Greenhouse Retreats | Alex Kirk | Substack

Greenhouse Retreats

A monthly resource to fight exhaustion by helping you create conditions ideal for growth.

By Alex Kirk

Where to Start with Prayer

Especially in difficult times

Alex Kirk

Jun 22, 2026

If you’re like most people, you’ve been in a situation where it was difficult to know how or what to pray.

In this month’s Greenhouse Retreat, we’re looking at a king in the Old Testament who’s got armies much larger than his own barreling down on his people.
The odds are not in any way in his favor.
So he declares a fast and gathers the people to seek the Lord.
And how he prays in that moment gives us an excellent map for how we might pray, especially in difficult times.

Take five minutes today to reflect on these questions to help your prayer life to take deeper root.

  1. The first thing King Jehoshaphat prays: he declares what is eternally true about God. “You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations…no one can withstand you.” ( 2 Chronicles 20:6)

I think everyone needs to have a few favorite, go-to characteristics of God that you come back to and anchor yourself in, especially in the midst of crisis.

What might be some of yours? Make a list of 5 or so that you might come back to.

  1. The second thing Jehoshaphat prays is a recitation of the stories of God’s faithfulness to Israel in the past.

Do you have a bank of foundational “works of God in my life” shorthand summaries that you might draw from and pray in any given situation?
For example: how God got you through a difficult season, how he opened the door for a job, your experience of grace or forgiveness, the person or resource that came into your life at just the right time, etc.

See if you can come up with seven to twelve experiences in your own life that you might pray as you remember God’s active presence in the past to give you hope in the midst of challenges. Write those down in short, bullet-point form for future reference.

You’re now better equipped to face the hard days—and that’s the short version of just the first two parts of the Jehoshaphat’s prayer.
The rest of it and a more robust engagement with all of this delightful passage can be found in this month’s Greenhouse Retreat, just click here.

Greenhouse Retreats: helping you to create conditions that are ideal for disproportionate fruitfulness.

Happy summer flourishing y’all,

Alex

For When You Don't Know What To Do

And even when you do--this Scripture is a gem

Alex Kirk

Jun 02, 2026

Several weeks ago the leadership team at our church was facing one of those difficult decisions where there didn’t seem to be a clear and easy way forward.

So we spent time in 2 Chronicles 20, a gem of a story that gives a map (not a formula) for how we might seek the Lord in the face of bad news, a crisis, or a difficult crossroads:

This passage has blessed me in both crisis and not-crisis times (hence the title below!)—and I pray that it might bless you, too.

Three steps:

  1. Access and print out this month’s always free Greenhouse Retreat guide, “A Gem of a Story for Crisis (And Not-Crisis) Times.” Printing is optional but recommended.
  2. Clear out 3-5 hours on your calendar in the next few weeks for a personal retreat —or just use it as a daily devotional guide.
  3. Show up and bring whatever challenges or decisions you’ve got to make and let’s see how the Lord might meet you.

Greenhouse Retreats: helping you to create conditions ideal for disproportionate fruitfulness.

Happy flourishing y’all,

Alex

Strength for the Weary, Weak, Waiting

Today's best three minutes

Alex Kirk
May 26, 2026

If you’re like most of people, you work hard to avoid being described as weary, weak, or waiting.
And yet almost all of us will end up in every one of those categories at some point.

If that’s you today, take three minutes to enter into this good news from Isaiah 40:

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.

As my good friend Brian pointed out, the only conditions in this part of the passage for getting God’s power and strength are those Three W’s:

If you’d like more helps with strength and hope, head over to this month’s always free Greenhouse Retreat: Hope in the Lord.

Greenhouse Retreats: helping you to create conditions ideal for disproportionate fruitfulness.

Happy flourishing y’all,

Alex

Renewing Your Strength

A short exercise of walking in God's promise

Alex Kirk
May 18, 2026

Anyone feeling a little spent heading into a new work week?
A couple of months ago, I was wiped out from a big “push” season of ministry.
It had gone pretty well, but I was running on fumes and feeling pretty thin.

That’s when I came across the passage for this month’s Greenhouse Retreat, Isaiah 40, and I camped out in it for several days.

If you’re feeling a little spent today, here’s a snippet of the passage and a prayer you might pray. Give yourself 3-ish quality minutes with this passage today (maybe for the next couple of days) and see if the Lord doesn’t move in some way to refresh you.

  1. Take just a beat to shift your heart and mind towards the Lord.
  2. Read the passage 3 times through, slowly, out loud if you’re in a place where you can do so:

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

  1. Try this little breath prayer 5-10 times.

Breathe in: “I hope in you Lord.” (Hold for just a few seconds)
Breathe out: “You will renew my strength.”

For more time in this great passage, head over to this month’s Greenhouse Retreat, “Hope in the Lord.”

Greenhouse Retreats: helping you to create conditions ideal for disproportionate fruitfulness.

Happy flourishing y’all,

Alex

Renewing Your Hope

Cultivating a life-giving cardinal virtue

Alex Kirk
May 04, 2026

Several years ago I was talking with a woman who had a dear friend who had been severely and tragically beat-down by life.
“It’s like she’s given up any hope on anything ever getting better,” my friend said.
“And what’s she like without hope?” I asked.
“It’s like she’s barely alive,” she said.

Hope, as it turns out, is essential for being fully alive.

Of course, sometimes we have foolish hopes or we hope in the wrong things—that’s gotta go.

But when we’re even remotely oriented towards the Lord, there’s something about God’s future that pulls us towards it. That’s resurrection-grounded hope.

The problem, of course, is that life can beat hope out of us.

So for this month’s Greenhouse Retreat, we’re going to cultivate and practice the cardinal Christian virtue of hope…even and especially if you've got reasons to not to.

Three easy steps:

  1. Access and print out this month’s always free Greenhouse Retreat: Hope in the Lord (printing is optional but recommended).
  2. Block off a 3-5 hour block of time sometime in the next few weeks—or just use it more piecemeal as a daily devotional guide.
  3. Show up, refresh your hopes, and renew your strength.

Greenhouse Retreats: helping you to create conditions ideal for disproportionate fruitfulness.

Happy hope-filled flourishing y’all,

Alex

P.S. Here’s the link again to this month’s retreat guide—let me know how and when you use it!

P.P.S. Apologies for not getting a guide out for April. I had a nasty head cold that would not go away for most of March and then Easter weekend at church was crazy. For future reference, if you’re only accessing this via email, you can head over to my Substack page and get every previous Greenhouse Retreat, going back three years.

Thanks for reading Greenhouse Retreats!