How to Stay Excited About God – Even When the Retreat is Over

How to Stay Excited About God – Even When the Retreat is Over

One Saturday evening not too long ago, Molly decided her life would never be the same. For the first time, she was truly excited about God.

During an amazing weekend retreat Jesus seemed to be closer to her than ever before.

  • She finally felt God’s love for her.
  • She let go of her guilt over past decisions and embraced what Jesus did for her.
  • She developed new friendships with strong Christians.

When she headed home, she was ready to make drastic changes in her life, friendships, and habits. But by midweek, she felt herself slipping away from Jesus.

Once full of hope and excitement about what Jesus could do in her life, Molly has now settled back into her old habits and friendships. She knows life can be different, but she has lost her excitement for God.

Have you ever met someone like Molly?

Perhaps you have had the same experience as Molly – during a retreat you experienced God like never before, but shortly after your passion seemed to slip away.

How to Stay Excited About God – Even When the Retreat is Over

Churches can leverage retreats and events to bring people closer to God, but there must be a plan for maintaining their spiritual passion when they return home.

  • Discipleship is ongoing.
  • Spiritual growth requires daily investment.
  • Developing spiritual disciplines takes intentionality.

The bottom line: Event based discipleship does not develop disciples.

From my vantage point as a family pastor and former staff member at a Christian camp and retreat facility, I have seen tens of thousands of people draw near to Jesus.

My hope and prayer is that those same people will continue to draw near to God when they step back into their day-to-day lives.

Four Essential Habits to Build After a Retreat

Maintain Community with Believers

Retreats force you to journey with other people who are actually seeking Jesus. If you want to maintain your closeness with God when you return to your normal life, you’ve got to make friends with others who want to do the same.

How many people in your close circle of friends are excited about God?

Maintain a Spirit of Worship

When I worked at a camp, I did a lot of mundane and seemingly unspiritual things every day. I mowed fields, used a weed eater for hours, gathered supplies, and did safety checks. But I was also continually reminded that by doing all of those things, kids would be able to hear about Jesus. And that allowed me to take an attitude of worship into tasks that were not directly related to sharing about Jesus.

How can you develop a lifestyle of worship in your workplace, class, or family?

Maintain Daily Spiritual Disciplines

Retreats have Bible study time scheduled for you. Your typical schedule is not that kind. Everything and everybody wants your time. You have to make time for prayer, Bible study, worship, and service.

What spiritual discipline comes to mind as your biggest struggle? What steps can you take to change?

Maintain a “God is Going to Show Up” Mentality

For someone who is already a Christian, you usually go to a retreat knowing that God is going to do something. Significant time, money, energy, and planning go into every aspect of the event – it is structured to allow the time and space for participants to practice spiritual disciplines, be surrounded by people who also want to grow closer to God, and bring worship to God.

Do you usually approach life hopeful and expectant for God to work in you and use you?

It’s your turn now. What changes do you need to make in your daily routine and/or attitude to bring back your excitement for God?

Pin It on Pinterest