Retreat:

Sometimes you just need to Retreat... to breathe, to escape, run away, be still, be quiet, hide.  In order to RETREAT one is in dire need of restoration, to gain said restoration one must escape from the world and all the stress and distractions of routine and take time to recharge.  Exalt the Father, give praise to God, cast your worries, your cares, and your fears on Him and allow him to heal you.  Finally, remember that a thankful heart is a joyful heart and thankful soul is a soul at peace.  

Let's explore what it looks like to truly _Retreat_

I.                                      Restore

to bring back into existence; reestablish

to bring back to a former, original, or normal condition

to bring back to a state of health, soundness, or vigor.

to reproduce or reconstruct in the original state.

Psalm 51:10-12

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
   and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
   or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
   and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Isaiah 57:18-19

¹⁸ I have seen their ways, but I will heal them;
   I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners,
 ¹⁹ creating praise on their lips.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,”
   says the LORD. “And I will heal them.” 

II.       Escape

to slip or get away, as from confinement or restraint; gain or gain liberty: 

to slip away from pursuit or peril; avoid capture, or any threatened evil.

to slip away; fade: The words escaped from memory.

Psalm 55:4-8

 ⁴ My heart is in anguish within me;
   the terrors of death have fallen on me.
⁵ Fear and trembling have beset me;
   horror has overwhelmed me.
⁶ I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
   I would fly away and be at rest.
⁷ I would flee far away
   and stay in the desert;^[c]
8 I would hurry my escape to a place of shelter,
   far from the tempest and storm.”

Psalm 71

 ¹ In you, LORD, I have taken refuge;
   let me never be put to shame.
² In your righteousness, rescue me and help me escape - deliver me;
   turn your ear to me and save me.
³ Be my rock of refuge,
   to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
   for you are my rock and my fortress.
⁴ Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
   from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.

 ⁵ For you have been my hope, Sovereign LORD,
   my confidence since my youth.
⁶ From birth I have relied on you;
   you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
   I will ever praise you.
⁷ I have become a sign to many;
   you are my strong refuge.
⁸ My mouth is filled with your praise,
   declaring your splendor all day long.

 ⁹ Do not cast me away when I am old;
   do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
¹⁰ For my enemies speak against me;
   those who wait to kill me conspire together.
¹¹ They say, “God has forsaken him;
   pursue him and seize him,
   for no one will rescue him.”
¹² Do not be far from me, my God;
   come quickly, God, to help me.
¹³ May my accusers perish in shame;
   may those who want to harm me
   be covered with scorn and disgrace.

 ¹⁴ As for me, I will always have hope;
   I will praise you more and more.

 ¹⁵ My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds,
   of your saving acts all day long—
   though I know not how to relate them all.
¹⁶ I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign LORD;
   I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.
¹⁷ Since my youth, God, you have taught me,
   and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
¹⁸ Even when I am old and gray,
   do not forsake me, my God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
   your mighty acts to all who are to come.

 ¹⁹ Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens,
   you who have done great things.
   Who is like you, God?
²⁰ Though you have made me see troubles,
   many and bitter,
   you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth
   you will again bring me up.
²¹ You will increase my honor
   and comfort me once more.

 ²² I will praise you with the harp
   for your faithfulness, my God;
I will sing praise to you with the lyre,
   Holy One of Israel.
²³ My lips will shout for joy
   when I sing praise to you—
   I whom you have delivered.
²⁴ My tongue will tell of your righteous acts
   all day long,
for those who wanted to harm me
   have been put to shame and confusion.

III.           Time

Psalm 46

 ¹ God is our refuge and strength,
   an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
   and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
   and the mountains quake with their surging.

 ⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
   the holy place where the Most High dwells.
⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
   God will help her at break of day.
⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
   he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

 ⁷ The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.

 ⁸ Come and see what the LORD has done,
   the desolations he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease
   to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
   he burns the shields with fire.
¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.”

 ¹¹ The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Sounds like meditation, which I do think is important, but this actually Isn’t about meditation as we often think of it.  First off:  is “be still” a suggestion?

“be still” is “rapha” which means –to be weak, or to let go, to release all control- so “be still” says “force yourself to let go” or “make yourselves become weak”

Why?  Well, “and” in this case means “so” or “in order to”.  So, in effect, what we have is “make yourselves become weak in order to know God”

It’s an instructional statement for finding peace.

Exodus 14:14

¹⁴ The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

IV.    Recharge

to revive or restore energy, stamina, enthusiasm; revitalize

Be Still.  Spread out, you can take Bible, pen and paper, or Nothing.  Pray.  Reflect.  Talk.  LISTEN. Thank.

Exodus 14:14

14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

V.            Exalt

to raise in rank, honor, power, character, quality. elevate:

to praise; extol:

to elate, as with pride or joy.

Psalm 19
14 May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 21:13 Be exalted, O LORD, in Your own strength! We will sing and praise Your power

Psalm 34
3 Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness;
let us exalt his name together.

Psalm 66
3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
Your enemies cringe before your mighty power.
4 Everything on earth will worship you;
they will sing your praises,
shouting your name in glorious songs.”

Psalm 96
3 Publish his glorious deeds among the nations.
Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.

Psalm 107
2 Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out!
Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies.

Psalm 99

 ¹ The LORD reigns,
   let the nations tremble;
he sits enthroned between the cherubim,
   let the earth shake.
² Great is the LORD in Zion;
   he is exalted over all the nations.
³ Let them praise your great and awesome name—
   he is holy.

 ⁴ The King is mighty, he loves justice—
   you have established equity;
in Jacob you have done
   what is just and right.
⁵ Exalt the LORD our God
   and worship at his footstool;
   he is holy.

 ⁶ Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
   Samuel was among those who called on his name;
they called on the LORD
   and he answered them.
⁷ He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;
   they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.

 ⁸ LORD our God,
   you answered them;
you were to Israel a forgiving God,
   though you punished their misdeeds.^[a]
9 Exalt the LORD our God
   and worship at his holy mountain,
   for the LORD our God is holy.

Isaiah 25

 ¹ LORD, you are my God;
   I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
   you have done wonderful things,
   things planned long ago. 

1 corinthians 15:31

³¹ I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Galations 2:20

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Romans 12

A Living Sacrifice

 ¹ Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 

² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

VI.     Allow

Philippians 1:6

⁶ And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

VII.         Thanks

Psalm 48:1

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised

Psalm 96:4

For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.

Psalm 107:1

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Psalm 145:3

Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.

1 Chronicles 16:25

For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.

Isaiah 53

 ¹ Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?

 ^2-6The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
   a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
   nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
   a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
   We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
   our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
   that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
   that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
   Through his bruises we get healed.
We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost.
   We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong,
   on him, on him.

 ^7-9He was beaten, he was tortured,
   but he didn't say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
   and like a sheep being sheared,
   he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
   and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
   beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
   threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he'd never hurt a soul
   or said one word that wasn't true.

 ¹⁰Still, it's what God had in mind all along,
   to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
   so that he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
   And God's plan will deeply prosper through him.

 ^11-12Out of that terrible travail of soul,
   he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
   will make many "righteous ones,"
   as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly—
   the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch,
   because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
   he took up the cause of all the black sheep.