

In each of the areas listed below consider the following questions. It will be helpful to jot down notes as you go…

Is anything in this corner of my life messy or dysfunctional?
Is anything un-Christlike?
Who or what is driving the agenda?

A Kingdom Inventory:

Relationships: How I treat my family, friends, coworkers, neighbors…
Possessions: How I think about, spend, and steward my money and things…
Work: What I work on and how I work on it (whether in a formal job setting or as a caregiver, retiree, etc)…
Free time: What I do when I’m under no other responsibilities, including what I watch, listen to, consume, do…
Voice: What I say aloud and in my head… about others, myself, the world, God…
Health: What I eat, drink, do with my physical body…
Other: (add your own category)

PART 2: Selecting an area for deeper surrender

Now take a moment to look over your notes and to hold up to God all that has come to the surface in your inventory.

In what area do you feel the most longing for the order, beauty, and justice of God’s kingdom to transform you – even if it disrupts things?

Choose one area from above to carry into the next part of the exercise. Don’t overthink which one to choose — there are no wrong answers and you can return to the other areas at a future date. But when you feel a sense of peace, circle or write down an area that feels like an invitation.

PART 3: What would it look like to give God his way?

Dallas Willard wrote:

When I pray ‘thy kingdom come, thy will be done’ I am praying first that God’s will may be done in my own life and then around me. This is the open door for his teachings, for it is his effective will that I bless and don’t curse, that I let my yes be yes and my no be no, that I not be motivated by anger and contempt etc … (as outlined in the Sermon on the Mount). So as someone who is living in the kingdom, I am praying that this may become a true expression of who I am by inner transformation. Discipleship is learning how to do that.

Looking at the area you selected, consider the following…

What practical step would help me transfer this part of my kingdom to God’s rule?
Is there some influence I need to seek or step away from?
Is there something I need to learn? Where might I learn it?
Is there a spiritual practice I need to experiment with?

Talk these things over with God. Write them down so that you can have a tangible reminder of the ideas that have surfaced and the commitments you want to make. Consider sharing them with a trusted friend or pastor.

Close your retreat with a hymn, the Lord’s Prayer, or this prayer from John Baillie’s A Diary of Private Prayer

When you knock on the door of my heart,
may I never keep you standing outside….
may I never keep a single corner
closed to your influence.
Do what you will with me, O God;
make of me what you will,
change me as you will,
and use me as you will,
both now and in the larger life beyond;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Maybe you would like to explore the other areas of your kingdom inventory by going through the exercise again in the future. For now, stay with the focus that came to you today and allow yourself to linger there until you sense Jesus inviting you to look at another corner of your life that would benefit from deeper surrender to God’s rule.

Consider these questions if you plan to go through this spiritual exercise a second time:

What are some supporting practices that might help you enter the exercise even more deeply? (e.g. fasting, solitude, or a silent retreat)
Is there a community setting where you’d like to recreate this exercise?