Prayer Retreat Seeks the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Dorothy Deer
6 hours ago
2 min read

Pastor Dwight Nelson presents during the prayer retreat at Camp Akita

Dorothy Deer

Hinsdale SDA Church

When you get the Holy Spirit, you get Jesus. Ask, and you shall receive. To get the Holy Spirit, we must ask for it every day, and every day, and every day. That was the emphasis of Pastor Dwight Nelson at the Illinois Conference Prayer Retreat that drew 88 people to Camp Akita on October 3 to 5.

Pastor Nelson's theme text was Luke 11:13 “How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”

Pastor Nelson taught us how to grow our relationship with God by spending a thoughtful hour of uninterrupted time – or even 20 minutes – in daily morning devotions. Spend most of the time praying. Pray on our knees, talking with God, listening, meditating on scripture. Do not read long passages – not whole chapters. Start in the gospels, and read a couple of verses, a short section, or a parable. Dwell on it. Put yourself in the setting. Focus on the words – how is God talking to you through those verses? Imagine you are having a personal audience with God.

Combine this with Pastor Nelson’s sessions about the impending American Apocalypse. He followed the fulfillment of the prophecies of Revelation 13 and 14, and how we already are far down this prophetic road. He identified prophecies already fulfilled, and prophecies being fulfilled right now.

There is worldwide chaos, conflicts, wars, destruction, starvation. We humans are destroying our Planet Earth – oil depletion, water depletion, air pollution, loss of nature, loss of God’s creation.

Pastor Nelson also acknowledged the unprecedented period of hopelessness and anger in America these days: “We are living on the cusp. If God put a date on the big screen, we would be stunned at how close we are to the Second Coming of Jesus.“

There is much to pray for these days and it's never been more important to live and to share the hope we have in Jesus.

NEXT STEPS

📅 Mark your calendar for the upcoming 10 Days of Prayer (January 7-17, 2026). The Illinois Conference will be having nightly Zoom meetings with devotionals and prayer.

Please send any news items of what God is doing around the Illinois Conference to communication@ilcsda.org.