UTD: Abide in God

One of my favorite Baptist Student Ministry events the last five years has been the statewide winter prayer retreat, Abide. Scheduled in late January, just a week or two after classes have begun for the spring semester, it provides BSM students and staff across the state an opportunity to gather for two days with the sole intention of seeking God in prayer.

Kinsey ClineStudents from BSMs all over the state gathered a few weeks ago in Waco to plan this January’s Abide encounters. These encounters are essentially prayer rooms, each focused on some particular topic or style of prayer. There was a room for praying for the nations, one for praying for forgiveness and confession, one for prayers for obedience, prayers for family, prayers of thanksgiving. All night long—literally, because some participants don’t sleep during the Abide retreat—students pray together.

The retreat begins on Friday evening with worship and closes with another worship service on Saturday afternoon. The rest of the time is up to each individual. Students are free to meander through the Abide encounters; spend time alone with God; talk, share and pray with fellow students; sleep; eat; worship through music; pray around the fire pit; take a walk through the camp; visit the prayer garden; do whatever they need to do with God. The free schedule is very stress-free, a good refresher after the first week or two back to classes and a great jump-start into the new semester.

Each year’s Abide retreat focuses on a Scripture passage as its theme, but this year, I found my own personal theme as I read John’s Gospel: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). What does it look like to abide in Jesus? At the start of this semester, for me it meant refocusing even more on prayer, Bible reading and Scripture memorization.

I turned off the radio in my car on the way to work in the mornings, so I could spend the drive dedicating the day to the Lord. I thanked him for another day of new mercies and opportunities for ministry at UTD, and asked him to guide me through the day. It meant deeply digging into the Bible and spending longer chunks of time reading it than I was used to doing. And it meant asking my students to practice memorizing Scripture with me, urging them to hold me accountable to what I’ve said I want to do.

Just a few days after returning from Abide, I read Psalm 91, which also speaks of abiding in God. The psalm uses many words to convey the idea of safety in the Lord—shelter, refuge, fortress, shield, cover, dwelling place and protect. By abiding in God—by spending time with the Lord, studying his word, praying, praising him, meditating on Scripture—I am secure. And by abiding in God, I believe my ministry at UTD will only get better.

Kinsey Cline, a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, is serving with Go Now Missions as a campus missionary intern at her alma mater’s Baptist Student Ministry.